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Well, yeah. Sure it's vegan. It always has been, just nobody called it that, like many other recipes/foods that happen to be free of animal...

So when was most salsa filled with meat products?????

So are we calling chopped up vegetables Vegan now?

I always thought most salsas were made without meat, dairy, or eggs. I know mine is. That doesn't make me vegan, or the meal vegan. It's just salsa.

Now, you get an ardent carnivore to eat nothing but veg for a week and you might be on to something. But this isn't it.

Avocados and lime juice are two of the tastiest ingredients ever.

You don't need to be a vegan to know that!

I don't understand why you need to apply the term 'vegan' to salsa. Seems redundant. And possibly counter-productive.... some people have more of an aversion to anything labeled 'vegan' than they do to actual 'vegan food'.

How did a nice refreshing salsa recipe turn into a vegan-definition debate anyway? haha

Add me to the list of people confused by the touting of a salsa as being vegan. Looks mighty tasty, though. I think I've got a salsa tasting party in my not-too-distant future.

I make this but I add beans to it. Generally black beans but if not whatever I have around. When adding beans I double the avocado and tomato.

My one year old loves this stuff.

Rbear, you hit it. I remember reading recaps (maybe not here, but elsewhere) of the Top Chef Masters episode with Zooey Deschanel, who I believe is a gluten-free vegan. The comments - both from the blog readers and the chefs themselves - could be summarized, like, "Why would anyone want to do that?"

With this recipe (and the scene, which was meant in fun), I was trying to say that lots of great dishes are vegan by nature. And that even die-hard meat-eaters, who balk at the term "vegan" (like, say my dad), might like the food without even knowing it.

This is like declaring sauted veggies are vegan.
Sure, by the most basic classification it very much is.

But you should only take pride in "turning some one" if you take a dish that traditionally does have non-vegan things like lasagna, stir-fry, and the like and make it equally nom-able.

You make a chicken caesar salad taste good vegan and my hat is off to you, other wise you're just spinning your wheels.

I just attended a cooking class for all things lobster and guess what? We made a mango, avocado and corn salsa for lobster tacos. It was delish! I plan on making it to top my fish, enhance a salad I make with artichokes, roasted red peppers and olives with fresh herbs. I eat an avocado almost every day. I eat it sliced as a snack, chunky in a salad, stuffed with seafood, and grilled on the charcoal grill. Avocado, it's what's for whatever.

@Kristen Swensson, your little scenario comes pretty close to the truth. My father loves vegetables, so he's happy with anything I make. But this is how it goes with my 16-year-old brother:

Brother: Vay-gun food is gross. That's why I'm a meatarian.
Me: I'm baking cookies. Want one?
Brother: Yes.
Me: You can't have one, there's no meat in them.
Brother: Eggs are almost meat.
Me: They don't have eggs, either.
Brother: $#$%#%^ (as he takes five or six).

It also means gleefully pointing out "accidentally vegan" junk food products.

Me: You can't eat that Pop Tart.
Brother: Why not?
Me: The unfrosted ones are vegan.
Brother: $%^$%%. Hey, are there any left over cookies?

Calling salsa "vegan" is just silly, not to mention uninformed. Vegans are so self-obsessed.

Oh, this is good with raw corn, too. Then I guess it could be raw vegan. Makes me want to add bacon fat.

You guys, if bacon salsa exists (and it has to, right?), I'm in.

@Savory - When a food is called vegan, it simply means that it's appropriate for vegans. If someone tells me a salsa isn't vegan, I'm going to assume that they put eggs or strip steak or fish sauce or something in there, and that I can't eat it.

As for being silly and self-obsessed, you realize that Kristen isn't vegan, right (nor did she sound self-obsessed, unless you disprove of writing in the first person)? And that the vegan label can apply to a broad spectrum of people of different sizes, shapes, colors, religions, political viewpoints and lifestyles?

Saying all vegans are "x" is just as inaccurate as saying all men are "x," all women are "x," etc.

Or maybe I am self-obsessed for finding vegan-bashing tiresome?

At first I agreed with the first few reactions (i.e., what do you mean, vegan salsa?), but after reading rbear, Kristen, and KarynMC's comments, I got a better picture of what KS was trying to say. I think that, aside from those who see the word "vegan" and immediately get their bashing-gloves on (in fairness and shame, I have to admit that in most cases, I am one of those people), most of us were misled by this line: "I also imagine that a vegan's favorite activity is making ardent carnivores appreciate vegan food..."

I know that I, personally, parsed that as "appreciate food made especially for vegans" rather than "appreciate that vegans don't just eat food filled with meat/dairy/egg substitutes"/"appreciate that things most of us dedicated carnivores consider to be 'normal' and delicious can also be vegan, and there's nothing wrong with that." It made me stop and think for a few minutes when I realized how visceral my reaction against the moniker "vegan food" is these days, and how it's not always justified. So thanks for a tasty vegan recipe, Kristen, and thanks to you, rbear, and KarynMC for making me think twice. (:

mmmmm this looks so delicious. I topped some scallops with a similar combination a few weeks ago: corn and cherry tomato salsa and a tomatillo guacamole. This looks like a way more efficient way though to get all those flavors in there. thanks! Will def be my topper for this dish next time: http://www.biggirlssmallkitchen.com/2009/07/big-girls-test-kitchen-summer-scallops.html

@Hilfy - What vegans give you this attitude? To be perfectly honest, I have found far more hostility from omnivores towards vegans than vice versa (then again, I'm not an abolitionist and neither are most of my friends. Yes, there are dissenting voices in the so-called "vegan movement," and many of us dislike the organizations that, in the public discourse, define the opinions of the rest of us). And since I have not always been a strict vegetarian, I can report from both sides of the dinner table - I distinctly remember claiming, many times over, that I could never, ever be vegan.

And I don't think vegans are responsible for labeling omnivores "carnivores," either (on vegan boards, we usually say "omnis"). Many omnivores describe themselves, tongue-in-cheek, as carnivores. But I do think that vegans get a very bad rap in the media, and some of it is the doing of certain pro-vegan organizations that shall remain nameless. But the popular perception of veganism has little do with *most* of the people who actually practice the lifestyle.

I do think vegans and omnis alike can appreciate tasty food. I will eat any vegan food that I find tasty! As far as yeast, bacteria and plants - even the most hardcore AR activists stick to caring about organisms with nervous systems (no one's fighting for Yeast Rights). And many people go vegetarian or vegan for reasons other than AR.

Now, there are very rude vegans (just as there are very rude omnivores, and very rude people in general), but I think it's unfair to attribute traits to a person based solely on the presence or absence of meat in their diet.

If there are vegans who do not agree with limiting all people to their chosen lifestyle out there, they need to speak up loudly. Currently their voices are being overwhelmed by the strident demands of AR groups who would shove vegetarianism/veganism down everyone's throat. All the lawsuits, advertising, junkscience, and harassment perpetrated by AR groups are a direct assault on an omnivore's lifestyle. Everyone has a right to make their own food choices, but if those people have their way, many people will no longer be able to choose foods they would normally choose. Do you understand?

Sorry, I cannot agree about some life being more precious than other life. Any life no matter how tiny is still life and no matter what you eat, something dies. It's nothing to be guilty about, it's just nature.

I make a similar salsa and mix in shrimp (slice in half length wise) and throw it in a corn tortilla that has been toasted......heaven on earth!!