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  • Day 3

    Vegan in Mazatlan

    December 15, 2019 in Mexico ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    On our first night in Mazatlan, we went to La Ruta Vegana, the best vegan restaurant in Mazatlan... well, OK, the "only" vegan restaurant in Mazatlan but it nonetheless deserves the accolade that "best" conveys.

    Roch ordered a plate of 3 quesadillas and I ordered a couple of tacos along with an order of crispy potato wedges to share.  The only thing lacking was a good bottle of Dos XX.  The restaurant doesn't serve alcohol so we had to settle for non-alcoholized beer which was surprisingly satisfying with our meal.  Our dinner altogether was a mere $18.11 and we left the restaurant thinking, we gotta come back to this place...

    ... and indeed we did go back the very next day.  We didn't realize that La Ruta Vegana was the only vegan restaurant in Mazatlan until we went to Bliss Tienda Vegana which we thought was a cafe as well as vegan store.  Nope, it was just a small vegan store so we happily went back to La Ruta Vegana.

    This time I ordered the quesadillas and Roch ordered "Pozole", a Mexican soup typically made with hominy (processed corn with the germ removed) and pork. The thick soup is seasoned with a combination of spices and garnished with radishes, shallots, shredded cabbage, limes and tortilla chips. We'll never know for sure if the vegan version that Roch had was as good as a traditional meat version.  All I can say is, there wasn't a drop of soup left when it came time to pay for the meal.

    The owner of La Ruta Vegana told us that there were a few other vegan restaurants in Mazatlan but they have consequently closed.  How odd, when everywhere else we've travel to has seen an increase in the number of vegan establishment in light of the plant-based revolution.  La Ruta Vegana will be celebrating its 5th anniversary next week, and we have every intention in joining in on their celebration.

    Although dining out here is a challenge, the local markets offer a plethora of beautiful fruits and veggies. They even sell large packages of trimmed and diced mixed vegetables that is made into soup. In fact, that's what we had for dinner last night. Strangely, however, Sinaloa province is reputed to be the mango capital of Mexico (and home to most cartels), but we've rarely sen any. Those we did find were expensive even by Canadian standards.

    On the other hand, papayas and pineapples are plentiful and succulent, so we can't complain too much.
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