Bend Oregon Vegans (Portland, Salem, Redmond: real estate, neighborhoods, living in)

[TGoodwin]

What is the vegan culture like in Bend? What would you like to see added or improved upon?

[delta07]

Considering there's only 3-4 regular Bend posters on CD, I hope you plan to do a little further research than this. I only know of 1 strict vegan in Bend, although I'm sure there is a small population here. I would think a strictly vegan restaurant would struggle here. You can cater to vegans and vegetarians, but also have some other options on the menu (think locavore culture).

[Bendite]

I don't know that there is a vegan culture in Bend per se but this is the wrong place to be asking that question. Try going to www.vegnetbend.org (also on Facebook) to communicate with people who are of like mindset.

[2Cousins]

This is not the wrong place to ask about veganism. It's a 100 percent appropriate question for the City-Data boards, which are here to help folks choose lifestyle appropriate places to visit and live.

I am a hardcore, long time vegan and moved to Bend from Minneapolis with a six-month pitstop in Silverton in between. I wanted nature, good vegan community and sunshine. So Silverton was the wrong choice for the vegan and sun parts, but I really enjoyed Silver Falls State Park, but was very lonely, though Salem was close by. Salem is dreary and has no soul. I met a lot of very backward thinking people, but I also met a lot of nice people. I'm sure my mood on this was affected by the weather and I definitely have SAD, though I was jacking up my Vit D3 dosage to the max.

So, I moved to Sunriver-Bend area. There is kind of a fun, sporty culture here, but the vegan groups are struggling. They are small and are having trouble growing as this a ranching area and people see animals as product. Speaking of knuckle draggers, there is also a lot of shooting going on in Sunriver in the neighborhoods (just outside Sunriver proper). I live in a very nice neighborhood and the other day a guy went over to the stream and was just killing a bunch of ducks with his gun who had moments before been floating peacefully down stream. A coyote was running down the street a couple of weeks ago and another neighbor started shooting at him/her "because she didn't want 'it' to kill her dog". Shooting into a public street is okay here. I've called the cops twice when I've seen this and they don;t seem to give a sh*t that cars traveling by could been hit, either.

That said, there are some really great things about living here. The winters are mild. It's absolutely, breathtakingly gorgeous. It's a paradise for hiking, biking, snowshoeing, skiing. People are generally friendly. Bend and Sunriver are more sophisticated than Redmond, La Pine, Prineville, Madras, etc. The latter four are loaded with hicks and rodeo culture who think it's okay to keep their local animal shelter outside with the short-haired animals living in the snow in 20 degree weather.

Real estate prices are divine in Bend and Sunriver, where I am looking. A lot of people are pretty dedicated to bein' green here, and Deschutes County building codes, etc. are set up to respect and support that.

The local vegan group that other user mentioned, Vegnet Bend, is very nice. The people are sweet and they do fun group things. They just need more people. I am in the middle of deciding if I want to stay her and help build local vegan culture, or move somewhere where I have more vegan support. No place is perfect for vegans. Portland is too foggy and wet, Minneapolis is uber hip but too bitter cold, Northern Cali was amazing (lived there six years) but too expensive for me -- so I, too wonder what the best place would be.

If there are any Oregonian or Californian vegans, animal lovers, or liberals out there and you have some guidance for me as well, I'd love to hear it.

[kapetrich]

Have you tried Sarah's Raw and Vegan Cafe near the Old Mill?

I'm not a vegan myself, but some of these restaurants cater a bit to ya'll from what I can tell: Kebaba, Chow, Mother's...not a great deal, though and often they cater by default due to their styles.

It's not heaven here for a Vegan, that's for sure. That said, Bend is very none established. It only just recently grew to 75k. If you are willing and dedicated I'd bet there is niche here that you can 'exploit' (for a lack of a better word). Like you said, depends what you are looking for. Do you want to live in an an already established vegan culture or be part of a budding one? It's a tough balance especially with all your other considerations - weather, cost, size, etc..

I'd try connecting with some people from Central Oregon Locavore...I volunteer there and have pot lucks pretty regularly with many members and a great portion of them are vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian or, in the least, very much appreciate vegan cuisine......

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I agree: I think this is a perfect place to get opinions on the vegan culture. TGoodwin started a thread a few days before this one on the same topic and got more responses. Here it is: //www.city-data.com/forum/bend/...rant-bend.html It's a little bogged down by someone who thinks they know better than everyone else, but that person has since been banned for their aggressive behaviors.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

There are people in Bend who are vegans.

You probably wouldn't have any sort of bad time in Bend, as long as you aren't militant about what other people eat. This is cowboy country, so you aren't going to be well received if you nag anyone about eating beef. Most restaurants offer some sort of vegetarian dish. For all I know, there might be vegan restaurants; I've never looked to see. There is just about every other kind of restaurant.

This is not the area to expect lots of lovely fresh vegetables year round. We have a very short rowing season.

Yeah, 2cousins. I just killed 25 ducks and 3 turkeys. Chopped their little heads off and plunged their bodies into boiling water so I could pull the feathers off. This is hunting country and if hunting bothers you all that much, you are in the wrong area. Calling hunters knuckle draggers will not win you a lot of friends.

[Snownut]

I have been a strict pesco vegetarian for the past year and a half and eat extremely small amounts of dairy. (Healthiest year and a half of my adult life) I am not "veganish" at all when it comes to "the non food" vegan lifestyle.

Having visited and studied Bend intensely one of the things I liked about Bend is it had way more options for dining and nicer groceries with better fresher choices than we have here in VA. I/We look forward to when we are able to move there and food is just one of the things we think will be easier in Bend than the "back woods country" of VA.

I would think? like most places in this country outside of pockets in the big Cities veganism is a niche and you need to reach out, find community, be tolerant and respectful that other people think and act differently. Of course if someone is shooting in a clearly pedestrian area that would concern me too?

I experienced Bend a a place that is quite "live and let live" compared to where I live in VA. You can do and be most anything so long as you are not militant to people who are different. People there I met where very relaxed and laid back so I would think you would be fine in Bend.

I have found most people are curious about even vegetarianism and veganism if you are simply having a friendly conversation. There are many things people don't understand and even assume about different diets and lifestyles, as did I until I many a choice to learn and be different from the "norm" in my circles.

Good luck and again I think you'll be more than fine in Bend. ( I think I will be too one day when I move there!)

[kapetrich]

To be fair, the oregonwoodsmoke type person is a bit of a dying breed in Bend proper. I agree that many of the generational locals are this way, but the reality is that the new-growth and the majority of Bend proper residence are no longer this way. This discrepancy will most likely get more pronounced, not less.

In the outskirts of town and the smaller towns just outside of Bend this is not the case.