Your guide to
vegan KC.

“If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be vegetarian.” — Paul McCartney

There is one way to save human society. Veganism.

This is for the ones who already know.

Nothing is what it seems. It’s you, dude. You’re living the interdimensional reality hustle of trying to thrive on a plant-based diet in Kansas City. You’re the lonesome vegan at the animal-parts-only barbecue, starving on the potato chip sidelines, hunting for hummus and a wilted piece of celery while someone explains to you, “Red meat maybe...” but that they could never give up drinking the white fluid squeezed out of a buffalo cousin’s nipple. You’re the one at the steakhouse birthday dinner, biting your tongue while your uncle eats tongue, desperately scanning the menu for a signal, anything, finally ordering pasta with oil and salt and pretending not to notice the looks. It’s *$%#ing exhausting. You don’t want to talk about being a vegan. But you have to, because there’s a slaughterhouse or body parts dispensary on every corner and that’s not extreme. You’re a Jackson County exile (Johnson County, Wyandotte County, pick your CO) hot-stepping through a city that built its identity on rumors of smoke and meat, walking streets perfumed with brisket or blood on the asphalt, all while loving the rest of the amazing culture and history of your beautiful Rivertown.

The elephant never forgets a simple truth. The most powerful creatures on Earth run on plants. The elephant knows we have no need to consume destruction in order to be strong. She knows that the lion’s way is not the only way, and at the end of the day, lions are obviously just big pussies. As a human, you have consciousness on your side. So this is for the ones who made the connection and now can’t look back. This is for the ones who sit across the dinner table from people they love and feel the yawning distance of a thousand miles of misunderstanding in every bite. You have tried to explain until there are no words left. This is for the Kansas City vegan who has stopped trying to convert because survival is hard enough. You are not alone in these streets. You are strong. Your value system is intact, your hunger for understanding shall be fed, and at night you will sleep with a conscience free of death.

There is an invisible kingdom rising inside this city. A frequency. A signal. You just have to know where to tune.

That’s why this resource exists, so the signal is always broadcasting, so the map is always here, so you never have to feel like the only one again because of what you choose to eat. I was born and raised in Kansas. I’m the grandson of a cattle rancher and a former Meataholic, now flesh sober for 7 years. It’s confusing, isolating, and frustrating to be a vegan in a cowtown. It’s not a perfect circle, but together, it can be. I built Cowtown Vegan as a resource for all of us.

You are not alone. Not in Kansas City. Not anywhere.

See you around, Jon

PS, got a suggestion or addition for the database? Shoot us an email: [email protected]