Veggie chic

I like vegetables, but I love cheese more. I will also pick a juicy steak over a salad any day.

I don't really share the refusal to eat anything that once walked and talked with my vegetarian friends, and I have no allergies which requires me to go gluten free, dairy free, egg free - in other words, vegan.

But surprisingly, since moving here I've found myself eating tofu cream cheese (which, if I was lactose intolerant would be the best thing since cream cheese), spelt flour cupcakes (as in gluten free) and more chickpeas than I care to imagine.

Babycakes - one of the many vegan bakeries in New York

This high maintenance lifestyle mainly kept between a select few in New Zealand has many coming out over here, where New Yorkers have as many (if not more) veggie friends as they do meat and dairy loving friends.

Vegetarian restaurants and vegan bakery options abound - it's so common and socially acceptable here that it's even considered 'cool'.

You can buy tofurkey (not the nicest I'll admit), tofu ice cream (tastes just like the real thing) and vegan butter all at your local corner store, and most cafe's have tofu options for almost anything normally reserved for the dairy family, with veggie options sometimes outnumbering the meat.

But the most suprising thing of all is that the vegan options availble in New York actually taste good, and even border on amazing. I'd go for a Babycakes vegan cupcake over a Magnolia one anyday.

So for all those who would like to renew their vows with vegetables, fashionably, New York is certianly the place to do it.

Click here for The New York Times 'Answers About the Vegan Lifestyle in New York'