Mushroom Soup and Crazy Salad

The Chefs: Hilary and Whole Foods Market 

The Menu: Hearty mushroom barley soup, an arugula salad with sweet corn, gigante beans, kalamata olives, miscellaneous fruit, and marinated tomatoes, washed down with Synergy's Grape Chia kombucha. 

The Goods: Most of our staff is off stuffing their little faces and brains with goodness at Vida Vegan Con in Portland, Ore., so there are only three of us monkey-shinin' around the near-empty VNHQ. I needed to console myself from coworker withdrawal by blasting New Order all morning and enjoying a warm bowl of mushroom soup from the Whole Foods hot bar (love you, boo!) and a colorful, haphazard side salad with everything but the kitchen sink. One perk of the desolate office environment: I can enjoy my alien-looking—but delicious and Omega-3 rich—chia-kombucha drink free of controversy. Fellow kombucha supporters, I implore you to vote in the 2011 Veggie Awards and show the world that it is more than just a vinegary soda! So much more. 

Queso Veggie Sandwich

The Chef: Gabrielle and Java Beach Café

The Menu: A huge veggie sandwich featuring cucumber, tomato, avocado, sprouts, and mustard in a fresh baguette slathered with some warm and spicy Nacho Mom's Vegan Queso.

The Goods: Tired of lusting over our delicious Java Beach sandwiches? Well, I'm not tired of eating them, though I will be able to mix it up a bit when we move to our amazing new office in San Francisco's Mission district, an area known for excellent vegan offerings like at the fully-vegan Gracias Madre and Cha-Ya Vegetarian Japanese restaurant. Today's sandwich was one of those meals you think about for the rest of the day, due mainly to the delicious Nacho Mom's Vegan Queso I slathered all over it. Accompanying the sandwich is an essential pick-me-up in the form of GT's Synergy Kombucha. Though I usually make my own, sadly I had to leave my scobies back in Canada, so it's GT's to the rescue since this vegan doesn't buy into the controversy surrounding kombucha's alcohol content. Will there be brownies from Allison's Gourmet during my afternoon snack-fest? Um, probably!