Is Subway's Vegetarian Vegetable Soup Vegan?

In the world of fast food, vegan friendly menu items are hard to come by. Of course, it's a little hypocritical to be on what can be considered the healthiest diet possible yet still eat at fast food restaurants. However, reality is a wonderful thing and sometimes today's vegan is so constrained by time that we must, from time to time, eat at the crap factories.

Subway is great because the food is made right in front of you, so you know nothing is being slipped in without you knowing. A fresh whole wheat sub stuffed with raw vegetables is about the healthiest fast food you can get and the price is right.

Subway can be found on every street corner, so you're always within minutes from one of their restaurants. Sure, there is only one real item on their menu for us but, it can be topped in an almost infinite amount of ways. They do offer a vegetable patty, although I've never tried it.

A few weeks ago, my local Subway was advertising Vegetarian Vegetable soup. I was going to try it but couldn't trust there not to be chicken broth or cheese buried somewhere deep inside. The folks at the counter couldn't tell me what the ingredients were so I passed on the soup.

I e-mailed Subway's customer service and received the ingredients to, not only the Vegetarian Vegetable soup, but to all of the soups they offer. Some others were close to vegan, but could only pass as vegetarian. However, the Vegetarian Vegetable is full-fledged vegan.

The official ingredients are as follows:

Vegetarian Vegetable – 11948 – CanadaCarrots, Water, Tomatoes (citric acid, calcium chloride), Tomato Paste,Rehydrated Potatoes (sodium phosphate), Green Beans, Cabbage, Corn, Celery,Peas, Zucchini, Salt, Red Peppers, Sugar, Rehydrated Onions, Modified CornStarch, Onion Powder, Flavour, Vegetable Concentrate(carrots, celery, beets,parsley, lettuce, watercress, spinach), Garlic Powder, Yeast Extract, Spice,Parsley, Citric Acid and Caramel. Allergens: Wheat

Of course, there are some of us that do not take in yeast. In that case, this soup is not for you.

G7 Meets the Seal Hunters

It's pretty popular news but for those who haven' heard, the G7 is having meetings in Nunavit which is on Baffin Island in the extreme north of Canada. I guess they chose the location to hide from the usual protesters. They certainly haven't escaped controversy.

Read here to see what the sideshow will be.

Tommy's Restaurant in Cleveland Heights

On my third day in Cleveland, I finally made it to the famous ”Tommy’s” restaurant in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. The menu was amazing and full of great vegan dishes as well as ‘normal’ food for my boys. The pricing was quite reasonable with hardly an item over $10.

I had an A.J. Wrap and a Not Dog. An A.J. Wrap is a wheat wrap filled with black bean chili, pickles, brown rice, veggies & lettuce. A Not Dog is a veggie hotdog made with tofu and spices and served on a whole wheat bun. It comes with a great garlicy sauce but I didn’t ask exactly what it was. Both were great.

It was also one of the only places in Cleveland where I didn’t get a strange look when asking for Green Tea.

It was a great restaurant and it lived up to all my expectations. The little neighbourhood it was located in kind of reminded me of Kensington Market in Toronto. They have a little give shop with clothing items. I was hoping they would have had a recipe book, but it wasn’t to be.

Check out their website for a detailed menu and history of the restaurant.

Nasty Post Comments - Love It!

It was a proud moment for me today when I checked Being A Vegan Athlete and I'd received a malicious, negative comment to the last post. Unfortunately, I decided to delete the two-word expletive (FU, it was...) because the person who left it didn't leave a name.

I'm a huge proponent of freedom of speech, but if your only reply to something you feel strongly against is 'FU' and then you refuse to put your name behind it, you don't deserve to have your words heard. I don't moderate my comments initially because I think it's pompous. However...

I thought about it for a while, and I would have let the comment stand as is, if only the person who'd left it had left a name. It didn't even have to be a real name. God knows, the internet is anonymous even when it doesn't seem to be.

So, if you left the comment and have come back to see my reaction to it, leave it again with your name and maybe add an intelligent reason why. Habs fan? Creepy figure skater guy fan? Maybe, it was Johnny Weir himself!

Anyway, not offended here. On the contrary, actually. I, like any blogger, am like a dog and consider any attention good attention. So, keep smacking my nose and making me stay out in the cold back yard too long!

Anywho...

I'm sitting at the Skyline Hotel in Independence, Ohio. Actually, I'm by the indoor pool just kicking back and having a couple Millers. The thing I love about the USA is the fact that they are mature enough to not bother with someone having a few beers outside the 'designated drinking area' - are you listening Tight Ass Canadian Government? Oh, and 30 beers here still costs $15 when we're paying close to $50 for 24, if not more in some cases in Canada. Can you say tax overkill?

I had my first real Boca Burger today at, of all places, Denny's. Not bad stuff, however, I could tell which one was mine before it hit the table due to the perfectly flat shape.

Ciao for now! Habs, you suck! Weir, you suck! Anonymous, FU too! Vegans, keep on keepin' on!

Figure Skater Needs Dead Animal Fur To Win Gold

I was going to write a nasty post about American figure skater, Johnny Weir. Earlier in the day, Johnny basically said that a little animal fur here and there didn't matter when there were so many humans dying in the world.

He has changed his mind after receiving international media pressure. Read the latest story here. He will wear 'faux fur' on his costume. But, he admits that he made the change so that 'some silly costume' wouldn't affect his training for the Olympic games. He stresses that animal rights activists have not won and that he still would rather be wearing his pretty fur outfit.

Long a target of PETA and other animal rights groups for his fashion sense, Mr. Weir just won't back down from what he believes in. You know, Johnny, it is a sport that you're competing in and not a fashion show. Just be a great figure skater and you won't have to worry about how much of a circus act you're being.

Well, Johnny Weir, you've made my burn-in-hell list and you're right next to the Montreal Canadiens (click on the team name to find out why they've made the list). May you fall on your pretty face.

Also in the news...

Dog fighting has made a comeback in Afghanistan. Hurray! The human killing is down so the bloodshed must come from another source. Why not the age-old pastime of dog fighting? Read all the good news here.


I've been pretty cranky lately and this activist alter-ego seems to be slipping out. I'm off to Cleveland, Ohio for a four day weekend and plan to visit some of the city's finer vegan restaurants. I promise not to be such a grump for the next post!