Vegan Eating in Portsmouth, NH

Yesterday, my mother and I brought Chris to the New Hampshire seacoast. We drove the "back way" through Hampton Beach and up to Rye where we stopped at Odiorne Point State Park for both science fun and wedding planning. Chris and I have been together for six years (and engaged for five) and now that the federal government and IRS will respect any legal same sex marriage despite the couples' state of residence we intend to get hitched some time next year.

The Science Center at the park does host weddings and receptions so we went to look at that as well. Although it's nice it will also be expensive to rent, but we wanted to go just to see. We also love the ocean and marine life so we thought it might be fun to finally have engagement photos taken with the Atlantic as the backdrop. Those are on my real camera so I can't share them right now. But I think they turned out really cute, especially for a DIY shoot.

After our photo shoot it was clearly time for lunch. We drove to Portsmouth and found the Friendly Toast, which I had been to before maybe back in 2005. I knew they had vegan options on the menu, so that's where we went. The server let us know when we tried to order falafel wraps that the falafel isn't vegan, so we all ordered the Vegan Valhalla wrap with this or that left out and with different sides.

It was filled with olive oil sautéed spinach and chewy tofu and wholesome brown rice. I got it without tahini and thought it was really pretty good. The home fries were tasty as well. They don't look vegan in the photo, but our server assured us they are. She also let us know that you can substitute tofu scramble in any sandwich or egg dish if desired.

We left with full bellies and walked around the old town for awhile. On the way back to the car we also passed the Portsmouth Brewery. My brother loves that place so I checked out the menu. They had at least three fully vegan dishes (they even used the v word) and others that they noted could be made vegan with substitutions. Definitely worth taking a look at if you go. There is also the Juicery, which serves juice, smoothies, and other healthy fare. And we're about to head down to Boston to walk the Freedom Trail. History, here we come!