The Vegan Traveler

Well, we are 5 days into our trip to PA. I have learned so much about myself:

1. When you carry a bag onto a plane because it has valuable things inside it and you don't want it lost, and there's a crazy-looking lady clutching her bag and refusing to part with it, DO WHAT THAT CRAZY LADY DOES. The airline didn't lose her bag. The airline DID lose ours. (Thankfully, we got it back)

2. I am a sucker for egg sandwiches. I think I made a good decision slowly transitioning to a vegan diet, because it's allowing me to try some things and determine if they will be my go-to foods and letting me enjoy some stuff while in PA that I can't get in Minneapolis. Again, saying goodbye to meat has been no problem. But I've been eating egg and cheese sammies almost every morning. As soon as I get back, I am going to find the most incredible vegan breakfast sammy and eat it like it's going out of style.

In regard to the traveling vegan, or vegan on the go, I've actually been finding some great stuff that is in mainstream restaurants. Are they super healthy? Probably not. It's fast food, after all! But adhering to vegan guidelines at a couple places wasn't too tough. 

My biggest successes have been at coffee chains like Starbucks. They don't bat an eyelash when you ask for soy milk (although they will charge you extra), their mochas are vegan if made with soy and no whip, and while their baked items are not to be blindly trusted (I have read that their molasses cookies, bagels and Sesame Noodle Box are all vegan-friendly), they've got lots of little items right by the register that are pre-packaged and have the ingredients clearly labeled. Some of these include granola bars, mixed nuts, fruit twists (a sort of licorice/fruit leather hybrid) and fresh fruit cups.

Sandwich shops are also great places for vegans to eat. The ingredients are typically a la carte so you control what does into your food, and they have a lot of variety in terms of dressings. The first place I went when we got to Pennsylvania was Quizno's. I got one of their veggie sandwiches with no cheese or mayo and I felt completely satiated. 

This isn't so much a fast food option, but I had to throw in that I just recently learned one of my favorite foods is vegan: tempura. If you're a sushi fan you have probably tried it, and every Japanese restaurant I know has fried veggie tempura in addition to their animal-ingredient counterparts. I never liked fish so when I would go out for sushi I got a plate of tempura. I was bummed that I would be missing out on this because I assumed that the fry batter contained egg like American fry batter does. I was wrong! It's just rice flour, salt and club soda. While learning this information I unfortunately learned that the sauce you dip your tempura INTO sometimes contains fish sauce, and this whole time, I may have been consuming fish juice. Ick. Eating tempura plain is amazing, otherwise you can use soy sauce, or order a cup of miso and mix the soy sauce and miso soup together to create a similar dip to the original.

Finally, my favorite option: Mexican food. You can replace cheese with guacamole, load it up with veggies, and replace animal proteins with beans (just make sure they aren't cooked in lard or with bacon). While some fast food relies on meat or cheese to make it taste good, Mexican food is easily accessible via fast food, its easy to modify to fit a vegan diet, and the seasonings and fresh ingredients leave you knowing you made the right choices, both in the way it tastes and in your burden-free conscience.