Last week after a stressful day I was able to walk a few blocks over to Chinatown and get takeout from My Thai, an all-vegan thai restaurant. The place has ridiculously good reviews and has won a ton of awards from Zagat and other foodie-esque societies.

If you read my review of Veggie Galaxy in Cambridge, you’ll notice that I ordered a lot of food. Here’s a good tip: if you want to order a lot of food and not feel guilty about it, start a blog about being a vegan and defend your choices by saying you’ll write a post about it.

I ordered pad thai, chicken fingers (again, 100% vegan), steamed dumplings, and a slice of chocolate cake. I did not have high hopes for all of the fake meat, but it smelled amazing so I understood that if I couldn’t eat it at least I could waft it.

It should be noted that the restaurant is also a sit down place. It’s on the second floor of an apartment-style building, and the walk up the flight of stairs is quite sketchy, but as soon as you walk into the restaurant you feel warm and cozy. It’s warmly lit (LOL it's so lit), the customer service is great, and because it’s on the second floor and features wall to wall windows, you get a nice view of Chinatown. Now I’m going to talk about the food, because while the aesthetically pleasing atmosphere is a plus, my takeout could come from the dirty basement of a Lutheran church and I wouldn’t think anything of it. I believe that if I lived in the same universe as Ratatouille, I would be totally chill with the fact that rats were preparing my food. Yeah I get it, it’s a rat, but Remy washes his hands and he’s a wonderful chef. Get off his back, okay?

The pad thai is bomb. This was my first experience with fake meat, chicken and shrimp in particular. I’m guessing it was made out of tofu, but it was an amazing substitute that tasted exactly like real chicken/shrimp. I’m not surprised, Chinatown is usually pretty good at selling knock-offs (*Ba dum tss* Thank you folks, I’ll be here all night). The noodles are also mixed with peanuts, roasted vegetables, onions, scallions, and bean sprouts. The decently-sized tub of pad thai is priced at $8.25 and I want to eat it every night, every day of the week, forever. It’s really exciting finding vegan foods that are as savory as meat, because most things I eat lately are starchy, fruity, or vegetable-y. I rate it a 10/10

The chicken fingers are not bomb. I think they would be better with a sauce, but they just tasted like fried stuff. Made out of tofu and fried in wheat flour to a golden brown, they don’t have a lot of taste to them. The initial flavor of the fried outer later is like biting into a funnel cake. It was awkward-tasting. I rate them an “awkward pubescent boy asking you to slow dance in a middle school gym” out of 10.

The steamed dumplings were pretty standard. They were stuffed with marinated veggies and tofu and made me happy. I rate them a 7/10. Same goes for the chocolate cake, it tastes exactly like every vegan cake I’ve had: more dense, less sweet, still good. 7/10.

Much like when I visited Veggie Galaxy, my spirits were lifted. I love finding alternatives to animal products, like vegan butter, cream cheese, and baking materials, but it’s rarely easy. There’s no solid substitute for the way that string cheese makes me feel, or the way a hamburger gets me full; However, it’s reassuring to know that there is vegan food out there that doesn’t suck. Another thing thats reassuring to think about is the fact that I have not once this semester felt guilty or obsessive about what I have eaten. I think most of us are familiar with a late night binge of junk food that turns into an hour of examining your stomach in the mirror. There’s also the way these binges have made my body feel: stuffed up and lethargic. Physically and emotionally, I have felt better eating on a vegan diet. The fact is that you can eat a higher volume of calorie-dense, plant-based food and feel full, but without the digestive back-up that meat causes and without the heaviness of thick dairy.

I’ve been thinking about the end of my semester and my transition back into eating animal products, and I know that I won’t be the same, and that these foods should be eaten in moderation.

I am slowly morphing into your obnoxious vegan health-nut friend. I’m just as scared as you are. Run away, run far away.

Tongue Thai'd