Local vegetarian has limited options

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Local vegetarians has limited options

But there are some who try.

While it remains a challenge to stick to a diet heavy on plants and vegetables and light on meats and processed foods, locals say there are businesses that accommodate vegetarian or vegan meal choices.

“It’s hard to be a vegan in this area because you would starve to death,” said Deborah Sweatman, owner of the Carrot Patch, a health-food store, lunch bar and therapy center in Thibodaux. “We are all stand-out freaks, health-food nuts.”

The term vegetarian is commonly used to describe a number of diets that broadly avoid all meat, seafood and poultry. Some vegetarians consume animal products and byproducts, such as eggs and dairy products. Semi-vegetarians do not eat red meat but might eat seafood or poultry.

Vegans do not consume meat or any product from an animal.

Sweatman, a native of Yonkers, N.Y., has owned the Carrot Patch for 25 years. It was a business venture born out of necessity, she said, because when she arrived in Thibodaux there were no healthy eating options.

“There was nowhere to feed us,” she said.

Sweatman called herself a “flexible vegetarian,” though she added that she tries to avoid using specific labels to describe her lifestyle.

Her store, filled with aromas of nuts and grains, is an unofficial rallying point for a local community of residents from Lafourche and Terrebonne who strive to stick to healthy diets.

“We’re like ‘Cheers’ in here,” she said.

Ross Durocher, a Houma resident and history senior at Nicholls State University, said he occasionally eats meat but his wife, Kelly, is a vegetarian.

“We have trouble finding places to eat,” he said.

The Carrot Patch, he said, is one of the few local businesses that caters specifically to vegetarians.

Bobby Nijjar, an assistant professor of dietetics at Nicholls, said there are a number of health benefits for vegetarians and vegans, including a longer lifespan and greatly reduced risk of diabetes and heart disease.

But transitioning to a lifestyle without meat is not easy, he said.

“One of the challenges is the support of the environment,” he said. “Can you go to a grocery store and find what you need? Can you go out with your friends and not be the picky one?”

The prevalence of fried foods, seafood and meat in south Louisiana makes Terrebonne and Lafourche “a tough place to be a vegetarian,” he said.

Sweatman said she has had to make compromises living in the area over the past two decades.

Lillian Barber, a 19-year-old biology senior at Nicholls, said she became a vegetarian when she was a child.

“My family thought it was a phase, but 13 years later I’m still a vegetarian,” she said, sitting down at the lunch counter at the Carrot Patch.

She has noticed more restaurants creating menus with healthy options — which often cater to vegetarians and vegans.

Gina Mahaffey, owner of 531 Liberty, a Houma cafe, said thanks to her vegetarian daughter, her restaurant offers several popular vegetarian menu options, including appetizers, sandwiches and a veggie burger.

“It’s a good menu. People like it because it’s different,” she said. “Even people who aren’t vegetarians sometimes just don’t want to eat meat.”

Durocher said local ethnic restaurants in the area are also good places to find vegetable-only meals.

Nijjar said anyone interested in becoming a vegetarian should understand that it is a “planned” lifestyle. Lentils, beans, rice, peanut butter and seeds can all substitute for the protein you would otherwise get from a piece of meat, he said.

“You have to do research. You have to learn what foods have what kinds of vitamins,” he said. “It’s not just a diet.”

Staff Photographer Julia Rendleman contributed to this report. Staff Writer Nate Monroe can be reached at 448-7639 or at [email protected].

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