newbie vegetarian family from Vancouver, Canada

[tenilekp]

Hi Everyone!

I write to you from beatiful British Columbia, Canada.
Here in Vancouver, and on the island, we have a high
demograhics of vegetarians here, but the silly thing is,
we do not have a site like this, or an online mag.

I applaud Erin for bringing such a site for all of us to enjoy and utilize. May I ask how long this site has been in operation?

thanks again for all of the great info, here's hoping I will be able
to chat to you all soon.

regards........Charmaine

[Erin Pavlina]

HI Charmaine and welcome.

I started the site in 1999. At the time it was just a gathering place for vegan parents. Over time I turned my hobby into a business and made VegFamily an online magazine complete with fresh new content each month and a staff of writers.

And you can invite all the vegetarians in your area to visit the magazine online anytime they want :)

[Christa]

Welcome. We were in Vancouver for my father's wedding a few years ago. He lives in Bellingham, WA now. Vancouver is really nice. We are from the Bay area (SF) & my dh says that it reminds him of a nicer San Francisco.

I am trying to remember the name of the island off the coast of Vancouver. Do you live on the one that has the ferry going out to it & the nice farmer's market? Is there even more than one island off the coast?

My dh teased me b/c the highlight of my trip to Vancouver was getting soy gelato at Mondo Gelato. It was yummy!

[PikkuMyy]

Then you're close to Denman Island, home of the famous (in our circle of friends) Denman Island Chocolates - vegan and HEAVENLY!!! I hope you've tried it and if not, please do!

[Jenica]

Welcome! Vancouver has always seemed like such a welcoming environment to vegetarians. It's nice to hear that confirmed by a resident! We live in Seattle and go for extended weekends in Vancouver from time to time. Very much like Seattle but more multi-cultural and more liberal in general, from what I can see.

Again, welcome to the boards! :)

~ J

[tenilekp]

Veggie Mom's!

Thanks for the warm welcome!!
In answer to some questions. I live in the city of Vancouver.
It is very urban, but many vegetarians!!

I have friends who live on "Vancouver Island", which includes
cities like Victoria. And yes you have to take a ferry from, "urban
Vancouver to Vancouver Island. From Vancouver Island you can
also take another ferry, to go to Bowen Island. As a family
we have spent many a vacation on the "island" including
Bowen Island. And....there are even more vegetarians/vegans on the island!! Victoria has numerous vegetarian/vegan restaurants.

I have never been to Seattle.(kind of silly, since I live so close
I will venture some day. )

Have a great day or night. And thanks again for the great welcome!!

Regards....Charmaine

[ariix]

Hi! I'm Canadian too, from Ottawa and now living in Montreal. I've been to Vancouver a couple of times and boy is it nice! Last year I went with my BF and his friend and we rented a car and drove up to Bowron lakes to go camping/canoeing, and then came back and had a couple days in Vancouver before going home, it was great!
A few years back my parents went (a friend of my mom's lives in Victoria) and then they spent some time driving around to different places in the mountains. My mom was very amazed when she went into a grocery store in Golden, BC because there were so many vegetarian/vegan products in a regular grocery store in such a small town!
welcome to the boards!
-joanne

[tenilekp]

Hi Joanne!

I spent a few years in Ottawa. I attented University of Ottawa, and I lived on Lee's Avenue. I shared a two bedroom
apartment with my roomate who was a french major.
I also remember going over to Hull till the wee hours of the morning. lol

I wish I could have spent more time in Montreal, have not been
there in years!! Would like to visit someday, and show my daughter. I have relatives there, but god only knows where they are in Montreal!!

Thanks for your reply......

Charmaine

[ariix]

Hi Charmaine!
I spent a few years in Ottawa. I attented University of Ottawa, and I lived on Lee's Avenue. I shared a two bedroom apartment with my roomate who was a french major.
I also remember going over to Hull till the wee hours of the morning. lol
(did you live at 170 Lees Ave? :p )
I think it was just after I became 'of age' that they allowed the bars in Ottawa to close later to stop the "mass exodus" of people crossing over to Hull at 1 am! :p So I never really did the Hull thing myself! But I remember some of my more alcohol-fond high school classmates going over there to try to sneak into the bars (or else after they turned 18, whereas the legal age in Ottawa is 19... )
Ah, good memories!;)
...Have a good weekend!

-Joanne

[tenilekp]

Hi Joanne


I don't remember the exact address but what I do remember, is the building had a pool, it was quite nice, huge
indoor balcony with big windows, and next to our building was a really run down complex. But you know 170 sure sounds like it could be? Please don't tell me that's where you lived? That would be hillarious!!

So why are you in Montreal? Do you speak french?

Regards....Charmaine

[ariix]

I don't remember the exact address but what I do remember, is the building had a pool, it was quite nice, huge
indoor balcony with big windows, and next to our building was a really run down complex.
The really run down complex, THAT would be 170 Lees ave! lol
when I was in high school I had some friends (of the 'kicked out of their parents house, living on student-welfare' type) who lived there... there were some scary people in that building! I heard it was getting 'cleaned up' a bit a few years back, don't know if it really happened...

I'm in Montreal for school (I'm taking statistics) . I do speak french (my english is a lot better though) and I'm going to the Universite de Montreal so I get to practise my french.. it's pretty fun except right now it's the end of term and there is so much work to do! I'll be very happy when the 28th of this month comes around!

cheers! :)

[Gaia]

Hi Joanne and Charmaine,

Sorry to intrude on your conversation but I just wanted to testify that Joanne french is very good :p so if her english is a lot better, she must be Shakespeare of something LOL :p ;)

Charmaine, I'm a Canadian too. Born and raise in Montreal (Laval), now live in Quebec City after three wonderful years in Edmonton. I wish we wil get to see BC in the near future

Cheers !

[ariix]

Sorry to intrude on your conversation but I just wanted to testify that Joanne french is very good
Thank you Gaia! ..but I must admit, my written french is better than my spoken french! ;)
So no I'm no Shakespeare! come to think of it sometimes lately I seem to really scramble my words whether I'm speaking in english or french! :p