Central Illinois Vegan uses an innovative rating system of one through four avocados depending on how easy it is to find tasty vegan-friendly meals. Central Illinois Vegan will not list any restaurant that fails to be awarded at least one avocado.

An "option" is defined as a menu item or set of menu items constituting a distinct meal.  A side salad, chips and salsa, and french fries would all be examples of items that, while tasty, are not considered an "option" because they alone are not a complete meal. An option must also be distinct from other options.  A cheeseless olive pizza and a cheeseless onion pizza are not separate items... it's just cheeseless pizza that is the option.

Meet the avocados:

• Four avocados are awarded to restaurants with more than four distinct options with at most one minor substitution.
• Three avocados are awarded to a restaurant where at least four distinct options are available with up to three non-standard menu substitutions.
• Two avocados are awarded to restaurants with at least two distinct options with up to two minor substitutions.
• One avocado is awarded to a restaurant with at least two distinct options with at most four substitutions.
  

 This is, as everything else, subject to refining, but for now we hope that this will be an intuitive way for us to express how vegan-friendly a restaurant is.