TF/ethical omnivore places to eat in LA/San Diego?

[Smokering]

We're going to Disneyland next March, and I'm a little leery of dipping my toes into the murky waters of the American food system. I don't want to be uber-paranoid because we're on holiday, but I have plenty of time to plan and I'd really rather avoid CAFO meat in particular.

At Disneyland itself I'll probably just go vegetarian, though I'll ring Disney Dining to see if Napa Rose or the Blue Bayou would do me a grass-fed steak one night. We're also planning on doing a TJs shop once we arrive and taking in a fair bit of food (or skipping back to the hotel for meals, as we'll be staying close).

We'll be in Anaheim for the whole trip, except for two day trips to San Diego (for the zoo and wildlife parks).

So... where should we eat? I'm slowly gathering a list of places that do local, organic, free-range-type foods, but it's a painful process. Chipotle is our fallback fast food chain, but we don't want to eat there twice a day! (Plus, I'm not sure if there is one near Disneyland?) LA seems to have plenty of veg*n restaurants, but I doubt I could convince DH to eat veggie while we're on holiday.

On a related note, are there any kinds of fish that are de facto "free range", ie not farmed? If we ended up in a regular restaurant it'd be nice to have a fish dish rather than a vegetarian meal; and that might work for the Blue Bayou if they wouldn't do the grass-fed steak thing. I don't know much about which fish are caught how...

Also, what are CA's laws on raw milk? Could I find some at TJs? It's not a necessity, but it would be awesome (we'll have a fridge in our hotel room). Does TJs sell kefir?

Other than that... we're opting out of the complimentary breakfast as we don't "do" cereal or cage eggs. I guess plane food will be another issue, yipes! Oh well: as I say, I'm not going to be too diehard (I'm totally trying a Twinkie just so I can say I have, and I'm having a HFCS-laden Dole Whip at the Tiki Room because I've heard so many rave reviews!). It'd just be neat to eat as well as we can while we're there - particularly as we may be TTC shortly after and I don't want to stock up on nitrates and so on just before that! Two of my sisters will be joining us and they aren't particularly fussed about ethical eating, plus they'll be on strict budgets, so we're looking for less-costly options if they exist.

Any help would be vastly appreciated! Free-range/pastured eggs and meat are my main concern, but anything like organic, local, seasonal and so on is a bonus.

[blueridgewoman]

Just speaking for the fish aspect.... larger fish are generally your best bets when it comes to farmed/not farmed. So halibut, tuna, mackerel, swordfish are never farmed. On the other hand, these are also the species that have the highest mercury levels too.

Fish that are more likely to be farmed include tilapia, catfish, most salmon (unless it's either pretty expensive or specifically says wild), most shrimp (shellfish in general, really), and trout.

While I guess it's possible that some are farmed, when I sold fish for Whole Foods, I never saw or heard of red snapper, flounder, cod, or monkfish being farmed.

In terms of chain restaurants, Chipotle is great.... I also work for Panera and we have antibiotic free chicken and pretty healthy food in general (though our salad dressings are made with soy oil). You can go to the website and see ingredients in advance.

I'm guessing that in CA, there may be some local farmer's markets you could visit to get eggs and stuff, though I realize that cooking could be a problem if you're in a hotel. Our market (I'm in VA, across the country, but hey) has a lot of vendors selling prepared foods now and a lot are made with homegrown ingredients, including free range eggs. You could see if there's anything like that. Also, a lot of more "local" and alternative/hippy sorts of places may have better ingredients. Even if they focus more on vegetarian fare, you could probably convince your DH to eat there for breakfast at least or something?

I think raw milk is legal in CA (I know that Whole Foods sells it?) but I'll defer to someone else on that since I don't live there.

Hope you have a great trip!

[Mirzam]

I would recommend you search out Rawesome Co-op on Rose St, Santa Monica, they are open Wednesdays and Saturdays, you can buy raw milk, butter, cream, cheese, cream cheese, kefir etc. The milk is definitely cheaper than at Whole Foods, and way, way better. They also have soy-free pastured eggs. On top of that they sell raw coconut kefir, raw fish dishes, like cerviche, raw veggie juices, as well as fruit and other produce and pastured meat, although you probably don't have a way to cook and some amazing raw cream desserts it. It is an awesome place to visit. The annual membership is $25, but you can pay for a single day membership which I think is $1.

[sunnysandiegan]

Raw milk is legal and expensive. A local co-op carries it, as does a local hfs, for $8.99 for a half-gallon.

We usually buy non-homogenized, California sourced milk (comes from a family farm in NoCal). The aforementioned co-op carries it, as does Whole Foods and Trader Joe's. TJ's sells it for $3.29 (half-gallon), which is the cheapest (last I checked).

For restaurants, check out SlowFoodUSA dot com. We have several here in San Diego and more keep popping up. The zoo is central to a few. The WAP is not. The zoo and WAP are run by the same group and the food available is actually pretty good for this type of venue. Not outrageously priced, either. Check out the restaurants ahead of time, if you can. It has been awhile and I do not recall the names of the better places at both locations. I know WHERE they are in each park, but not well enough to describe them.

Just a friendly FYI: Depending on the day of the week and time of day, it can take several hours to drive between Anaheim and San Diego each way.

[Bokonon]

I've gotten raw milk at Henry's (a natural food store chain in CA), and kefir at the regular grocery store, so I'm sure TJs would have it too.

There are farmer's markets in SD every day of the week except for Sundays, so you could always hit those up for "safe" foods (including pre-made items like pastries and made-to-order things like crepes and tacos).

[catnip]

The vegetarian meal at Blue Bayou is REALLY amazing - grilled portabellas with a balsamic glaze and macque choux. I'm vegan, and have never had a problem eating at Disneyland. Call ahead and talk to one of the chefs. They're really great.

At the Long Beach Marina, about 25 minutes from Disneyland, there's a fantastic farmer's market on Sunday mornings, and it is right across the street from a Whole Foods, and easy walking distance over to a Trader Joe's.

[sunnysandiegan]

http://www.sdfarmbureau.org/BuyLocal...rs-Markets.php

Actually, the only day there are no farmer's markets is Monday. Our favorite is on Sunday in La Jolla!
(Technically, there is one on Monday, but it is in a gated resort community.)

[Bokonon]

Originally Posted by sunnysandiegan

http://www.sdfarmbureau.org/BuyLocal...rs-Markets.php

Actually, the only day there are no farmer's markets is Monday. Our favorite is on Sunday in La Jolla!
(Technically, there is one on Monday, but it is in a gated resort community.)

That's right, my bad!

My favorite is the one in Poway.