Orean's Health Express Serves Good Food
By Eli Penberthy
Staff Writer

After Reading Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation, I swore I would never go to a fast food restaurant again. I stopped eating commercial meat long before I read the book, knowing well that the large corporate empire of fast food chains have always unethically raised and slaughtered animals, exploited workers, and destroyed much of the country's physical landscape. But Schlosser's inside account of the fast food industry disgusted me to the extent that I won't even eat French fries and milkshakes anymore.

I have found, however, one exception to my firm rule: Orean's Health Express in Pasadena. Situated across from KFC and adjacent to both McDonald's and Burger King, the Health Express is a triumphant testament to the future of health food in an increasingly fast-paced, fast food society. Both times that I've gone, there have been as many cars lined up at the drive-thru window at the Health Express as at the other nearby fast food chains. This restaurant, though, has the added charm of a walk-up window and a couple of picnic tables for diners who have a few spare minutes.

As you might imagine, the completely vegan menu does not offer standard fast food fare. The menu could be described as multiethnic, including everything from burritos and tacos to pita pizzas and burgers. There are also French "fries" that are actually baked to eliminate the fat from frying, as well as "milkshakes," which are, of course, made without dairy.

While I adore the concept of this vegetarian fast food restaurant, I think the food could use some updating. The first night I went, I ordered the African Burrito, a whole-wheat tortilla stuffed with black-eyed peas, tomatoes, onions, and tahini sauce, which, although flavorful, could have used fresher ingredients. The Iceberg lettuce was limp, and I would expect a vegetarian restaurant to use thick green leaf lettuce, anyway. On my second trip, I ordered the colossal Bar-B-Q Tofu burger. Although the massive slab of tofu was delicious, soaked through with a sweet barbeque sauce, the burger suffered from the same iceberg lettuce that I had experienced in my African Burrito the time before.

The milkshakes are also a little off the mark, watery and overly sweet. While I was drinking mine, I was thinking how much better it would be if it were made from a high-quality soy ice cream blended with soymilk. Instead, it was made from an ambiguous ice cream substitute, and I could hardly drink even half because the texture and flavor were so strange.

But despite these minor imperfections, the Orean Health Express is hard not to like, not only for its innovative and brave stance against the mainstream food culture, but also for its astonishingly low prices. My African Burrito and Bar-B-Q tofu burger were both under four dollars, and all of the entrees on the menu were priced equivalently. For the healthiness and quantity of the food you get, the prices are simply incomparable.

As with any new idea, the Health Express still has some kinks to work out, which I think it will do with time and support. Vegan food, much less vegan fast food, is still a young and often misunderstood concept-it is, of course, overshadowed by the multitudes of traditional fast food corporations with plenty of money to promote their low-quality food. For this reason, it is important that people continue to patronize the Health Express, not only to support their venture as a fledgling business, but also to support the internationalization of vegetarian food.

Orean Health Express
817 North Lake Avenue
Pasadena
626-794-0861
Open 7 days 9:00 am to 9:00 pm