For most students who eat meat, a vegetarian lifestyle might seem difficult and unthinkable. Most wouldn’t want to take the time to cook vegetarian dishes or say goodbye to their favorite meat dishes. Senior Sela Patterson, a lifelong vegetarian, shared her favorite restaurants in the Twin Cities to take a bite into the vegetarian diet.

Many of Patterson’s favorite veggie-friendly places include local  ethnic cuisines. One of these includes Shish Cafe on Grand Avenue, which specializes in Mediterranean food.

“I really like their falafel wrap and their spinach pies and lentil soups,” Patterson said. Other vegetarian items include a veggie burger, vegetable kabob and vegan red lentil soup.

Other ethnic restaurants feature meat dishes that can be made vegetarian friendly. “I have tofu, and then I have fake chicken sometimes,” Patterson said. She eats at Supartra’s Thai Cuisine on West 7th Ave. in St. Paul. The menu boasts dozens of vegetarian options, with tofu available to substitute meat in almost every item.

“Most Thai places have really good [food] because a lot of it is vegetarian, or you can substitute tofu,” Patterson said. “They always use coconut milk.”

Other local Asian restaurants, including Cleveland Wok, Taste of Thailand and Pad Thai offer many vegetarian options. All a student needs to do is choose a restaurant and give it a chance.

Vegetarian-friendly restaurants:

Shish Cafe

1668 Grand Avenue

St. Paul, MN 55105

shishongrand.com

Supatra’s Thai Cuisine

967 West 7th Street, Saint Paul, MN. 55102

http://www.supatra.com/index.html

Cleveland Wok

767 Cleveland Ave. S

St. Paul, MN 55116

Clevelandwok.com

Taste of Thailand

1671 Selby Avenue

Saint Paul, MN 55104

2 more Twin Cities locations

tasteofthailandmn.com

Pad Thai

1681 Grand Avenue, St Paul, Mn. 55105

padthaiongrand.com