We happened to be near it, so we stopped in at a vegan variety store we’ve seen advertised. It was a small store with very little stock. DH remarked that the cashier seemed surprised to actually have customers. I did buy a recipe book, a couple incidentals, and Mouse and Bubs bought a bag of dried papaya.

Overall, I wasn’t especially impressed. I don’t think they have anything different than what we can get at the much closer natural food market.

And spurred on buy this trip, DH made a point of stopping next at the natural food market. This is not a vegetarian thing, but I discovered that they do carry natural hotdogs: no chemicals or nitrites in them (they are preserved by freezing). Since my attempts to find a half-decent-tasting vegetarian hotdog have so far fallen flat, I figure that I can at least have the comfort of serving my children chemical-free hotdogs.

If anyone knows of a tasty vegetarian hotdog that can be purchased in Canada, please let me know. So far, all the brands I’ve tried have been so yucky that even I couldn’t bring myself to eat them.

Oh, and I just tried some vegan bologna, made by Yves. The first bite, I thought it was okay. Tasted like bologna. But the texture is totally wrong – kind of gritty – and by the time I’d finished the slice, I decided I’d rather just forgo bologna. Bubs ate most of his sandwich, but Mouse took just one bite of hers and pronounced it too yucky to eat. After that, Bubs lost his conviction, and wouldn’t eat any more, either.