Eating Out When You are a Vegan

January 19th, 2009 | No Comments | Posted in Family Health

It is pretty easy to make your own meals that meet your vegan standards. You can find recipes online or in vegan cookbooks. The ingredients are always easy to find at your local grocery or health store. You can even substitute vegan products for animal products in regular recipes. Going out to eat as a vegan is a little more difficult.

If you’re a vegan, it may be harder to find a restaurant or to find food you can eat when eating out but it is possible. You can go to the same restaurants as your family and friends and enjoy a nice night out together but still stick to your vegan diet. Most any restaurant you decide to go to will have at least one or two options that will meet your vegan standards.

FAST FOOD DINING

Most fast food restaurants cater to meat lovers. The menus are full of chicken nuggets, chicken sandwiches, beef steak, hamburgers and more. It may seem like the French fries are the only option for you, but those aren’t healthy! Don’t worry; you can usually adjust a menu item to meet your vegan diet if necessary.

Almost all fast food restaurants now have salads on their menu, something you didn’t ever see a few years ago. The side salads are generally plain and contain no meat products. The larger specialty salads may have meat products like chicken, cheese or bacon bits but you can request a salad without these items.

Another option is to get a bun and ask them to pile it high with vegetables. You can add whatever sauces or condiments you want on top of the veggies. This is actually a great tasting alternative to a hamburger.

FINE DINING AND CASUAL RESTAURANTS

Any casual or fancy restaurant you go to will have something for you. They always have a variety of salads on their menu for you to choose from. Many restaurants are keeping up with the times by offering vegan entrees or even a whole section of the menu dedicated to vegan food.

Most restaurants will work with you to make their non-vegan dishes acceptable for you to eat. You can make small changes like eliminating butter in the cooking, leaving the meat out of the pasta sauce and having just the fruit instead of the eggs and bacon for breakfast.

In larger cities you may be lucky enough to find restaurants that cater exclusively to vegans. They will have an all vegan menu so you’ll have a variety of foods to choose from. This will be nice after having to settle for only one or two vegan meals on most restaurant menus. If you want to find a vegan restaurant near you, look online, consult a travel guide or look in your local phone book.

It can be challenging to find good food choices at restaurants as a vegan but it is not impossible. You may not have an all vegan restaurant in your neighborhood but you can find a restaurant that will work with you on their menu items. Always do your research before choosing a restaurant so you know what you food items you can ask to be modified to suit you.

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Where to Find Vegan Food

January 16th, 2009 | No Comments | Posted in Family Health

While it is good for your health and the environment, being a vegan can also be very inconvenient. There are not a lot of food choices available for vegans to purchase so they often have to make their own prepared meals and eat a lot of raw produce.

It is becoming more common to see vegan food choices at local restaurants as well as in your local grocery stores. Most grocery stores have some sort of meat and dairy substitutes available but you have to know what you are looking for since they aren’t always clearly marked. If you need help finding vegan food in your area, go to PETA’s website, http://www.peta.org/accidentallyVegan/default.asp, for a vegan’s guide to grocery shopping.

Most areas have a farmer’s market that goes on much of the year if not year round. Vegans can find a wide variety of produce and other vegan friendly foods grown organically at the farmer’s market. Even things like sauces, salad dressings without any animal products can be found here.

A health food store is going to have more of a selection of vegan friendly food than a typical grocery store. The health food stores carry “meat” and “dairy” products made without any animal ingredients. Health food stores are growing in popularity and are found in most areas of the United States.

If you are having trouble finding vegan friendly good near you, look online. Many online stores carry a wide variety of vegan foods and will ship your order right to you at home. You can find many websites selling vegan food online.

Vegan Food at Restaurants

It used to be very difficult for vegans to eat out. The only options that any restaurants had that vegans could eat were usually a salad or two and even that didn’t use to be available at fast food places. Restaurants are more aware of the need to provide vegan options now even though the majority of people are meat eaters.

Fast food restaurants these days offer salads for those who want to eat healthy. Many restaurants offer at least a few vegan choices and sometimes will have a whole section of the menu for vegan foods. In larger cities, you may find vegan restaurants that cater exclusively to vegans. These places offer an entire menu full of vegan food choices. You can get on the Internet to see if you have a vegan restaurant near you.

It is getting easier and easier for vegans to find more varied food choices both at restaurants and at grocery stores. Now is a good time as any to think about adopting a vegan lifestyle for you and your family.

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