VegPhilly: The Guide to Healthy Eating in the City

Yellow Juice Bar’s green juice || Photo via Instagram

When it comes to lunch during the week, I have two major problems: I’m a creature of habit, and I’m easily bored.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that those things don’t mix well, and it’s led to some shameful lunchtime catastrophes. I’ve gotten sick of my week’s worth of make-ahead lunches after two days, went to the same falafel place four days in a row, and during one especially weird stretch in February, I ate hummus and Wheat Thins at my desk for a week straight.

Of course, I’d love to spend 45 minutes scrolling through Yelp in search of the perfect healthy lunch spot, but honestly, who has time for that? No one, that’s who.

So let me present to you the answer to all of your lunch-related woes: VegPhilly. It’s been around for about a year now, but I just found it last week. And I’m obsessed.

Here’s how it works.

Go to the site and plug what you’re looking for into the search bar — vegan cheesesteaks, ice cream, your zipcode, whatever. The search comes back with a ton of options laid out on a map, color-coded to show whether the restaurant is vegan, vegetarian, or non-vegetarian. Looking for something more specific? There’s a sidebar where you can filter by neighborhood, type of food, and features, like BYOB or gluten-free.

And for every restaurant, there’s a description, reviews, and a “Veg Level” rating to tell you how vegan-friendly it is. So you know before you even go in whether or not you can get a pizza with vegan mozzarella or if the place has good veggie burgers. Guys, it’s brilliant. 

Case in point: The gorgeous weather today had me dying for some juice, but my go-to, Sip-N-Glo, is a bit of a trek from the office. So I hopped onto the site, plugged in Center City and Smoothies/Juice bar, and BAM.  Fifteen minutes later I was walking out of Yellow Juice Bar on Sansom, green juice in hand, with a big, stupid smile on my face.

There you have it, folks. VegPhilly in action. Try it out yourself, and if you find a sweet new spot, let us know in the comments.

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