garden fresh

I haven't mentioned this for a while, but as a staff photographer for the Stanford Daily I've been introduced to a lot of restaurants in Palo Alto that I might never have found otherwise. One of the best finds has been Garden Fresh-- a vegan Chinese restaurant off University Avenue. To be honest, I don't typically associate most Asian cuisines as vegan or even vegetarian friendly-- I've found that many dishes are dependent on meat or at least meat flavorings.

Garden Fresh is an entirely new (and refreshing) experience. I tried their sweet and sour "pork" and in all honesty, I could not tell the difference between the soy protein and actual pork. It was mind blowing. Although my experiences with veganism are pretty limited, this restaurant is a true testament to vegan potential. Sometimes I think that we believe certain dishes can only be made in one particular way-- but by thinking this way we reject own creativity in the kitchen. It's a lifestyle that I'm curious to learn more about and even though I'm not quite ready to declare it as my adopted eating preference, I'm excited to experiment with the possibilities.