Confession time: We're a little bit obsessed with vegan food. And by "a little bit," we mean utterly and completely. It's a good problem to have! While in Rome yesterday, we got to indulge in our favorite habit at iVegan, a combination vegan grocery store and cafe.
First stop is ALWAYS going to be the vegan cheese section, And iVegan dazzled us with its incredible variety. Some, like Violife and Sheese, were already familiar to us, but we counted a half-dozen Italian brands we'd never even heard of before. We bought a few different varieties, and the first we tasted was Fermaggio's Fresco al Peperoncino, and oh my, is it good! Tangy and ferment-y, just the way we like it! (No photo, because we ate it before we could snap a shot!)
The fake meat section was pretty substantial too. Besides all the different steaks/burgers/slices in the refrigerator section, they had a bunch of shelf-stable meats that looked rather interesting.
We were also excited to see how many packaged baked treats iVegan had to offer. Croissants, cakes, pies, cookies, bars ... oof! We got a toothache just ogling everything.
And then there were the spreads. Chocolate. White chocolate. Pistachio! We can't have things like this in our refrigerator or we'll eat 'em all in one fell swoop (except maybe the 9lb. tub of vegan Nutella; that might last a week or two!).
We arrived at iVegan right around lunchtime, and were enticed by their simple but tasty menu and decided to order fresh-pressed juices and burgers: a bacon cheese burger dripping with sauce and a tempeh burger with ginger mayo, avo, greens, and sun-dried tomatoes. The burgers were messy, filling, and utterly delicious.
We were too stuffed for dessert, but now we have another excuse to go back and try the cannoli!
