since o’hare is my home airport and also the site of many, many layovers, i thought i’d take the opportunity tonight to investigate vegan options while waiting for a flight. stacey had told me previously that she found vegan food at o’hare, so i did a little research ahead of time. i went in knowing that somewhere there was a) food from soul veg, and b) a veggie dog.
while looking for the above, i came across a couple other options. at argo tea (terminal 2, concourse E), there were these bowls of grains and veggies and two of them were marked vegan: a chickpea salad thing with veggies, and another thing i can’t remember. one that seemed vegan (brown rice with tomatoes and other veggies) seemed like it would be vegan but was not marked vegan. these options were listed, but at the time (5 pm, so things were a little picked over) they only had the rice/tomato one and two with meat.
i passed some airport standards: auntie anne’s which allegedly has vegan pretzels, jamba juice, smoothie king. i saw vosges chocolate bars in a couple different places (chicago brand, dark chocolate is vegan, but be careful not to get the dark chocolate bar that has BACON!). finally i found CIBO, which is a small grocery stand in between terminals 1 and 2. CIBO is the one that has prepackaged soul veg food! i was excited. however, the pickings were again slim–they listed 4 soul veg meals on the menu but only had a sad-looking taco salad–and they also don’t heat the food. eggplant parmesan was also on the list, but would you really want that cold?
i continued to terminal 1, then to concourse C, which is where you go through the tunnel of rainbow lights and soothing music. at concourse C i finally found exactly what i wanted: america’s dog. it’s a local hotdog chain with “city dogs” based on hot dogs in different american cities, and you can get any of them with a veggie dog instead of meat (some are chili dogs and i didn’t ask if the chili is veg or not). i got a chicago-style veggie dog and, expecting a smart dog, was pleasantly surprised to find the veggie dog was jumbo-sized and had a much better color AND texture than a smart dog. i didn’t ask if it was vegan, but a couple of vegan blogs had mentioned it, so i figured it was, but i recommend confirming.
i look forward to my next wait at o’hare!
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stacey's comment:
October 14, 2011 at 9:55 am
i’m so glad someone else posted besides me. it’s lonely here! i’m even happier to learn that there are more vegan options at o’hare. so far i have only bought the food from CIBO. I noticed that Argo tea has vegan food, but it all sounds boring.
Things i have had from CIBO and my thoughts about them:
healthy hoagie: too healthy
eggplant parmesan: it’s amazing (cold or hot)
spicy buffalo tofu: good
It have never realized that CIBO has a menu. where is it?
also sold at CIBO: Nugo bars (the mint chocolate chip is good)
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emily's comment:
October 14, 2011 at 10:08 am
well, it wasn’t so much a “menu” as a list of the things they usually have from soul veg- i don’t remember seeing buffalo tofu on there, perhaps they don’t have that anymore. the description of the eggplant parmesan said the same thing as you, that it’s good cold or hot, which they followed up by writing, “(we will not heat it for you).” haha. i should have tried a nugo bar. instead i had a luna bar on the plane, which i’m still addicted to since our trip (i’ve mainly been focusing on chocolate chunk and chocolate coconut flavors).
i’m now at a conference in lincoln, nebraska for the weekend, and if i get the chance i’ll do a post about vegan food here. i have quite a bit of free time and don’t know anybody else here… what better way to explore a place than scouting out delicious vegan food?
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