Vegans Lacking Food Options Take Matters Into Their Own Hands With ‘Veg Out’
FREDERICTON – Two young entrepreneurs are diving headfirst into the world of veganism with a new street food-inspired vegan stall at The Cultural Market.
As relatively new vegans, Shelby Harnish and Patrick Stewart quickly discovered the limits of options for eating out that fit their new diet and lifestyle. With this in mind, along with the fact that Harnish has long wanted to run a cafe in Fredericton, the couple set up Veg Out to offer a few more plant-based food options.
“You figure out your whole repertoire of recipes you have; they’re all different. The restaurants you go to are all different because you can only go where the options are. Your whole life changes,” Stewart says.
“The biggest struggle for us was always finding the food. Your friends want to go out to eat and where do you go? You go where the vegan wants to because they’re the one who has the problem.”
Harnish adds that those with stricter diets like veganism can miss out on social experiences if there aren’t enough options for foods that fit into their diet. She says they want to show Frederictonians that vegan food is more than just salads. Veg Out offers street food staples like donairs and shawarmas.
After originally considering setting up a food truck, Harnish and Stewart decided they couldn’t wait until spring to find out how much of a demand there was for vegan street food and eagerly took up an offer to test things out at The Cultural Market.
The couple says they’ve had lots of help from other local business owners, including the owners of The Abbey Cafe and Isaac’s Way Jason and Tina LeJeune, who set Harnish up with employment at The Abbey so she could gain food preparation and service experience.
In addition to serving up food they consider more ethical, they’re also trying to run their business in a way that’s more environmentally friendly by avoiding most disposable takeout containers and buying their supplies without disposable packaging. They also make a point of buying as much of their supplies as possible locally.
Harnish and Stewart say they hope this is the beginning of a larger movement towards veganism and whole food, plant-based eating in the area.
“We wanted to offer more to this city. We want Fredericton to grow. We don’t want to have to go to Halifax, where there’s so much. We don’t want to have to go there to grow,” Harnish says.
“That’s the good thing about a small town. We are the first completely vegan business [and] I want to keep the business as local as possible.”
The couple says the response from customers has been overwhelmingly positive so far. Veg Out recently wrapped up its fifth week at the Cultural Market and they plan to be back every week until spring when they’re aiming to have a food truck up and running. They’ve already been approached to take part in next summer’s Garrison Night Market.