The Tofu Tollbooth
by Elizabeth Zipern & Dar Williams,
with help from Heather Horak and a lot of friends...
Ceres Press in collaboratoin with Adrwork Press, 250 pages, $14.95

Reviewed by VegSource's Travel Lady

The authors have compiled an excellent guide to Natural Food Stores and a limited number of restaurants across the continental United States. Although those seeking information about Hawaii and Alaska will have to look elsewhere, "The Tofu Tollbooth" does a fairly comprehensive job of guiding readers through the lower 48.

This 2nd edition of "Tollbooth" has over 1000 Natural Food Store listings, alphabetically organized by state, and further broken down by major cities and towns within each state. The book serves as a simplified, ready reference for the nutritionally-oriented traveler. A particularly useful feature of "Tollbooth" is the map at the beginning of each chapter which shows not only the major highway systems and relative location of each city/town within the state, but a coded listing that allows the geographically-challenged to appreciate, for example, that the Phoenix area encompasses Apache Junction, Chandler, Mesa, Scottsdale and Tempe. Entries go beyond the basic name, address and telephone number of each Natural Food Store. The authors have also compiled a useful series of symbols which show at a glance what ameneties can be found at eachestablishment.

A key at the front of the book explains each of the 17 symbols ("coffee-to-go", "filtered water machine", "deli", etc.). Many of the Natural Food Store proprietors and workers provided their personal recommendations for local restaurants, entertainment and sights of interest. The vegan and vegetarian traveler in particular will find this a most useful addition to their library.

For more information, please visit http://www.tofutollbooth.com