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Eunice Reyes searches Southern California — and the world — for the best vegan restaurants and shares her discoveries with her hungry plant-based followers on her Youtube channel and Instagram account, Rated V for Vegan.
Plant-based travel and food content creator Eunice Reyes could find only one vegan-friendly restaurant when she first visited Valencia, Spain.
“I was like, ‘Whoa, it would suck to be vegan here,’” Eunice recalled thinking.
A year later, when she accepted an English teaching position in Spain, the irony wasn’t lost on her when she was placed in Valencia. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is hilarious. The one place where I thought it sucked to be plant-based is where I am now,’” she says.
Moving to a country that’s known for foods like jamon, seafood paella, and croquettes, Eunice expected the worst. But what she found instead was that in Valencia — and in cities like Barcelona and Madrid — plant-based eaters had plenty of options.
It’s not uncommon for vegan travelers like Eunice to assume that certain destinations like Spain can be inaccessible. But through Rated V for Vegan, Eunice’s Youtube and Instagram account, she highlights vegan food spots around the world and aims to show her audience that they can travel anywhere.
As a lifelong foodie, Eunice always loved trying new restaurants, exploring different types of cuisines, and binging food and travel content created by chefs like Anthony Bourdain. For Eunice, food was a way to immerse herself in a new culture.
“If you're not traveling to different countries, the easiest way to immerse yourself in a culture is through food,” says Eunice, who currently lives in Long Beach. “I always loved that, I always loved the adventure.”
But after watching the documentary What the Health, which exposes the link between food and health and promotes a vegan lifestyle, Eunice knew she wanted to shift to a plant-based diet.
The transition wasn’t too difficult for her, because she already cooked vegetarian and vegan food at home. But she did notice one big change — she could no longer eat the food that she was seeing online and in travel shows. That’s when she decided to create the content herself.
She made her first video on her Rated V for Vegan Youtube channel in 2018, about the vegan cinnamon roll company Cinnaholic’s opening in Seattle, where she was living at the time.
At first, Eunice knew nothing about content creation, but she did know that she wanted to highlight how fun veganism can be. With the mission of showing her audience that being vegan doesn’t have to hold you back from travel, Eunice documented her experiences exploring the plant-based food scene in cities from Milan, Italy to Nice, France.
Each video posted on YouTube and Instagram would take hours of work, from planning, to filming, to finally editing. And even after all that work, they’d sometimes garner only 50 or so views in those early years, Eunice says.
“You wonder, ‘What am I trying to do?’ Because this is a lot of work, and I don't even know if anybody cares or if they're watching,’” she says.
Eunice was in her second year of living in Spain when she posted a simple mushroom taco recipe video that took off. It was just the sign she needed to keep going, she says.
“I really do love sharing vegan food … I really want people to know how different it can look, how diverse it can be, how healthy it can be,” she says. “Even when I was discouraged and wanted to quit, I couldn't actually quit. That was the crazy part. It's like, you have this passion inside of you that you're just like, ‘No, I can't turn it off, even when I want to.’ And so I just kept going.”
Rated V for Vegan continued to grow over the next couple of years. And last year, Eunice took the leap and went full-time with content creation.
“I used to dream about traveling as a vegan as a profession,” she says. “If only the Cinnaholic video girl knew this.”
Since then, she has hosted two international trips for other vegan travelers, with three more planned for this year, to Croatia, Vietnam, and potentially Spain. Her biggest reward, she says, has been the opportunity to connect with and learn the stories of countless local business owners and people on their vegan journeys, from California and across the world.
‘I wanted to show people how exciting plant-based food can be, and that it shouldn't be as intimidating,' Eunice Reyes says. ‘I just want to tell people, it's not as hard as you think.'
“I love hearing stories … where people are so passionate about a plant-based lifestyle that they themselves are going to do something that can make an impact,” she says.
And Eunice hopes to do the same. The lack of vegan food in airports, lounges, and on planes is particularly frustrating for vegan travelers, and is an area with so much room for growth, she says.
“There's been some really good meals, and then there's been some where your snack is literally bread with a slice of tomato and cucumber. Nobody wants to eat that,” she says. “I don't know how I'm going to do it yet, but where there's a will, there's a way.”
She also hopes to create more travel guides and potentially products to help people make the transition to veganism.
Although health was the initial driver for Eunice, sustainability plays a large role in inspiring people to embrace veganism.
According to University of Oxford research, becoming plant-based can reduce an individual’s greenhouse gas emissions by 75% compared to those who follow meat-heavy diets. Vegans also use less than half the amount of water than their non-vegan counterparts and contribute to 66% less biodiversity loss.
“If people made the transition, that would really help,” Eunice says.
For Eunice, the goal is not to convert people to veganism, but instead, to provide positive experiences with vegan food, with the ultimate hope of making veganism more accessible.
