It might come as a surprise to many people that Buffalo has received a high ranking when it comes to its vegan and vegetarian offerings. A few years ago that would not have been the case. It would have even been hard to argue for it. But today it’s a different Buffalo. Not only are there vegan groups such as the Buffalo Vegan Society, there’s also the extremely popular WNY Vegfest, and plenty of vegan pop-ups.

Add to that, all of the farmers’ markets, and the increase in healthy option pushes from events such as Taste of Buffalo and Larkinville Food Truck Tuesdays.

Then there are the myriad Ethiopian, Mediterranean, and Indian restaurants that have opened, so many of which are excellent additions to the city’s healthy culinary climate. Did you know that you can substitute dairy ingredients for coconut milk at Indian restaurants (chana saag for example)?

We can’t forget about all of the healthy options at The Co-op, Wegmans… even Aldi is stepping up its healthy game.

With the advent of farm to table in Buffalo, restaurants once again are accessing locally grown, healthy produce, which means that going out to eat is no longer simply chowing down on chicken wings and beef on weck. There was a time when celery and blue cheese was the healthiest part of many a Buffalonian’s diet.

Now there are places like Newbury Salads (lead image – 470 Elmwood Avenue) Press Food & Juice, Ashker’s, Merge, House of Hummus (second location on Elmwood recently opened), The Healthy Scratch, Squeeze… not to mention the rolling options such as Amy’s Truck and The Salad Bar Truck.

Top 20 Cities for Vegans & Vegetarians 1 New York, NY 11 Anaheim, CA 2 Portland, OR 12 Madison, WI 3 Orlando, FL 13 Austin, TX 4 San Francisco, CA 14 Las Vegas, NV 5 Los Angeles, CA 15 Tampa, FL 6 Seattle, WA 16 Buffalo, NY 7 Washington, DC 17 Houston, TX 8 Scottsdale, AZ 18 Chesapeake, VA 9 Miami, FL 19 Atlanta, GA 10 San Diego, CA 20 San Jose, CA

With Nov. 1 being World Vegan Day and research showing that skipping meat can save the average person at least $750 per year, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2017’s Best Cities for Vegans & Vegetarians.

To determine the best and cheapest places for following a plant-based diet, WalletHub’s analysts compared the 100 largest cities across 15 key indicators of vegan- and vegetarian-friendliness. The data set ranges from the share of restaurants serving meatless options to the cost of groceries for vegetarians to salad shops per capita.

Best vs. Worst

New York has the highest share of restaurants serving vegetarian options , 56.25 percent, which is 2.6 times higher than in Newark, New Jersey, the city with the lowest at 21.72 percent.

, 56.25 percent, which is 2.6 times higher than in Newark, New Jersey, the city with the lowest at 21.72 percent. Orlando, Florida, has the highest share of restaurants serving vegan options , 31.14 percent, which is 8.8 times higher than in Chicago, the city with the lowest at 3.52 percent.

, 31.14 percent, which is 8.8 times higher than in Chicago, the city with the lowest at 3.52 percent. San Francisco has the most community-supported agriculture programs (per square root of population) , 0.0139, which is 17.4 times more than in San Antonio, the city with the fewest at 0.0008.

, 0.0139, which is 17.4 times more than in San Antonio, the city with the fewest at 0.0008. New York has the most salad shops (per square root of population) , 0.2666, which is 33.7 times more than in Laredo, Texas, the city with the fewest at 0.0079.

To view the full report and city rankings, visit: wallethub.com/edu/best-cities-for-vegans-vegetarians