Walking within the winding roads of the Bishop Arts District, the teal blue bungalow with large “VFH” letters draws you in. The starkly dark wooden interior has a cozy but casual aesthetic with beautiful art hung on the walls providing not only ease in ordering from your table but ease for all dietary restrictions.
Photography by Kathy Tran
Photography by Kathy Tran
Photography by Kathy Tran
Photography by Kathy Tran
Photography by Kathy Tran
Photography by Kathy Tran
Since 2019, Elizabeth Anderson, 49, has been running Vegan Food House. She has a background in the service industry, having formerly owned a bar in Deep Ellum during her early 20s and worked in the hospitality industry for six years.
For over a decade she has been living the vegan lifestyle, having been a vegetarian since her college days in 1995.
“I think that I’ve never enjoyed meat the way other people do,” she says. “If it had a bone in it, I wasn’t going to eat it, even as a child.”
She says that she always thought of the animal cruelty aspect when it came to eating. When looking at cows in the back of a truck being transported, it brought her to tears.
“I just thought this whole ride, they’re standing up, packed in that thing, and they are going to slaughter.”
Anderson says she also thought about committing fully to veganism for health reasons.
“I was really concerned about what we were going to teach our son about this planet that we were bringing him into,” she says. “And overall from the water shortages that used to be mainly from cows … just thinking about the whole planet and really wanting to leave it a better place for him, and doing what we could to be part of the solution and not the problem.”
Prior to the more modern trendiness of healthy living, veganism and vegetarianism had several stigmas shared by the public that marginalizes individuals who choose to pursue ethical practices in their diets. This led to limited options, and that’s where Vegan Food House fills the void.
“You really couldn’t go anywhere that had a vegan menu that was just a mainstream restaurant,” she says. “And so I think it’s pretty cool now that other restaurants do it, but I know that you’re running a risk of getting non-vegan food in your food crossover.”
What makes Vegan Food House different is there is no chance of that crossover, no nonvegan chefs that just don’t care like you care. The restaurant focuses on trying out different vegetables for flavor instead of imitation when it comes to their food, that way no harmful preservatives are on the plate.
And people often don’t even believe it. Anderson says that she’ll often get the jokes, “I like real this, and I like real that,” but when the skeptics come out to try her creations, they often assume there has been some mistake.
“I have people calling up to the restaurant swearing the oyster mushroom we fried as chicken is real chicken. They always think the shrimp is real,” she says.
Anderson shares that others have gone as far as to leave Google reviews that they were given real cheese in their macaroni.
“Nothing could be further from the truth. We don’t have anything dairy or meat-related, even in our restaurants, (we) don’t even allow people to bring it in,” she says.
Rather than enjoying the quote-unquote “real,” Vegan Food House provides a large selection of all-vegan versions of wings, po’boys, burgers, tacos and nachos.
“Forever I’m going to love the Big Fish Po Boy ($18). I just love that sandwich because I love po’boys anyway, and it’s just so fresh,” Anderson says.
Other favorites of hers are the grilled Eggplant Parmigiana Spaghetti ($18) and the Veggie Plate with toast ($17.50), which includes spinach or kale, corn, smashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, pinto beans, and gravy that is “full of flavor.”
Not only does Vegan Food House focus on providing the knowledge that vegan food can be flavorful, but one of the biggest accomplishments Anderson shared is being able to pay her staff of 10 a living wage.
“Even when margins have been really tight, we’ve been able to take care of the people who work for us,” she says.
Vegan Food House, veganfoodhouse.com, 832 W. Seventh St., 469.248.0297
