by Erin Kowtko
Ever been out to a restaurant, peruse the extensive menu only to shake your head in dismay because there aren’t any vegetarian options? It still happens to me from time to time unless I do my homework ahead of time or settle for a boring plate of overpriced pasta.
Fear no more, fellow vegetarians, vegans and health conscious folks, because Happy Cow ensures that you won’t have another awkward night out on the town. This website was created by Eric Brent in 1999. He traveled extensively and had difficulties finding vegetarian and vegan options for meals out. Therefore, he created this website as a resource for those with a predilection for cruelty-free consumption. Since its inception, the site has developed tremendously. There is a worldwide community dedicated to the evolution of compassionate food choices who frequent this site.
The website is easy to navigate and it’s free to join their community. Naturally, there is an app for it that works with Apple products (iPhones, iPads) and android products. For apple products, you may download it in your App Store. For Android users, you can download it via Google Play Market or a QR Code Scanner. Unfortunately, the app is not free, but it won’t break the bank at $3.99.
This site can be as simple or robust as you want it to be. Not surprisingly, the most popular feature is the Restaurant section. It allows you to search for whatever genre of food you desire in a particular location. For example, I typed in our fair city of Atlanta and that I wanted only Vegan and Vegetarian places to populate. This is what I found within a 10-mile radius of me:
In this case, it is color coded by Vegan vs Vegetarian and when you hover over a spot, it populates the store name, address and phone number. Depending upon the city you’re in and how robust the community is, there are reviews about the restaurants to help you make your decision as well.
Another cool feature about this site is the travel section. You pick whatever country you want to go to and it populates a selection of vegetarian-friendly wellness retreats and lodging options. Sadly, I only found one spot listed for Atlanta but I hope that will change over time.
Happy Cow offers so much in terms of support for the community and education. There are topics dedicated to Vegetarian Health, Environmental Awareness and Animal Rights, as well as blogs featuring current topics in the community. It’s a non-threatening environment with the intention to provide wide-ranging information about the lifestyle. For those folks who do consume meat or animal products, I don’t believe this site will be offensive. It doesn’t have the judgmental feeling that other well-known sites have, which is important. I’ve gone from strict vegetarian, to vegan, to eating occasional fish/chicken and no matter what stage I was in, I felt comfortable using Happy Cow as a resource. Therefore, I encourage you to give the site a try. All are welcome at Happy Cow and you may just discover a new favorite restaurant!
Erin Kowtko
Erin has years of experience in the healthcare and non-profit sector. She brings her skills and passion to benefit Network 1’s team, clients and partners. She strives to provide the best service and solutions to her clients so they can achieve greatness through Worry-Free IT.
ekowtko@network1consulting.com or 404.997.7656
Network 1 Consulting is an 19-year-old, IT Support company in Atlanta, GA. We become – or augment – the IT department for law firms and medical practices. Our IT experts can fix computers – but what our clients value most are the industry-specific best practices we bring to their firms. This is especially important with technology, along with regulations and cyber threats, changing so rapidly. We take a proactive approach to helping our clients use technology to gain and keep their competitive advantage.
