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We're The Vegan Project. Our mantra? We're The Vegan "Project," not perfect. |
Restaurant: Cartems Donuterie, 534 West Pender St, Vancouver. ()
Eaters:
Bridget Burns: Vegan. Food enthusiast. Self-stated preference for savory foods over sweet, but open to the challenge.
Sam Shorkey: Vegan. Fitness freak. Creator of bland, healthy desserts (which she claims are amazing nonetheless). Gearing up for competition training and diet. Viewed this night as one of her "last feasts. "
Zoe Peled: Vegan. Also shares a self-stated preference for savory foods. Also heading into (another) month of raw eating, and therefore aspiring to eat as many donuts as possible before March 1st.
Collin McDougall: Vegan. The Vegan Project's token male member, a.k.a. our wrangler, a.k.a. Charlie to our vegan angels.
Kate LeGresley: Non vegan. Digital Marketing Manager at Vitamin Daily. Lover of butter and cream.
Krystle Charlton: Vegan goddess behind Vegucated in Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»(.) New mother to Mochi the kitten, hesitant to leave the cat alone for a long period of time, but more than willing to do so for donuts.
Cartems is Vancouver’s local donuterie, featuring locally-sourced ingredients, vegan options, gluten-free options and a variety of flavours you surely won’t get from your typical Tim Hortons' venture. Recently, Cartems moved into its first bakery/cafe on West Pender. Cartems is renowned as the "go-to" spot for vegan donuts in Vancouver, selling 150-200 donuts per day. On Fridays, they reach peak numbers- averaging 300 donuts a day. "I love making food", says co-owner Rags Narine, " and watching people eat it. I want them to feel the joy I feel, when I'm cooking it for them". Rest be assured, Rags creates joy everyday- such was the case when we experienced the first-ever Vegan Donut Roundtable.
Some of what we ate:
Mini-Donuts with Cinnamon Creme Brulee
These tiny wonders are our very own throwback to the traditional donuts that are offered to the masses at the PNE. A tofu base means the donuts are high-protein. All of the ingredients are organic, local and there are no additives in the mix!
Caprese Pizza Donut
When Rags introduced this donut to the table, the mouths of everyone dropped (actually) and no one spoke for a few moments (truly.) Featuring a vegan "ricotta" marinara sauce, fresh basil, and vegan pesto, all piled on top of a savory donut focaccia.
Chocolate-Saffron Donut with Rosewater Glaze and Raspberry Coulis (also gluten-free)
In a world of heavy, dense, gluten-free baking that resembles cardboard (and/or concrete,) this was a light, fluffy, delicious donut of decadent heaven. Local raspberries make for a beautiful, fresh coulis, and you wouldn't think a donut "refreshing" until it's flavoured with rosewater.
Babaganoush Donut
An eggplant-rich, savory, though lightly-sweetened donut. Roasted parsley, agave, toasted sesame, and the light flavour of rosemary-infused sugar make for a very unique take on a traditional dip.
(Also sampled in photograph:)
Chocolate-Fennel Mousse Donut
Yeast Donuts (a vegan take on the traditional Krispy Kreme) in Vanilla and Chocolate flavours
Earl Grey (one of the cafe's best sellers)
Chocolate with raspberry glaze
Chocolate Mexican Mole (made with 4 kinds of chiles)
The Veggie Verdict:
µþ°ù¾±»å²µ±ð³Ù:ÌýI'll admit that I'm not much of a sweets person. However when it's time to man-up and chow down on dozens of vegan donuts, I'm game. I entered Cartems with an empty stomach and high expectations, as I have had their earl grey donut and thought it was divine. I was blown away by the spread Rags laid before us, and his passion for the craft of donut making. My two favourites: the savoury pizza donut and his experimentation with the chocolate covered yeast donut - heavenly!
³§²¹³¾²¹²Ô³Ù³ó²¹:ÌýThis whole "Cartems Vegan Donut Bonzana" was pretty much proof that heaven on Earth really does exist! And it's as close as Gastown! I had a blast testing out all 30,000 donut flavours. A vegan literally doesn't even know how to handle this much variety! Being the huge dessert freak that I am, I of course, loved them all but I gotta say, the chocolate glazed, fried, little number was a pillow of soft, comforting, cakey goodness that I want in my mouth 24/7.
Zoe: Earl Grey tea holds a special place in my heart, so the vegan earl grey donut will always be my number one. That said, to be greeted with so many options as a vegan, you can't help but love everything. Rags and Jordan have created a wonderful homebase for vegan baking in the city. On the eve of my month-o-raw, you will find me at home, in a bath tub full of vegan donuts.
Colin: Dozens of vegan donuts from sweet (the "first run" yeast donuts were spot on) to savoury (the pizza donut was unreal); Hundreds of words spoken about donuts that displayed such thoughtfulness and consideration; And countless amount of joy experienced from the delightful gluttony of donuts we tried. (Note on the gluttony: this place, as if the wonderfulness of the tastes and smells wasn't enough, also makes sure to reduce waste and increase kindness by donating their deliciousness to local food charities). Seriously... why are you reading this. Go get a donut already!
Krystle: My fave was def the pizza donut. In fact I had a dream about it the next night. lol For the sweet ones, it was the chocolate cake donut with raspberry. I think. It had a few other fancy ingredients….. I really think having vegan yeast donuts would be pretty awesome. As far as I know, there are nonexistent in Vancouver. When most ppl think of a donut, it's the yeasty ones they think of the most. so to have a vegan one would be next level.
Kate: Chef Rags put my hesitations to ease. With his passion for quality ingredients, experimenting with interesting flavours, and his attention to detail, I was easily convinced. With a surprisingly large variety of animal-free donuts, favourites for me include the classics: vanilla and chocolate glazed. For me, they tasted the most similar to the non-vegan options: light, fluffy, with just the right sweetness. And for the adventure donut seeker: the vegan-pizza donut. It's a must try. Mmmmm donuts.
