Green Earth Vegetarian Cuisine

Last weekend, I made my first visit to Green Earth, a vegetarian restaurant which offers mostly vegan dishes. The menu is pretty extensive, offering mostly pan-asian food with a few random burritos and burgers tossed in for kicks.

I actually had a pretty difficult time ordering here. The menu is not very descriptive and they use the word “protein” to describe meat substitutes in their dishes. This is a bit deceptive for people avoiding gluten. Does protein mean tofu, beans, nuts or fake meats? The concern here is that fake meats all contain gluten. At least, I certainly haven’t found one that doesn’t. They are a mixture of soy protein, wheat gluten, flavours, fats and chemicals that come together to look and taste like meat. A lot of people confuse fake meats with tofu, which is just plain soy bean curd and does not contain gluten (unless it is flavoured with soya sauce or processed in some glutenous way).

I asked our server what exactly “protein” meant on their menu. She explained that it was fake meat, which meant I couldn’t have any. I explained the issue to her, and she offered to talk with the chef to double check whether there was gluten in their fake meats. When she returned from the kitchen, she assured me that their fake chicken didn’t have any gluten. WOW! Oh my! I actually got pretty excited about trying it out! But, then I got suspicious, and asked to see the packaging label so I could check the ingredients for myself. Sure enough, wheat was at the top of the ingredients list. BOOH! I explained this to our server, but she tried to tell me the label didn’t say “gluten”, so it was ok. Um, no. That's not how it works. Where there is wheat, there is gluten. I did my best to explain this, but she didn’t seem to believe me.

Don’t get me wrong here – the staff was actually very kind, caring and attentive. Just totally clueless about gluten. Too bad.

In the end, I ordered a sweet and sour stir-fry with plain tofu instead of their “protein”. They graciously agreed to do this without a problem. The meal was ok. I found it to be on par with the low price. The flavour was good and the presentation wasn't exceptional, but it was cheap, so you can overlook a few things for the price. For dessert, my buddy and I shared a banana split made with tofutti ice cream. It was really delicious! I should mention that there is some debate whether this ice cream is indeed gluten-free. The ingredients don’t contain gluten, but the company has stated there is a risk of cross contamination. But, I threw caution to the wind and ate it anyway! It was easily the best part of the meal!

Green Earth is certainly a decent clean and friendly place for an inexpensive meal. But, I’d advise caution if you plan on eating GF here. The staff was just a little too untrained in the hidden sources of gluten for my comfort. With sadness, I must give this place one thumb down.

Green Earth Vegetarian Cuisine 
354A Preston Street
Ottawa, ON
(613) 563-2784
Map