Could you love someone who eats meat if you’re a vegetarian? Would you forgive your man if he acts like a swine, but not if he eats it? Or what if you’re kosher and she’s not?

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, the NY Times has an article on the role food plays in relationships:

No-holds-barred carnivores, for example, may share the view of Anthony Bourdain, who wrote in his book “Kitchen Confidential” that “vegetarians, and their Hezbollah-like splinter faction, the vegans … are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit.”

Returning the compliment, many vegetarians say they cannot date anyone who eats meat. Vegans, who avoid eating not just animals but animal-derived products, take it further, shivering at the thought of kissing someone who has even sipped honey-sweetened tea.

Could you date someone who didn’t share your culinary leanings? Or marry them? It certainly makes picking a place to go out on Valentine’s Day more complicated.

Then again, if Mayor Nutter, who does not eat meat, can dine at Morton’s for the sake of bringing City Council together, then maybe vegans and carnivores can make sweet omnivorous love.

I Love You, but You Love Meat [NY Times]

The Daily News informs us that Hugs for Puppies, the organization that protests foie gras at restaurants around town, is getting into the dining guide business. They’ve launched VegPa.net, a new website with a database of vegetarian and vegetarian-friendly restaurants in Pennsylvania. A useful resource and perhaps, ultimately, a more effective use of their time?

Speaking of vegetarian dishes, the pig-less future of scrapple is here and it’s called Vrapple. And it’s damn good.

Veggie Interesting [philly.com]
VegPa.net [Official Site]

Living On The Vedge recommends you up your street cred by ordering the seitan cheesesteak at the Abbaye.

The Abbaye will make you a changed man. The Seitan Cheesesteak here is a special, but it’s usually there, because everyone wants to be with it. Juicy pieces of seitan are smothered with cheese and grilled onions and folded into a roll, with crispy frites and a side of cheese sauce that insists on being used for both. Add beer. You, looking like a person that I want to know.

Living On The Vedge [Living On The Vedge]

Philebrity reports that Maoz Vegetarian is open a second Philadelphia store, this one at 11th and Walnut.

Food Blob: Make Falafel, Not War [Philebrity]
Maoz Vegetarian [Official Site]

Living On The Vedge tries some of the numerous vegetarian options at the Belgian Cafe.

The “Scallops” were really pieces of smoked tofu wrapped in fake bacon and vegan caviar, but this dish was difficult to execute. The bacon did not seem particularly invested in securing the tofu, and the entire creation was easily rendered a mess if not carefully forked into. We moved on to the wings and forgave. The sweet-not-too-spicy BBQ sauce covered tender pieces of crusted seitan for the perfect bar snack. I’d order this again in a second, although it didn’t come with the celery as described on the menu, just vegan aoli.

Veg Out: The Belgian Cafe [Living On The Vedge]
The Belgian Cafe [Official Site]

Living On The Vedge heads out to West Philadelphia to the Dock Street Brewery & Restaurant to try some of the vegan options on the menu. Oh and of course to try out some of the beer too.

Veg Out: Dock Street Brew Pub [Living On The Vedge]

National Mechanics in Old City has been advertising their veggie burger as best in the world. A bold statement no doubt. So what does Living On The Vedge think?

Well, I’m not that worldly yet, but you can have the city. If I wasn’t so quick to dig in, I might have adjusted my flash so that the true beauty of National Mechanics’ house-made veggie burger could shine through. You’ll just have to trust that this was packed with every vegetable I can think of, did not even attempt to mimic meat, and was insanely delicious and satisfying.

Veg Out: National Mechanics [Living On The Vedge]
National Mechanics [Official Site]

Read the confessions of a meat eater and find out what beer bar is adding a wine lounge.

The true confessions of meat eater [Metro Philadelphia]

Mac & Cheese braves restaurant week as a vegetarian choosing to dine at Mantra.

The food at Mantra is nothing extraordinary, and it will not blow your mind, but there was something endearing about Mantra – maybe the inventive use of electrical plates, or the upside down Chinese characters. I walked away really not wanting to dis Mantra. She felt like a crafty sister that I don’t have trying to make it in the big city. I’d definitely go hang out in front of the glowing orange bar and have a drink and an appetizer, but not a full meal. The quality of the food at Mantra just doesn’t warrant the upscale prices.

Mantra [Mac & Cheese]
Mantra [Official Site]

Innuendo and a really terrible pun (and by terrible we mean great) mark this review of South Philadelphia’s Cafe de Laos.

Veg Out: Cafe De Laos [Living On The Vedge]