CHAPTER 8: TECHNOLOGY HELPS YOU OVER THE HURDLES.
If you have a smartphone, there are some helpful and very affordable apps that can take much of the pesky guesswork out of your vegan practice. I was late to the app train, but now that I am on it, I am fully aboard. The ones with asterisks are ones that I can personally vouch for; the others are recommendations from my friends in the vegan community. You can get any of these by searching their names in your device's app store.
*HappyCow ($3.99): The big kahuna of vegan dining options, this is the very handy app version of the beloved website, pointing you to all the vegan options in your vicinity – listing restaurants, markets and shops - and handily merges with your phone’s map to take you right there. This app is worth the price many times over, especially when traveling.
Vanilla Bean (free): A newcomer to the vegan app scene, Vanilla Bean will connect you with some 23,000 vegan and vegan-friendly restaurants around the world, and also allows you to search for gluten-free, lactose-free and raw options, plus you can get directions, view and post photos and read or write reviews.
Veganagogo ($2.99): Are you afraid that being vegan will a dent in your globetrotting? Never fear. This handy app helps you to communicate your vegan dietary needs with simple but straightforward phrases in more than 50 languages.
Forks Over Knives ($4.99): The companion app to the film that changed – and saved – so many lives, this award-winning app offers more than 300 heart-healthy, plant-based recipes from more than 20 chefs with new recipes added each week.
Is it Vegan? ($4.99) - This mobile tool app scans ingredient labels for you and identifies animal products.
*VeganXPress ($1.99): a very useful app for finding vegan food at chain and fast food restaurants as well as a beer, wine, liquor guide.
Vegan Surprise (.99): Tired of the same ol', same ol'? Let this app chose your restaurant for you.
Vegaholic (iPhone - $1.99) or Vegan Wine (Android free): Looking for wines, beers and liquors that are free of animal-based derivatives? These apps will help you to get tipsy without guilt. Now you can get your drink on without also imbibing eggs, fish bladders, etc.
Cruelty-Cutter (free) – Another app scanner to help you identify companies that do and do not use animal testing.
The Chocolate List (free): This handy free app from the Food Empowerment Project helps you to find human slavery-free cocoa products when you get a chocolate craving. Please note that not all companies listed are vegan.
Food Monster (free): With more than 5,000 recipes and ten new ones added each day, One Green Planet’s Food Monster is the biggest vegan food app.
Leaping Bunny (free): A helpful tool for determining animal testing standards for products and companies. Please be mindful that this does not scan for animal ingredients, merely for animal testing, so something may have a Leaping Bunny approval while not being vegan. Bizarre, yes, I know.
The 21-Day Vegan Kickstart (free): PCRM’s famous app gives people tools, recipes and support through that challenging first few weeks.
Nutrition Facts’ Daily Dozen (free): Dr. Michael Greger’s app is a handy checklist of the twelve healthiest foods to include in your daily diet.
Responsible Eating and Living (free): Hundreds of recipes as well as podcasts, travelogues and more from masterful communicator (and longtime vegan) Caryn Hartglass and her partner, Gary De Mattai.
African American Vegan Starter Guide (free): By Any Greens Necessary’s Tracye McQuirter, MPH, in partnership with Farm Sanctuary, has created this gorgeous free PDF and paper guide with more than 40 information-packed pages, including lots of recipes and helpful articles.
Vegan Alternatives (free): This highly-rated app for Android offers over 200 plant-based replacements of nearly 40 animal-based “ingredients,” walking users through easily replacing everything from bacon to cream in recipes.
*HappyCow ($3.99): The big kahuna of vegan dining options, this is the very handy app version of the beloved website, pointing you to all the vegan options in your vicinity – listing restaurants, markets and shops - and handily merges with your phone’s map to take you right there. This app is worth the price many times over, especially when traveling.
Vanilla Bean (free): A newcomer to the vegan app scene, Vanilla Bean will connect you with some 23,000 vegan and vegan-friendly restaurants around the world, and also allows you to search for gluten-free, lactose-free and raw options, plus you can get directions, view and post photos and read or write reviews.
Veganagogo ($2.99): Are you afraid that being vegan will a dent in your globetrotting? Never fear. This handy app helps you to communicate your vegan dietary needs with simple but straightforward phrases in more than 50 languages.
Forks Over Knives ($4.99): The companion app to the film that changed – and saved – so many lives, this award-winning app offers more than 300 heart-healthy, plant-based recipes from more than 20 chefs with new recipes added each week.
Is it Vegan? ($4.99) - This mobile tool app scans ingredient labels for you and identifies animal products.
*VeganXPress ($1.99): a very useful app for finding vegan food at chain and fast food restaurants as well as a beer, wine, liquor guide.
Vegan Surprise (.99): Tired of the same ol', same ol'? Let this app chose your restaurant for you.
Vegaholic (iPhone - $1.99) or Vegan Wine (Android free): Looking for wines, beers and liquors that are free of animal-based derivatives? These apps will help you to get tipsy without guilt. Now you can get your drink on without also imbibing eggs, fish bladders, etc.
Cruelty-Cutter (free) – Another app scanner to help you identify companies that do and do not use animal testing.
The Chocolate List (free): This handy free app from the Food Empowerment Project helps you to find human slavery-free cocoa products when you get a chocolate craving. Please note that not all companies listed are vegan.
Food Monster (free): With more than 5,000 recipes and ten new ones added each day, One Green Planet’s Food Monster is the biggest vegan food app.
Leaping Bunny (free): A helpful tool for determining animal testing standards for products and companies. Please be mindful that this does not scan for animal ingredients, merely for animal testing, so something may have a Leaping Bunny approval while not being vegan. Bizarre, yes, I know.
The 21-Day Vegan Kickstart (free): PCRM’s famous app gives people tools, recipes and support through that challenging first few weeks.
Nutrition Facts’ Daily Dozen (free): Dr. Michael Greger’s app is a handy checklist of the twelve healthiest foods to include in your daily diet.
Responsible Eating and Living (free): Hundreds of recipes as well as podcasts, travelogues and more from masterful communicator (and longtime vegan) Caryn Hartglass and her partner, Gary De Mattai.
African American Vegan Starter Guide (free): By Any Greens Necessary’s Tracye McQuirter, MPH, in partnership with Farm Sanctuary, has created this gorgeous free PDF and paper guide with more than 40 information-packed pages, including lots of recipes and helpful articles.
Vegan Alternatives (free): This highly-rated app for Android offers over 200 plant-based replacements of nearly 40 animal-based “ingredients,” walking users through easily replacing everything from bacon to cream in recipes.
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