Some amazing local (vegan) sweets

Jim Singer 

May 23, 2017 - 6:00am

There’s more to vegan food than tofu and hummus. Chefs today are creating inspired dishes that not only replicate traditional recipes, they often surpass them in flavor and creativity. As veganism steadily gains popularity, more and more establishments are starting to feature vegan items on their menus, and we are lucky to have some great local businesses who make stellar vegan dishes. Some of the most impressive of these vegan offerings are the cookies, cakes, and pastries made fresh in local bakeries.

Eating a vegan diet, and, thus, being labeled “a vegan,” brings with it a certain level of scrutiny and misunderstanding. But vegans are people too, and that’s the message I want to convey today. To this end, I’d like to start by debunking a few vegan myths. First off, not all people who eat a vegan diet like to be labeled “vegan.” For some people, it’s merely a lifestyle and dietary choice, not an identity or a way of life. Secondly, choosing to eat vegan food doesn’t mean you automatically swear off meat and cheese for life. It’s possible to eat something vegan, then something else that isn’t vegan, and the world won’t stop spinning. Another myth is vegan food tastes horrible. Simply not true. There are many wonderful vegan recipes that would satisfy the harshest critic, but a lot of people can’t get over the stigma that comes with it. People also assume vegan food has to be healthy, which can be a turn-off for some reason. I can assure you, not all vegan food is healthy. Oreos are vegan. Enough said. But I prefer to eat something made from scratch with fresh ingredients, as opposed to overprocessed chemical garbage. Luckily, Champaign-Urbana has some fantastic places to buy locally made vegan sweets.

The first place I’d like to highlight is Strawberry Fields Café. They feature an in-house vegan baker who has been there for the past few years; she has carried the torch from former employees who worked under different ownership, to continue the tradition of serving up some amazing vegan treats. Strawberry Fields Café shares a location with World Harvest International and Gourmet Foods. This is a great marriage of two local favorites, continuing Strawberry Fields’ tradition of providing wonderful natural and organic foods and merging it with the eclectic, diverse offerings from World Harvest.

The café serves up some delicious salads and sandwiches, along with a great breakfast; they also feature some freshly made items from their magnificent bakery, which produces some of the most artistic and decadent treats around, most of which happen to be vegan. I defy anyone who tries one of their cupcakes to tell me it’s not as good as, or better than, anything they’ve tried before. Each one is a small work of art, like the crème brulee cupcake with caramelized sugar topping, or the strawberry coconut cream vanilla cupcake topped with slices of fresh strawberries (all cupcakes $3.99).

links: https://www.smilepolitely.com/food-drink/some_amazing_local_vegan_sweets/?utm_source