This blog post is a wild ride! It’s outlining my adventures of eating vegan food in Mississippi with none other than Timothy Pakron (aka MississippiVegan). You’ve probably noticed he makes a lot of appearances in my what I ate vlogs and posts in general! He’s from Jackson, Mississippi which isn’t overflowing in vegan options. But we set out to make this an amazing trip where we could cook each other vegan food, experiment in the kitchen and have a blast while we were at it!
hot for food approved
Timmy’s house was freaking beautiful and I was so excited to be staying with him! As vegan chefs and content creators, we’ve really taught each other a lot during our time travelling together. As you know, I love to cook up random dishes in what I call RECIPE?! and that’s exactly what I did on our first night. We had some beautifully colored cauliflowers sittin’ around, so I was inspired to make a roasted vegetable salad. For some extra protein and texture I threw in roasted spicy chickpeas, and I topped it with a hummus-based dressing with chives from his garden. Obvi because carbs are LIFE, I also made a roasted garlic bowtie pasta with green olives and cashew parm. We ate out of bowls bigger than our faces and were happy as (vegan) clams after!
High Noon Cafe
For lunch, we took a break from cooking and went to the High Noon Cafe. We had tomato soup, the tofu teriyaki bowl with peanut sauce, thin soup (my fave!), and seaside cakes. The seaside cakes were surprisingly seafood-like and I really loved ‘em!
My final meal in Jackson was also at High Noon Cafe! Timmy and I had the pad thai and burrito, and both were super satisfying & delish!
Unfortunately, this restaurant is no longer open (BOO!)
After a trip foraging in the woods and to Cypress Swamps, we hit up the spot that rarely disappoints… Whole Foods! We noshed a slice of vegan pizza to tie us over until we cooked that night. For snacks, here’s the rundown of what we got: Earth Balance Sour Cream & Onion Chips, hamburger buns, Late July Bacon Habanero Tortilla Chips, noodles, purple cabbage, and Kite Hill vegan yogurt! Below is part 2 of the trip where the madness picks back up.
For dinner that night, we decided to have a little kitchen face off! There was a trend going on at the time that we’d seen all over the internet… “unicorn” noodles, but I hate everything called unicorn. So to me, they were just pink noodles! The key to making them is boiling purple cabbage and cooking your pasta in it. Then you add something acidic like lemon juice, and they turn a crazy vibrant pink color! We went a lil’ wild and both made our own tasty takes on them… just for fun. Which do you think was the best?! (Mine’s on the left!)
We were still on a cooking roll and didn’t want to eat that pasta for dinner, so we also made burgers! The field roast patties are a total winner and make a beautiful vegan burg. We had some chips on the side and called it a day.
The next day, Timmy jumped into the kitchen and had me eating like a true queen. He made me vegan gumbo, rice pilaf, his secret bacon (get it in his cookbook!), and vegan flaky biscuits from Annie’s. I don’t think they’re available in Canada yet… but if you ever see them, ya gotta let me know! They cooked up so well, and he made us lil’ fake bacon sandwiches that were DIVINE! Have ya noticed that Timmy is a total vegan genius yet?
Upon waking after eating that feast, it was time to eat even MORE vegan grub. We basically live to cook and eat, if you can’t tell! We made a huge brunch feast of tater tot casserole, tofu scramble, more secret bacon, and more biscuits with vegan butter. I’m DROOLING just thinking about this combo again! We made a gorgeous spread on the table for the gram, then dug right in and didn’t hold back.
Health Nuts
This is basically the only local health food store in Jackson with the kind of options we wanted! I grabbed some dark chocolate peanut butter cups for the plane ride back cause I’m a smartie pants, and we enjoyed wandering around and grabbing a few other things.
verdict: totally a must-visit spot if you’re on the hunt for vegan food in Mississippi – especially grocery items!
Qdoba’s
We stopped here for some vegan fast food and definitely left satisfied! They’ve got a really great tortilla soup that’s vegan friendly, and you can customize your burrito, taco, burrito bowl or taco salad just the way you like it. Mexican food is something I can always get down with, y’all!
verdict: a great place with lots of choices if you’re vegan! Plus Mexican dishes are super hearty and filling when you load up on beans, rice, veggies and OF COURSE, guac!
Well Mississippi, I got to see you in the best way possible: with Timmy! It was amazing to help him develop some new ideas for his cookbook. I made him my vegan parmesan on this trip, and it basically knocked his socks off. It even makes a special debut in the book, so you’ll have to buy a copy to see it for yourself! Aside from that, cooking together and learning about where he’s from was such a fun experience. We definitely had our fair share of vegan food in Mississippi, that’s for sure! Make sure to check out his website and social media (@MississippiVegan)!
