Chuck Eats KC - January 24, 2023
Which Kansas City restaurants does Chuck miss? History of veg dining in Kansas City.
A Brief History of Vegetarian Dining in Kansas City
This is part two of my January 2023 series on vegetarian and vegan dining in Kansas City. This installment may turn into something much longer for the blog once I can do more research.
What does the history of vegetarian and vegan dining look like in the Kansas City area? Kansas City is known for its steak and barbecue, but the city has provided bountiful dining options for vegetarians. Being smack dab in the middle of the farm belt, vegetarian dishes have also benefited from fresh, locally sourced ingredients.
How have the restaurant options for vegetarian evolved over the decades?
Before 1990
Vegetarian dining options for most of the twentieth century could be described as the “Salad and Baked Potato” era. I became a vegetarian in 1989, when I was living in Lawrence, but my mother has been lifelong vegetarian. I asked her recently what she remembers about vegetarian dining from this era and she simply confirmed what I remember her eating when I was a kid.
If you went out to eat your options were usually salads and baked potatoes. This was true for any steak house or sit-down restaurant that wasn’t Italian or Chinese. Salads were usually a plate of iceberg lettuce, chunks of flavorless tomato, shredded cheese, a boiled egg slice, and dressing. If you were lucky, carrots and avocado slices. The baked potato was smothered in cheese, butter, sour cream, or a combination of these. Vegetarian, but not the healthiest fare.
But what about cuisine like Mexican, Asian, Italian and Pizza? Always vegetarian friendly cuisines. Before 1990, if you went to a restaurant with these cuisines, you could find meatless options, but not always strict vegetarian. Mexican food was often prepared with lard. Chinese restaurants used fish sauces in cooking. Italian restaurants and pizza were safer for the strict vegetarian. You could get fettuccine alfredo and pasta primavera, but vegetarian lasagna was pretty rare. You could usually get a vegetarian pizza made to order.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Chuck Eats KC to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.