Last Updated October 3rd 2007:

Jyoti Bihanga (San Diego): A customer finds out and informs us that the caramel sauce drizzled on top of the vegan moose cake is NOT vegan. The sauce contains dairy,and their response was that it's only on top. Read below for more details.

Orean The Health Express: Oreans cheese, ice cream, and buns are NOT vegan. The icecream and cheese contain casein, and the buns contain whey and honey, however almost all customers are informed that they are vegan upon asking employees. We are attempting to contact management.

California Vegan: still has not disclosed ingredients for the soy chicken used in their sandwich, we have attempted to contact management numerous times in person and by phone.

Green Leaves: Over the phone Green Leaves informed us that they have changed the soy chicken and it is now vegan. We will try to verify this in person in the coming weeks, however till this point we have not been allowed to view ingredients.

Truly Vegan: has confirmed their soy meats (soy chicken, soy fish and soy pepper steak) to have vegan ingredients.

Vegan Express: Contacted Vegan Express via telephone and they informed us that they are still using the same chicken with whey in it.

Vegan Glory: has confirmed their soy meats (soy chicken, soy shrimp, soy fish and soy chicken nuggets) to have vegan ingredients.

The Vegan Joint: has confirmed their soy meats to have vegan ingredients. We tried to visit Vegan Star but it was empty so they are possibly out of business now. We have not contacted Vegan Plate.

Please note that Native Foods who owns the trademark for “California Vegan” and sometimes calls their restaurant “Native Foods: California Vegan” is in no way connected to this situation.

October 3rd 2007: Called Jyoti Bihanga to see if they were still serving the dairy based caramel sauce on top of the vegan moose cake and was informed that they were. We requested that they either change the sauce, or no longer label the item vegan.

August 18th 2007:  A few weeks ago a customer alerted us that they were informed by a Jyoti Bihanga employee that the caramel sauce on top of the Vegan Moose cake contains dairy and wasn't vegan. The employee noted that it was only on top and not in the cake. Jyoti Bihanga makes no effort to inform their customers of this. 

April 19th 2007: After we broke the news about the ice cream at Oreans not being vegan, a customer who ate ice cream there a few weeks early and was guaranteed that it was, went back to Orean’s and asked for his money back. We recommend that you do the same! “I went and said I had recently eaten there and been promised by an employee that the milkshakes were vegan. I said that I had later been informed by an outside source that the milkshakes were not vegan, after checking the ingredients. Thus, I felt I had been lied to and wanted my money back, as I would not have purchased the milkshake knowing it contained a dairy-derivative. The employee didn't seem to understand that there was a dairy-derivative, when the posters say 'dairy-free.' She called the manager, who told her to refund my money and tell me that I could come back the next day to speak with him, if I wanted. I told her that, from now on, if someone asks about the ice cream at all, they should say that there is not enough dairy to cause an allergic reaction but that there are dairy-traced ingredients. I informed her that this was a very strong ethical principle for some of their customers, and that these persons have the right to be truthfully informed.”

April 18th 2007: We were recently contacted by the president of Paws 4 Life in Los Angeles and she filled us in with her experience and findings at Orean Health Express. She found that not only was the cheese not vegan, but the buns have whey and honey in them. Staff would also give her different answers each time, sometimes informing her that certain items were vegan, and other times that the same items were not. She was able to see the ingredients of the hamburger and hot dog buns upon request and found them to contain whey and honey. Upon running into the owner at Orean on one occasion she asked him if the cheese was vegan and his reply was “well, no but it’s only less than 1% that has casein in it”. He also explained that there is a lot of employee turnover and its “impossible” to tell everyone about the ingredients or explain the difference between vegetarian and vegan. Oreans health department inspection notice in the window was also found to be out of date.

April 9th 2007: We started calling up some of the restaurants that were caught with non vegan items in the past, here's what we found out. Vegan Express informed us over the phone that they are still using the same chicken with whey in it. Green Leaves informed us over the phone that they have changed the chicken and it is now vegan. This is something that we will have to confirm in person. We are still trying to get in touch with California Vegan to check ingredients, but it hasn't been an easy task.

April 1st 2007: Orean The Health Express was found to have ice cream that contains casein in it. Customers have been told by employees that it is vegan. It seems that the employees have no idea about what is in the food. Staff members have also been told by employees that the cheese is vegan, but we know it is not because the actual owner mentioned that it contained casein in the past. We are trying to contact management to get a resolution to this situation.

August 17th 2006: The fine folks over at Vegetarians In Paradise checked the ingredients of the soy meats at The Vegan Joint and the results were positive.... all of their soy meats turned out to be vegan! We still haven't been able to confirm anything at California Vegan. Vegan Express and Green Leaves still seem to be selling non-vegan soy meats while still calling their restuarants vegan.

July 22nd 2006: Great News! Truly is Truly a Vegan Restaurant. We were thrilled to find all vegan ingredients in the soy chicken, soy fish and soy pepper steak. After repeated phone calls, visits and emails we still have no luck in getting in touch with the owner of California Vegan. Vegan Express has not gotten back to us either.

