Mississippi Market - Selby Ave
Grocery/Bakery/Deli
Selby location of the vegn-friendly St. Paul Co-op
Mississippi Market has a large produce department and an excellent deli and juice bar.
- (Mostly) Organic
- Kid-Friendly
Added by jello on Nov 30 03 (updated Sep 24)
Reviews
While it's true that MS Market is not as vegan friendly as, say, the Wedge, as an employee at this location I know that they have a fair amount of vegan options in the deli grab case. When I'm working I always make a few different vegetarian and vegan sandwiches and wraps. Also, the vegan bakery items are not always labeled "vegan." I'm not sure why that is, but if you read the ingredients there are usually at least 2 different vegan cookies, one vegan scone, and usually a vegan muffin as well. They also consistently offer vegan chocolate cake and "shebas" which are not labeled as vegan but I assure you they are, and they're quite heavenly. You can also ask the juice bar to make vegan sandwiches and they'll be more than happy to oblige.
I am shocked that a co-op of this size doesn't carry more vegan options. The deli rarely has more than one type of vegan food in the not-pre-packed case, and there is about a 50/50 chance they will have a vegan soup (they always have 2 kinds of soup, too). They do have some vegan things in the grab-n'go deli case, but they never really change. They only have one vegan baked good item on any given day, and it's almost always a scone - I have never seen a muffin or a cookie (except for the ABC cookies, which are great, but predictable).
They do get props for carrying the vegan grain meat products and for having an amazing vegan chocolate cake - one of the most moist I have ever had.
Great neighborhood co-op
Maybe I'm being a little harsh, but they have a tendency to disappoint. The new Selby location is much bigger than the Randolph store, but they don't seem to have that much more vegan stuff. For the longest time they had no vegan sandwich bread whatsoever. Sometimes the Randolph store (probably 1/5th the floor space of the Selby one) even carries vegan stuff the Selby one doesn't have. If it wasn't the closest to our house we would probably never go there.
The "Shebas" bars are amazing. I went in looking for a sweet, decadent treat and was pleasantly surprised to find this vegan treat in the cold deli case.