Living Vegan For Dummies - Alexandra Jamieson [113]
Try to verify that the listings are current before you venture out to eat. Call ahead and edit your list if they’re no longer open.
Ask at local health food stores for recommendations. The employees there may know of a great, new vegan diner or cafe that hasn’t been discovered by the travel guides yet!
Check to see if your hotel, hostel, or other accommodation offers kitchen access or rooms with kitchenettes. If it does, you’re then free to buy food at the store and make your own healthy vegan meals. Research the hotels or hostels in your destination city to see what’s offered and which place would be the most vegan friendly.
Search online for local vegan and vegetarian groups by city or country. They may have an office at your destination or be able to provide further recommendations.
The ultimate travel assistance Web sites for vegans are www.happycow.net, www.vegdining.com, and www.localharvest.org. With these sites, you can research vegan-friendly restaurants, health food stores, and even u-pick farms, farmer’s markets, and grocery stores in the United States and abroad. After trying a new vegan diner in Paris, don’t forget to return to the site to leave a review, update open hours, and recommend menu items. Pay it forward!
Lost in translation?
Thanks to George Rodger of the Vegan Society, writer and publisher of the Vegan Passport, you can now find out how to say “I’m vegan” in 56 languages, which covers 93 percent of the world’s population — even Esperanto! You can hand this book to a grocer to find vegan-safe foods at the market, or ask your waiter to show the chef so you can be sure everyone is on the same page. Here are a couple of handy translations for “I’m vegan, so I do not eat . . . ”:
French: “Je suis vegan, donc nous ne mangeons pas . . .”
Spanish: “Soy vegana, por tanto los veganas no comemos . . .”
Vegan Passport by George D. Rodger, used with kind permission from the Vegan Society, UK, 2005
Chapter 18
Dining Out
In This Chapter
Locating vegan-friendly restaurants
Improvising when eating in nonvegan establishments
Filling up your stomach no matter where you’re eating
Vegan vixens and gents should hit the town every once in a while! Staying at home makes it easier to ensure that your morals are satisfied, but getting out into the world is fun and often necessary.
Eating in restaurants, cafes, diners, and dives can be tough for an herbivore — unless, of course, the place specifically caters to those who prefer to eat healthfully. However, you can still enjoy going out to eat with friends and family. In fact, you can even survive a cross-country road trip without starving or yearning for a nice bowl of greens, beans, and grains. That’s because vegan and vegetarian restaurants are easier to find in this technological age, and several online gems allow you to find what you need.
This chapter leads you through some of the best tips for eating out — anywhere, anytime. Dust off your Emily Post book, because good manners will serve you well with your servers and waiters. Planning ahead and discovering how to get around a set menu can become second nature for any vegan out on the town.
Ask and Ye Shall Receive: Finding Vegan-Friendly Restaurants
Never fear, new vegan, you have hundreds of vegan-friendly restaurants to choose from coast to coast. You just have to do a little homework and look in the right places. I show you how in the following sections.
Doing your research
Finding a vegan restaurant isn’t as difficult as you may think, because you have many online resources to help you in your search. For instance, if you’re looking for fast-food or fast-casual dining establishments that may have vegan offerings, check out www.veganeatingout.com. This handy resource lists restaurant menus from all over the U.S., including national chains, and notes which items are vegan or can easily be made vegan. To look up vegan-friendly restaurants as well as health food stores, farmer’s markets,