After three years of a pandemic-fueled hiatus, the vegan cruise is back! Since we had such fond (but short-lived) memories of Miami Beach, this time we went a couple days early to explore. (This is a South Beach sunrise.)
Our first stop was L’artisane Creative Bakery, the first vegan French bakery in the United States.
It’s still delicious. Here is our to-go box of beef empanadas, chocolate croissants, and a guava and cream cheese Danish.
Wandering the Lincoln Road promenade.
My dad spotted Full Bloom Vegan, and it was delicious. It was arguably the best meal of the trip.
The empanadas (mushroom picadillo, beans and cheese, and garlic cilantro aioli), meatloaf (chickpea loaf, gravy, romanesco, and mac and cheese calamarata), and wings (cauliflower, buffalo sauce, ranch, and pickles).
Mushroom mujadara (lentils, farro, pomegranate caramelized onions, roasted mushrooms, falafel, tahini sauce, and parsley), carbonara (farro spaghetti, potato cream sauce, Italian oyster mushroom guanciale, black pepper, and parmesan cheese), and bocaditos (media noche bread, jackfruit ham pate, Dijon aioli, and pickles).
It turns out Miami Beach is home to a poignant Holocaust memorial. When the memorial was being planned in 1985, South Florida was home to one of the highest populations of Holocaust survivors in the United States. Some people objected to the memorial (it sounds like they wanted the land for their garden club), but the city approved the project.
“Imagine you’re in a concentration camp in Poland surrounded by the Nazis, no communication with the outside world and you’re suffering and you’re a martyr, you’re giving up your life,” memorial architect Kenneth Treister said. “Each one probably died thinking that no one would ever care, no one would ever know, no one would ever remember.” Six million people died in the Holocaust.
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