One of my biggest passions as a Local Guide is to share information for people with dietary restrictions, especially information about vegetarian and vegan food.
I’m originally from the US and where I lived even the steak restaurants had a vegetarian option, so I never had to think much about where to eat. However, when I moved to Iwate Prefecture in Japan, it was a completely different story. I loved going out and exploring my new city but I could rarely find food that I was able to eat as a vegetarian.
Over the years of living here, I’ve been able to discover more and more vegetarian and vegan-friendly restaurants and it makes me so excited to be able to share that information with others through Local Guides and Google Maps.
My 3 Favorite Vegan Restaurants in Morioka
Here are my top three vegan restaurants in Morioka, Iwate (in no particular order).
I highly recommend all of them for anyone to go visit, not just vegans and vegetarians.
Karakoma is a rustic little hole-in-the-wall restaurant with some of the most delicious soy “meat” that I have ever had. I highly recommend the “daizu kara-age” but honestly I love everything on the menu here.
Before opening the restaurant, the owner operated a food truck and occasionally on the weekends will take the food truck out to festivals and events so the restaurant will be closed on those days. However, that also gives you a great excuse to go find and check out the event going on.
Cafe LOONEY has a very at-home atmosphere that makes you just want to curl up with a book on their comfy sofas and sip on one of their delicious smoothies. There is also a small play area for small children by the window, so I can’t wait to take my son with me next time I go to eat!
If you’re coming for lunch, I highly recommend the Quinoa Bowl or the Curry Bowl. ( @HiroyukiTakisawa loves the Acai Bowl 
)
Cafune offers a small array of vegan bento boxes as well as some vegan snacks and products. It may be the only place in Morioka where you’ll be able to find vegan gummy bears. Yum!
Cherry blossom season is around the corner (predicted to start mid-to-late-April this year), so I recommend picking up a lunch box and having a picnic under the cherry trees at Morioka Castle Park or any of the other parks within walking distance.
My Other Activities
I have also hosted some meet-ups in the Iwate area introducing vegan and vegetarian restaurants. You can check out the recaps here.
This is my work-in-progress vegan and vegetarian map of Japan. My goal is to coordinate with other local guides all over Japan and make an easy to reference map for anyone living in or visiting Japan to use.
