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

A build-your-own bowl at Hometown Cafe and Poke Bar can be served vegan-style with rice, veggies, edamame, seaweed salad and sesame seeds. Photography by Angel Tucker.

Bowled Over

Where to go for vegan bowls.

Hometown Cafe and Poke Bar
Build-Your-Own Bowl
Brown rice + organic tofu + diced cucumbers + shredded carrots + kale + edamame + seaweed salad + sesame seeds + mango + avocado + ginger shoyu sauce
185 Camp St., Providence, 868-1247, hometownpoke.com; @HometownPoke

Incred-a-bowl food truck
Asian Rice Bowl
Crispy tofu + broccoli + spinach + carrot slaw + corn + assorted veggies + jasmine rice + soy sauce + mirin wine + sesame oil
foodtrucksin.com/incred-a-bowl, @BowledFlavor

Auntie’s Kitchen Buddha Bowl
Brown rice + kale
+ roasted sweet potato + chickpeas + carrots + shredded beets + nuts + hummus
237 Robinson St., Wakefield, 783-2800, @auntieskitchenri.com

The Simple Greek
Build-your-own bowl
Brown rice + falafel + roasted red peppers + tomatoes + cucumbers + pepperoncinis + garbanzo beans + kalamata olives + hummus + spicy red pepper sauce + olive oil
Garden City Center, 111 Hillside Rd., Cranston, 443-2344, @thesimplegreek.com —J.C.

An Apple (Juice) a Day

Is a three-day juice cleanse the way to health?
By Julie Tremaine

The first time I cleansed, I did every single thing wrong. The advice was to gradually slow down on sugar, alcohol and unhealthy food so that the physical reset would be easier. Instead, I had “farewell drinks.”
This time, I prepared myself for a three-day juice cleanse from Fully Rooted by slowing down on sugar and alcohol before beginning. A juice cleanse isn’t a crash diet: it’s an intentional three-day break from digestion to give your guts a chance to rest and heal and to clean out all of the toxins in your system in the process.

Day 1
8:30 a.m. There are six bottles to drink per day, plus a Breath of Fire shot of cayenne, lemon and ginger and an additional wheatgrass shot. I have the wheatgrass, which you’re supposed to do first thing in the morning for maximum absorption, and then the Works, with carrot, apple, kale, lemon and ginger.
11 a.m. It’s time for my second juice, but I’m busy so I don’t get it right away. I become irrationally angry after reading a few tweets, and realize I might be having some hanger issues. Right. To the fridge it is. I crack open a Green Lemonade with cucumber, apple, spinach, celery and lemon, and all is right with the world again.
Noon Why is everyone posting about food today?
12:01 p.m. That sandwich from the Burgundian looks amazing. And I don’t even really like waffles.
3 p.m. I pretty much feel fine. Because I’ve followed the preparation advice, there’s no sugar crash this time. There have definitely been moments when I wanted to grab food, not because I felt hungry but because it’s habitual.
5 p.m. As the sun sets on this frigid winter night, I feel very cold and sad to not get to eat dinner. Instead, I have a Get Your Glow, with beet, apple and carrot.
6:30 p.m. I cave and have a cup of hot vegetable broth, which is what I’m allowed if I feel like I really need something besides juice. It feels weirdly heavy even though it’s essentially nothing.

Day 2
When you’re cleansing, you’re a bit fragile. Food has the effect of keeping you grounded. Without it, you’re lighter, but it’s as if you could blow away if something stressful happens.
So, when my morning turns into a category five storm, I don’t have a lot of resources to get through it. Concentrating on the huge, important project I hadn’t seen coming takes all of the brain space I had been using for steady juice intake, so once it’s done, I’m lightheaded. It takes a couple of hours to get back to normal. I know I’m going to bed early tonight.
The night is tough. I’m learning that juice during the day is a lot easier than at night. I have a crushing headache tonight, and I hope to feel better tomorrow.

Day 3
I do, in fact, feel better. I’m thirsty, and realize that my headache last night was probably because I’m not drinking enough water. I wake up early, and I tackle a lot of my to-do list in record time. My guts feel really good.
My downfall, though, is when I visit a friend. Unable to face another dinner of cold juice, I cave and add some tofu vegetable soup to her Thai takeout order. The suggestion is to reintegrate food by baby steps: go with easily digestible foods at first, in small amounts. Tofu, broth and a few veggies are actually perfect for a first meal. That’s the hardest thing about doing such an intensive cleanse. You have to block out three days to hibernate and not be around temptation.

Day 4
I end up extending the cleanse for another day. I have juice until lunch, then Japanese noodle soup with tofu and vegetables. Today I’ve had gluten, but I’ll wait to have any dairy, meat or alcohol. The idea is to see how your system reacts to each one in turn.
One thing I did notice today — my skin is glowing. Like, really glowing. I’ve heard green juice was good for your skin, but I didn’t really understand how good until now.

Day 5
I make a green smoothie for breakfast, and a fruit smoothie for lunch. But also, it’s Sunday, so it’s easy to make time for healthy choices. That’s the real issue with a strict diet — you can’t just grab convenience foods. You have to make the choice to prioritize your health. You have to commit taking time away from things you’d rather do so that you can be fully stocked with healthy foods and avoid the unhealthy ones. For me, my biggest downfall is that I allow myself to get so hungry that a salad won’t fill the craving I have for hot, usually cheesy, comfort foods. When I get ravenous, all bets are off. I need to train myself to not be ravenous. The juice cleanse gave me enough motivation to give healthy eating a solid try. Fully Rooted, 159 Weybosset St., Providence; 560 Mineral Spring Ave., Pawtucket, 753-4930, fullyrooted.com