on the cheap

Anchovies Yummy Hut Sabra Grill Damoah Grill

" Politics goes so good with beer, " the Pixies once sang. At the teetotaling Veggie Planet, politics is paired with pizza, and the combination is equally winning. Having set up shop beneath the awning of folk venue Club Passim, veggie darling Didi Emmons is keeping her promise (a radical move in itself) to " buy locally, eat globally. " The produce is New England–grown, and the organic dough is prepared in town (at the Haley House, which provides services to the homeless). The pies themselves are all over the map: the Go Go Romesco ($5.50 at lunch, $9.50 at dinner) drapes an especially velvety version of the classic Spanish red-pepper sauce, thickened with hazelnuts rather than the customary almonds, over roasted potatoes; Saag Paneer ($5.95/$9.95) riffs on the traditional Indian spinach-and-cheese mixture, throwing in pan-fried tofu and cashews; and there’s even a Thai-inspired, coconut-spiked Red Peanut Curry pizza ($5.95/$9.95).

Closer to home, the Dinner for Henry ($6.50/$9.95) — despite the menu’s less-than-appetizing allusion to cat food — sweetly satisfies with a mellow Thanksgiving-esque medley of roasted butternut squash and caramelized onions dotted with Vermont goat cheese. Needless to say, all varieties are meatless; many are vegan. As for the crust, it has that appealingly chewy, Sandy-Duncan-in-the-wheat-fields savor. Who knew? Pizza can be downright wholesome.

Veggie Planet, located at 47 Palmer Street, in Cambridge, is open daily from 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Call (617) 661-1513.