July 15th 2006: After doing some research we have found out that these restaurants may be violating Truth-In-Labeling laws. Such laws seem to require restaurants to have ingredients for food they sell which was not made by them (ie. pre-packaged foods), which the soy chicken would seem to fall under that category. The laws also mention violations about giving misinformation about the ingredients of food. We decide to return to the restaurants to get follow-ups and to explain to them that we plan to proceed with possible legal action and will contact the Health Dept. if they continue to sell non-vegan products while labeling them as vegan and/or if they continue to not disclose their ingredients. Truly Vegan would once again not disclose their ingredients in person, this time telling us she would need to ask her "partner" before answering any questions. We informed her of the Truth-In-Labeling laws and showed her portions of a text from lapublichealth.org (the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Home Page). She still would not disclose the ingredients. California Vegan also would not disclose their ingredients and we informed them as well of the Truth-In-Labeling laws and gave them a print-out of the laws. Vegan Glory informed us that the Veggie Master sheets they had previously shown us were actually outdated and that they had been using a different soy meat product this whole time. They brought out the packaging for the soy chicken, soy fish, soy shrimp and soy chicken nuggets and all of them had vegan ingredients. We thank Vegan Glory for showing us their ingredients. Vegan Express told us the guy who we talked to last time was not there and we would need to talk to him since he was the only one who knew about ordering... we asked if they are still serving the soy chicken with whey in it and the young man working at the counter told us that he believed they were still using the same soy chicken. Green Leaves confirmed that their soy chicken still contains whey. We talked to a waitress who told us that if someone asks her if it's vegan or dairy free she will say that the soy chicken is not vegan and not dairy free. We told her that having the word vegan on the menu and on the sign out front would probably keep most people from asking them if the food was vegan or not. She told us we really should talk to the owner but that he was not there. She informed us that if we wanted to talk to the owner about the situation we should write a letter, that's the only way to be sure he gets the message.

June 21st 2006: Sean Bonner from Metroblogging Los Angeles (http://blogging.la) posted a blog saying that he called Vegan Express to ask about the whey. His account goes like this

“Immediately I called Vegan Express [3217 Cahuenga Blvd, (323) 851-8837] and asked about this. The person I spoke to, who refused to give me his name, or the name of the manager, or the owner, denied that they served anything with Whey. When I asked for an official statement he said "Look dude, these rumors have been flying around for a while and it's because of a specific soy protein supplier that includes Whey in it's products so you'd have to check which places use that supplier." When I asked the name of the supplier, or the product he was referring to, he told me "you are going to have to do the work on your own, no one is going to hand you this information" and then hung up.”

(taken from http://blogging.la/archives/2006/06/some_vegan_restaurants_in_la_n.phtml)

June 18th/19th 2006: Exchanged a few e-mails from Toon, the owner of California Vegan, to see if we could figure everything out. After a few e-mails he disclosed the information about at least one of the fake meats he uses, which was vegan. These fake meats did not seem to be the same as they use in the soy chicken sandwich so we e-mailed him asking which one he specifically uses for that sandwich and he never wrote us back.

June 17th /18th 2006: Decided to call Truly Vegan to follow up about ingredients. Asked if I could come in but she wanted to read me the ingredients over the phone. She read me ingredients which seemed odd at that time like cinnamon which made me question if she was really telling me the true ingredients. Now we know that cinnamon is in fact one of the ingredients of a vegan soy chicken product, so my assumption was wrong. When I asked her if I could come in and see the packaging myself, she told me no, that her “owner” was not there and she couldn't let me see it. I asked her what brand the soy chicken was and she said she didn't know. She said the label just had ingredients and no brand name which seemed odd to me. She also told me they order them from Ohio.

June 15th 2006: After hearing from the former employee of Truly Vegan, we felt that it would be a good idea to check the soy meats currently used at Truly as well as at all the other Los Angeles "Vegan" restaurants that have very similar menus and seem to be connected in some way to each other (ie. family, chefs, etc.). Green Leaves (formerly Hollywood Vegan) located at 1769 Hillhurst Ave. After asking the waitress about whey, she brings the soy chicken to us to read the ingredients. The soy chicken contains whey protein and we inform her that it is not vegan and that they should stop calling their restaurant and the food they serve vegan unless they switch to a vegan soy chicken. She walks to the back to speak to the manager about the situation, he tells her to tell us "it's just a little bit of dairy." Truly Vegan at 5907 Hollywood Blvd. We ask the woman who seems to be in charge if the soy chicken contains whey. We explain to her that a former employee told us that their soy chicken contained whey. She told us it does not and we asked if we could see the packaging. She told us that they throw away the packaging and we could not see it. I asked when they get in a shipment and if she could save the packaging for me to read. She told me they would get in the shipment in a couple days and she would save the packaging. California Vegan at 7300 W Sunset Blvd. We ask the two women at the counter if we can see the packaging for the soy chicken to see if it contains whey. They start telling us they don't know what whey is but that it contains no dairy. They tell us they can't show us the packaging because their owner wasn't there and they don't have permission to do so. One of the women all of a sudden, after not knowing what whey was at first, tells us there is no whey and that they make the fake meats at their house. This seems odd as it is illegal for a restaurant to prepare foods at a house. It also seems odd because their fake meats seem to be the same as the ones used at the other "vegan" restaurants. When we are leaving, a cook holds up his camera phone to us and appears to take a photo, although we could be mistaken about this as there is no way to prove it. Vegan Express at 3217 Cahuenga Blvd W. We ask the man at the counter (who also does all their ordering) if there is whey in the soy chicken. He asks what whey is, so we explain. He goes back to look and comes back and tells us there is whey and that he is really bothered that they have been serving non-vegan food. He says he'll contact his distributor to switch. Vegan Glory at 8393 Beverly Blvd. We ask if they use soy chicken with whey and one waitress shows us paperwork with ingredients for some of their soy meats. These ingredients are vegan and are for Veggiemaster fake meats. When we get home we realize that Veggiemaster does not make a Vegan round chicken patty so we wonder if the round soy chicken patty at Vegan Glory is vegan or not.

Early June 2006: A former employee of Truly Vegan tells us that when she worked there in 2005 she found Whey Protein (a dairy ingredient) in the soy chicken. According to her, when she told them it wasn't vegan they didn't seem to really care.