Site Review, HappyCow.com, Vegetarian Travel Guide

Happy Cow: Vegetarian Travel, Dating, Health, Recipes, Resources

Thanks to Diana H. for sending this link to Savvy Vegetarian. She complimented SV, and politely refrained from saying, "You should have found this site and put a link long before this!" I apologize for overlooking Happy Cow Vegetarian Guide. I've been lax, but I promise to spend more time surfing from now on.

I was quite struck by the name "Happy Cow" - I imagined the cow as happy because it's vegetarian, hasn't been eaten, or milked by machine 3 times daily, or made to be anything but a sacred cow, happily wandering the streets, mooing contentedly and snacking in gardens, when not putting out a very useful website.

"Description: HappyCow's Vegetarian Guide offers an international, searchable directory of vegetarian restaurants and natural health food stores, recipes and healthy cooking tips, information on living and raw foods, a travel guide with vegetarian travel health advice and resources, veganism and vegetarian dating."

Things I Liked About Happy Cow:

• The vegetarian travel and dining resources - I was thrilled to discover vegetarian restaurants I can visit when I go see my daughter in Missouri
• The fact that it's global in scope - you never know when I'll make that long-cherished trip to the UK or Thailand!
• That it has a site search, something SV doesn't, though my husband mumbles something about doing that every now and then
• That it's obviously a labor of love, charity and selfless devotion. I wish them increasing success in their fund-raising enterprises so they can support themselves while working full time on the site.

There was nothing I didn't like, but:

• In the listings for U.S.A. restaurants and natural food stores, there wasn't a single mention of Fairfield, IA, the midwest's vegetarian mecca. Yes, really! I would know, I live there. Truly, the glories of Iowa seem to be one of the best kept secrets in the universe!
• Nowhere did I see a mention of Savvy Vegetarian; they must have overlooked us, just as we overlooked them.
• The producers of HappyCow seemed rather modest and retiring by net standards. There were several mentions of British Columbia - perhaps they're Canadian. (I found out later they're just nice, shy Americans who live on the west coast.)

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