Plant Power: The Best Plant-Based and Vegan Restaurants in Rhode Island

Plant City’s Jumpstart Your Health by Plant Docs healthy eating program. Newport Cooks plant-based cooking classes. Professor Chef’s Meatless Monday cooking classes. Photography courtesy of various classes/programs.

Learn From the Pros

Healthy plant-based cooking and wellness classes.

Jumpstart Your Health with Plant Docs
Plant City isn’t just a plant-based restaurant — it’s a community resource for learning better habits. Case in point: Jumpstart Your Health by Plant Docs, which is a month-long program that helps you transition to a plant-based diet in a way that gives you solid proof of the benefits. Medical doctors take your blood work at the beginning of the month, and then show you how far you’ve come at the end. Support comes from five group sessions with Plant Docs and Food For Life nutrition educators, recipes, cooking demos, meetings and market visits. plantdocspvd.com

Meatless Monday (On A Wednesday) at Professor Chef
Professor Chef, the husband-and-wife duo that teaches cooking classes out of their North Providence kitchen, is now offering virtual lessons in everything from regional Italian cuisine to cooking like Julia Child. Their Meatless Monday classes — which, in fact, happen on Wednesdays — offer instruction on easy-to-make plant-based recipes like creamless cream of broccoli soup, edamame stew, quinoa risotto and carrot osso buco. professorchef.com

Healthy Eating Classes at Newport Cooks
Contrary to its name, Newport Cooks is actually in Middletown — but that doesn’t change the fascinating lineup of world cuisine cooking classes that happen in Mary Weaver’s kitchen. Weaver offers an ever-changing lineup of healthy eating classes, like Grain Bowls — Thai, Indian and Mexican — which teach guests to use different ingredients to make balanced, flavorful meals that you can prep once and eat all week. newportcooks.com —Julie Tremaine

My Week as a Vegan

A certified omnivore attempts to avoid meat and dairy.
By Jamie Coelho

As a diehard meat and cheese eater, I attempted to go vegan for a week in January (I couldn’t commit to a full Veganuary). I scheduled the dates in my calendar and strategically planned it to start the same day as a Monday evening epic seven-course vegan tasting dinner with Twelve Plants popup restaurant at Vinya Test Kitchen. The night before, I made a food shopping list that included tons of fruit and veggies, oatmeal, coconut milk, tofu, pumpkin seeds, avocado, walnuts, veggie burgers, beans, tempeh and more, then I filled my cart and stocked my pantry. I meal planned for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and then mentally pressed start.

Breakfasts were easily filled with steel cut oatmeal with berries and maple syrup (news alert, honey isn’t vegan!) or smoothies blended with coconut milk, frozen berries and a banana. For lunches, I packed rice bowls mixed with avocado and salsa, and I made a black bean, tomato and vegetable-based broth soup. I also consumed salads with walnuts, avocado and tomato to help me feel full. I felt pleasantly satiated from these meals during the day, and didn’t need to snack much at my desk.

The second day was a bit tough on my tummy since I wasn’t used to that much roughage at once (seven courses of veggies in one dinner — talk about going all in!). But by days three and four, my body adjusted, and I felt more energetic. I couldn’t get my kids on board for veggie burgers one night, so I served them the meat version and a veggie decoy for myself with some sweet potato fries on the side. When I made stir-fry another night, I cooked the veggies separately, and pan-fried tofu for myself, while sautéing chicken for the rest of the family. These were easy and satisfying substitutions.

What is more challenging is dining out in restaurants that aren’t as accustomed to a vegan diet. One day, I went to lunch at Ran Zan Japanese sushi and noodle spot and explained to a server that I was not eating animal or dairy products at the moment (insert eye roll, here). The udon noodle soup was out, because its base is fish stock. I enjoyed filling yakisoba noodles with veggies and some excellent umeshiso sushi made with plum paste and cucumber. There was also a day I experienced a tea ceremony at Ceremony tea house in Providence. I informed the shop owner that I was temporarily vegan and she enthusiastically directed me toward coconut milk and soy-milk-based drinks and a vegan dango rice ball for dessert.

By Friday — and I don’t know if it was just because it was Friday — I started to drag, and I wondered if I should be taking some kind of supplement. I needed a sweet to perk up, so I headed to Knead Doughnuts for a lemon poppyseed vegan treat. That did the trick until dinner time, when I feasted on leftover rice and beans while my family devoured a delicious-looking prosciutto, goat cheese and roasted red pepper pizza from Federal Hill Pizza. My willpower started to wane, and I could feel the pizza taunting me with cheesy, savory toppings. If only there were a vegan version from the place where we ordered.

By Saturday, I admit I was drawn back to the fray (thanks to my husband’s juicy steak giving me the evil (rib)eye at Newport’s Thames Street Kitchen, though the mushroom toast (hold the egg!) and broccoli rabe are divine. I may have stuck a fork in me (I’m done), but I successfully went vegan for six days.

People promote Meatless Mondays for a reason. Refraining from eating meat for even just one day can make an impact. I like to think my six days without meat made six times the difference. Even if I make a conscious decision to eat less meat on a weekly basis, it counts for something. Now just to get my kids and husband on board; I might sneak them a Beyond Meat burger and see what happens.