Eating {gluten-free & vegan} in Portland, OR | Back to Eden

July 26, 2016

Citrus-ginger iced gluten-free vegan scone at Back to Eden Bakery Portland, Oregon


I didn't try Back to Eden Bakery until my last trip to Portland mainly for one reason: It was vegan. While I have nothing against someone's choice to be vegan, for me personally, I believe my friend Adam explained it best: "If I have to give up gluten, why would I also take great things like dairy out of my diet by choice?". I couldn't agree more and while I have a borderline obsession with French butter (...and French yogurt and French cheese...sorry, vegans), what matters to me most is that food still tastes amazing while allowing me to eat safely with a massively-restrictive auto-immune disease. When I finally conceded and tried Back to Eden, which is both vegan and gluten-free, I was so shocked you could have knocked me over with a feather. This was the best vegan food I'd ever tasted!

As a gluten-free baker, I am very particular about the taste and textures of what I make, working hard to make them feel like their gluteny counterparts. But take out the eggs and butter, and it just feels hopeless. Every time I've tried vegan baked goods, I've experienced what many people do when they taste one of the many sub-par gluten-free treats out there - it just tastes too vegan, in the sense that it's off or unsatisfying. Back to Eden single-handedly proved to me it is possible. Flakey, delicious pie crusts? Check. Fluffy, spongey cakes? Yup. Scones with the perfect crumbly-yet-moist texture? They've got that down too. Somehow they got a buttery vibe in things without using any butter. I was blown away. And my family, who couldn't be further from vegan, was too. Very much like the goal for my cakes is for gluten-eaters to think it doesn't taste like it's gluten-free, everything I tasted here I felt similarly about: I couldn't even tell that it was vegan.

I always feel apprehensive about recommending vegan spots, as it's not my area of expertise, but I am confident in saying this place is a tremendous bakery for gluten-free fare and if you're vegan, then even better. When ordering the biscuits and gravy, I let myself be talked into adding the vegan sausage made of walnuts and was impressed at its non-meat meatiness and satisfying addition to the dish. Having the sweet tooth that I do, my other stand-out favorites were the scones (both the savory pizza scone and the sweet iced citrus-ginger versions), the incredible chocolate cream pie I'm pretty sure my step-father had no idea was vegan at all and of course, that chocolate doughnut topped with root beer icing and dusted with cocoa powder that started it all for me. I dream about those doughnuts!

Until next time, PDX...


Gluten-free and vegan Back to Eden Bakery Portland, Oregon Corn chowder and biscuits and gravy with walnut-sausage gluten-free vegan at Back to Eden Bakery Portland, Oregon Quiche gluten-free vegan at Back to Eden Bakery Portland, Oregon Chocolate-rootbeer doughnut gluten-free vegan from Back to Eden Bakery Portland, Oregon


Back to Eden Bakery
2217 NE Alberta Street, 97211
also a truck at corner of SE Division & SE 28 Place, 97202
Portland, Oregon
1 (503) 477-5022


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