I made a revelation this week, about food. But let me spin you a yarn first.
As all of you reading this (yes, all three of you!) know, this trip to Pennsylvania has been full of mishaps. The one thing that was very important for me to do while I was here was visit Vegan Treats in Bethlehem, PA.
It was over an hour away from where we were staying, but a last-minute photo shoot in Atlantic City made it possible for us to not only take a (very temporary) break from the chaos, but to go on an adventure. Bethlehem wasn't exactly on the way there, but the fun, road-trip vibe of our journey made me even more excited for the visit. We finally found Vegan Treats, in all of its adorable glory, and as Lars pulled the door to let me in, the extension of his arm came to a screeching halt.
Vegan Treats was closed on Mondays. It was Monday.
Did I burst into tears? Yes. Not just because the delicious pastries were calling to me, but because I just had no stress capacity left. Lars was a mix of annoyed and empathetic. This trip was crazy for both of us. We drove to Atlantic City, stopping at WaWa for a surprise selection of vegan foods on-the-go: pita with hummus, carrots and celery with peanut butter dip, fresh fruit and an incredible sun-dried tomato and fruit pasta. Who would have thought WaWa?
The next day we ventured back toward Northeastern Pennsylvania and finally made our long-awaited stop.
Vegan Treats isn't the easiest to find unless you're local- it's got a colorful storefront quietly tucked away on a quaint street with lots of free parking- something I'm definitely not used to seeing. The inside resembles a cross between a gourmet New York City cake shop and a 1950's soda fountain, with cheeky nods to punk rock and an entire wall plastered with sparkling reviews by everyone from the local college newspaper to national publications like VegNews. The staff was friendly (an adorable redhead named Lauren helped us) and the selection… nothing short of overwhelming. They even had a complete row of gluten-free desserts that stretched across the entirety of the display case.
We tried the gluten-free mango cheesecake with walnut crust and a chocolate cheesecake topped with a pretzel. Presentation alone had every vegan bakery in Minneapolis beat by a landslide, not to mention, they were both better-tasting than most dairy-based cheesecakes. We sampled the vanilla bean soft serve ice cream and Lars and I both agreed it was the best we had ever had- vegan or not. We took home a gluten-free butterscotch cookie, a double chocolate cookie, a chocolate-glazed donut… and a cute souvenir scarf too.
Later that night, we dove into our remaining treats. Sometimes referred to as "The Donut Police" (only by me), Lars inspected and reluctantly tasted the donut he purchased. A moment after the first bite, he rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"How is it?" I asked.
He looked at me and said, "Angela… this donut tastes exactly like the ones from Rewe in Germany."
This is a compliment most high. You see, Lars' family comes from Weinheim, a west German town near Alzey. Americans love our desserts sickly-sweet, but Germans concentrate on a buttery finish, the highest quality chocolate and flour that is so fine it feels silky. We Americans just don't make donuts like they do. On his last trip to visit his aunt Gertrud, Lars smuggled back a donut for me (well it was actually a half a donut… I think he may have not been able to resist). Even two days old, from a German gas station and exposed to a couple of x-ray machines, it was like nothing I ever tasted before. After trying it for myself, the chocolate-glazed donut from Vegan Treats did indeed taste like a two-hundred year-old recipe in rural Europe, except it had been made that morning and had no layovers.
As much as we had fallen in love with Vegan Treats, I made the assumption that perhaps Bethlehem wasn't a hub of vegan culinary arts. It made me wonder, with such a high population of vegans and so many restaurants catering to vegans in Minneapolis, why didn't the stuff from Minneapolis taste better? The answer lies in how hard Vegan Treats had to work to establish itself. If you're in an area of the country where vegans will patronize your food business whether it's good or not, you get lazy. You can always rest comfortably on the notion that because it is a specialized type of food, customers' expectations are unrealistic if they don't like how it tastes. By stark contrast, if you live in a community where you need to impress vegans AND non-vegans in order to keep your doors open (except on Mondays! Write that down! Learn from my mistake!), your vegan desserts better be able to take business from the dairy-fueled ice cream shop a half a block away. To pull this off is a feat in and of itself, but to gain national acclaim and become a vegan landmark, you must be truly exceptional. Vegan Treats accomplishes this while making it look effortless.
If you're a vegan foodie who has felt like you had to settle for the mediocre or just create desserts at home, Vegan Treats will change your expectations of what a restaurant free of animal products can offer you. This place convinced me there are no excuses for great food. Vegan or not, if the food a restaurant serves you doesn't taste good, they're not trying hard enough.
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