“I'm not gonna lie, sometimes it is hard, especially depending where you go,” Eunice says. “Sometimes in the smaller cities, they're not gonna have plant-based milk … sometimes they don't know what veganism is.”
And occasionally, traveling as a vegan does require some more research, but that’s nothing new for foodies, who typically already look up foods to try and restaurants to visit before a trip, she says.
But overall, Eunice has learned that travel can be even more exciting when you discover a veganized version of a local food. In her travels, she’s found everything from veganized Spanish-style sausage to a plant-based rendition of Portuguese Francesinha, a gravy and cheese-filled dish similar to a croque monsieur.
“I wanted to show people how exciting plant-based food can be, and that it shouldn't be as intimidating,” she says. “I just want to tell people, it's not as hard as you think.”
Eunice’s Favorite Vegan Spots Across Los Angeles:
When she’s not traveling, Eunice can be found exploring the best vegan spots across L.A. County. Here are some of her top choices.
Pura Vita
“It's hard to come by vegan Italian food, and Pura Vita is the queen of vegan pasta! I love the cacio e pepe, Calabrese pasta, and don't even get me started on their zaatar bread! (It's basically their magical pizza crust.) It's definitely a gem for L.A.”
Chaumont Vegan
“Any time I have a tourist friend or family visiting L.A., I take them here! I am a pastry lover and Chaumont has some of the most amazing French pastries, dare I say even better than the vegan ones I tried in Paris! My favorite is the pistachio cream–filled croissant and the almond-chocolate croissant.”
Sura Korean BBQ and Tofu House
“I love this spot! It's very rare when you get to enjoy 100% vegan Korean food because the cuisine usually uses a lot of fish sauce in their banchan or shellfish in their side dishes. However, at Sura, all the banchan (side dishes) are 100% vegan for the whole restaurant. Although the restaurant isn't 100% vegan, it has an extensive vegan menu, which includes vegan bulgogi, vegan fried chik'n tenders, japche, various tofu soups and more.”
La Crêpe du Jardin
“They have some of the most creative crepe options, and, not to mention, the funniest social media content! La Crazy Crepe and the vegan ham and cheese with the @yoegg vegan sunny-side up egg are my two favorites. The crepes are perfect, and they make their own vegan hazelnut spread, too!”
Concepts by Violeta (Pop-Up)
“Some of the BEST vegan Mexican food you will ever have. I recently had some of her vegan empanadas, and they were amazing! She makes them with fresh corn tortillas and delicious in-house proteins like walnut and tofu chorizo and oyster mushroom mole. If you ever get a chance, she hosts beautiful private dinners at her home for a full-course meal and will start doing brunch pop-ups!”
Vegan Grocery Stores
“Two of the best vegan grocery stores to support are Urthly Vegan Market and Besties. They literally have all the staple items you can think of, such as favorite vegan proteins, vegan cheeses, desserts, snacks, and pantry staples, like vegan bullion and black salt.”
Vegan Pizza: Love Amaro and Pizza USA
“My top two favorites are Love Amaro Pizza and Pizza USA. Love Amaro has incredible Detroit-style pan pizzas and giant slices of creative pizzas like the Korean BBQ Kiss pizza on the Venice boardwalk and is like a speakeasy because many people don't know it's 100% vegan. Pizza USA has the best white-sauce pizza and Chicago-style pizzas. They make their own almond ricotta, vegan pesto and more.”
Vegan Birria
“I have to just highlight three of my favorite vegan birria spots because I can't just pick one. Cena Vegan is an OG in the scene and I love that they make birria from yuba (tofu skin). It's my absolute favorite, and they make fresh corn tortillas to order for their tacos, and their burritos are amazing. Viva Vegan has some of the best crispy quesa-birria, and they have an extensive jackfruit birria menu like ramen, chimi birria burritos and more. El Compa Vegano has some great vegan birria as well.”
Planta
“Not only does Planta have a gorgeous restaurant in Marina Del Rey looking out to the water, but they offer some amazing menu staples. I love their torched and pressed sushi, and they recently upgraded their menu to include new dishes, and even their burger is to die for! Most importantly, they make some of the best desserts, so don't skip it.”
Dong Hung Vietnamese Bakery
“I think this might be one of my favorite places. Technically it's in Orange County, but trust me, it's worth the drive! They offer an extensive vegan banh mi menu (the vegan lemongrass beef is my favorite) and some of the best French bread in town. They make vegan pastries, like Pâté Chaud, a flakey pastry filled with savory vegan chicken, and sweet ones like vegan croissants. The best part is it's very affordable at $9.50 per large banh mi and pastries at $3.”
Shane's Tamales
“They offer some of the best Mexican vegan tamales year-round, not just for holidays. They are next to Urthly Vegan Market.”
Find Eunice Reyes on Instagram, Youtube, or on her website, https://www.ratedvfood.com/.
