Miami's Secret Vegan Supermarket

Tucked quietly near a round-about shopping center in Miami Springs, west of the airport lies a veritable Secret Garden for plant-eaters. The Adventist Book and Nutrition Center is an entirely vegetarian bookstore proffering both religious items and a treasure trove of meatless wonders.

Walking in, the plain sign and storefront bid a quiet, unassuming welcome and the front area of the store - with the books and gifts section to the right and market on the left - seems plains and unremarkable. Until, that is, you step into one particular aisle stacked high with canned items and other non-perishables. One look at the labels and you suddenly realize you are immersed in a magical world of meatless meats!

There's familiar-sounding foods like sausages, hot dog franks and taco filling. Then things start to get weird, fast. Fried chicken? Dinner steak? Nut loaf? Packed in water? In a can?
                             

                                

                                 

 In fact,  many of the meat substitutes of this store will likely have you wondering many things you never thought you'd ask like: What is a terkette?
                                     

Terkettes: a true mystery meat. 

Major moments of confusion not withstanding, this meatless meat aisle is like a goldmine to a veggie carnivore like me, who craves and seeks out vegan replicas of meat-based dishes I used to love, especially beef and chicken. Unfortunately, many of the products use dairy or eggs in their ingredients (dammit!) and are thus off-limits to us vegan-ites, but there are also plenty that are free of animal stuff.

The next happy surprise can be found just on the other side of the aisle: a wall-length freezer of more meats + veggie frozen meals.
They sell the near-impossible to find Tofutti cheese slices, industrial-sized tubs of Vegenaise, (though I'm a Just Mayo devotee now) a brand of vegan ice cream I'd never heard of called Wayfare and holy crap! Nestled on the next-to-the-bottom shelf of the freezer are the famous May-Wah chicken drumsticks, adorable dowel "bones" and all. If you are not familiar with May-Wah, it's an Asian grocery that specializes in selling all-vegetarian meats. They make everything from authentic-tasting beef, pork and chicken to fish, shrimp and lamb and mutton. Yes, mutton. You can check out there amazing products here

Unfortunately, a single bag of drumsticks costs $55, which was definitely over my shopping budget. And much to my dismay I discovered this particular May-Wah product is made with milk. Boooo!

But there's so much to look over in this lovely veggie freezer that I quickly forgot about soy drumsticks and turned my attention to the incredible selection of snacks and frozen meals, many of them vegan!

So many lovely green boxes! (Along with my reflection)

 At the front of the store, beneath the cash register is the real vegan loot - five glorious boxes of Go Max Go's candy bars including the Buccaneer, Twilight, and the delicious Mahalo Bar. If you've never tried these candies are badly craving some vegan chocolate, then run to this store and pick one up, now! The Mahalo Bar is by far the best and perfectly replicates the creamy coconut-y yumminess of a real Almond Joy, without a smidgen of dairy. Best of all,  they all retail for under $2.  If only other quality vegan products were this cheap and affordable, it would make this plant-based living thing so much easier.
             
                                                                                 

The Mahalo Bar - my favorite!

The rest of this charming store is stocked with religious books, cards, figurines and a wide array of shiny gifts and curios. There's also a ton (read: like, hundreds) of vegetarian cookbooks, along with a full selection of natural herbs, beverages and teas.

So if you want to try out some interesting meatless meats, indulge in luxurious vegan chocolate bars, or just stand still to take in the sight of an all-vegetarian market, then a trek past the smog and noise of airport traffic to the Adventist Book and Nutrition Center is well worth your while. Just please leave me some Mahalo Bars.