Three things I want to

Three things I want to find in the Northern Virginia area: vegetarian restaurants, farmer’s markets, and food co-ops.

I know I won’t find vegetarian Chinese food as good as Hunan Delight in Brooklyn or Vegetarian House of Dim Sum in Manhattan’s Chinatown, but I’m going to keep my eye on the vegetarian resources listed at dcpages.com, and maybe one day make it out to Rockville MD to try Yuan Fu. The Vegetarian Society of DC also keeps a list of area restaurants and groceries.

Since we won’t be able to get great produce by just walking down the street, we’re going to have to figure out the farmer’s market scene.

We never joined the Park Slope Food Coop, probably because they didn’t let non-members shop and membership required a $100 deposit. A membership certainly would have been worth the money, but it never seemed to be the right time. Natural food stores are few and far between, but there’s Straight from the Crate in Alexandria, and The Uncommon Market, a cooperative in Arlington. Kendall at monkeyfist has a good explanation of why I want to avoid shopping at Fresh Fields as much as possible.

We’ll also need a source for fresh bulk spices, and ingredients for Indian, Japanese, and Chinese dishes that we make. This Washingtonian Restaurants and Dining section actually has a good deal of info about shopping for groceries. According to this Washingtonian article on ‘ethnic’ markets, there’s a great Indian spice store in Arlington. So I guess we’ll be alright.