Vegan Diet Advisor

Being away from home can make business travel and vacation challenging and stressful for anyone who’s trying to eat healthily. This is particularly so for new vegans who are still trying to adjust to a diet without animal products but may have fewer alternatives than usual.

However, given the fact that business travel is often necessary for our jobs, and most people enjoy going somewhere new for vacation–at least occasionally–how does the vegan or aspiring vegan deal with eating away from home?

Below are some tips for business and vacation situations:

1. Business travel–Eat as much healthy (whole-grain, low-fat and minimal refined sugar) vegan foods you can at those meals where you have the most control over the venue. For me that’s breakfast, because lunch and dinner are often spent with colleagues or clients, and you’re less likely to have a say over the restaurant chosen or the menu.

Breakfast buffets at hotels are quite vegan-friendly, and as a result they are probably the safest places to eat while away from home (provided you don’t give in to temptation to eat 80 percent of the food that is non-vegan!).

For example:

a. Most salad bars have an enormous variety of fresh vegetables and fruits. Just remember to stick with oil and vinegar dressing (did you realize that there are 120 calories per tablespoon of oil?).

b. Asian dishes (tofu, vegetable stir fry, rice/noodles, vegetable curry, porridge)
c. Whole-grain cereal (hot or cold) prepared with soy milk. Note that oatmeal is usually prepared using dairy milk, if you don’t specify otherwise.
d. Whole-grain breads (check to see whether they contain butter or eggs first)

If you have any doubts whether something is prepared with animal products, just check with the wait staff.  And don’t forget (or feel embarassed) to take a few pieces of whole fruit (banana, apple, etc) from the salad bar to eat for snacks later in the day.  This will enable you to fend off hunger until you can find another healthy vegan meal.

If you are unfortunate enough to have to spend all of your meals with non-vegan co-workers during a business trip, be sure to let them know your vegan diet preferences, and suggest restaurants that are likely to have foods you will want to eat, too. The longer the trip, the earlier you should inform them, as you may find it difficult to return to your vegan diet if you fall off the vegan wagon during your trip.

2. Leisure travel–Culinary travel takes on a whole new twist if you’re trying to stick to your vegan diet. It used to be that going somewhere foreign, you’d probably eat out 3 meals a day. And, if you’re staying in a conventional hotel, often you have no choice.  Rather than being at the mercy of the restaurants or room service, I highly recommend finding a room equipped with a kitchenette, so you’ll have the ability to prepare some of your own meals if you cannot find vegan-friendly restaurants.

A refrigerator in your hotel room is also essential for you to store and eat fresh fruits/vegetables. Ask the concierge at the hotel for directions to a nearby market to buy fresh fruits and vegetables, and try to carve out room for them among the mini-bar items. Again, the longer your trip, the more important it is to follow this  advice.

If you don’t like the idea of cooking for yourself while on vacation, by all means do your research ahead of time so you are prepared to have a vacation that is both enjoyable and healthy. For example, London has a great variety of vegan restaurants, as well as 100s of Indian restaurants that are typically vegan-friendly. Whereas other countries, such as Spain, have more meat-centric diets (you may have guessed when every restaurant in Madrid is ornamented with cow’s shank in the window and/or hanging from the ceiling). Still, this shouldn’t necessarily stop you if you’re dreaming to visit Madrid for a look at Picasso’s Guernica.

3. What about times when you’re not traveling far from home, but just have no time to cook healthy? It’s difficult enough for one person, let alone two, to grocery shop, cook, and  align their schedules perfectly to eat together on weekdays. Therefore, be sure have a list of vegan-friendly restaurants that are convenient to wherever you and whoever you’re dining with may be. Decide how far you are willing to go out of your way to eat healthy, and plan ahead.

It would be great to eat at home all the time, especially when becoming vegan, but as busy people we often don’t have control over the timing or even the location of travel. That’s why it helps to get used to cooking and eating healthy at every opportunity. Then, when you’re away from home, maintain consistency in your diet. You won’t feel like eating just anything, but will be more motivated to make an effort to seek out and plan healthy meals.

I’ve mentioned a few times the challenges of dining out as a vegan, especially if you’re eating a vegan diet for health reasons ( rather than just to avoid animal products).  For example, it may be healthier to order grilled fish rather than eat vegetables, grains, etc, that are either not fresh, or not prepared in a healthy way. Of course, given a choice, I would select restaurants where I can enjoy a meal that is both meatless and healthy.

However, London must be one of the best cities in the world for vegans to eat out, given all the restaurant alternatives available. Indian food is generally tasty and healthy, and there are Indian restaurants everywhere (one I would recommend is Punjab in Covent Garden). Although many popular Indian dishes, such as saag panir are made with cheese (Panir means “cheese” in Hindi), and Indian food and sauces often contain yogurt, there are usually many vegan-friendly dishes, as well.  Regardless if you’re vegan or vegetarian, you want to be careful to order foods that contain minimal amounts of oil, and ask the waiter to reduce oil, wherever possible.

Last year, when I visited London on a business trip, as soon as I settled in to my hotel, I Googled for vegetarian restaurants and started making plans to try as many as possible. The name “Eat and Two Veg” caught my attention, and once I tried the restaurant on Marylebone High Street, I was determined to return every chance I could during my 1-week visit. I ate there twice for dinner (once by myself, and once with a colleague), and stopped there for lunch on the way back to the airport, bringing my oversized suitcase with me, in the middle of pouring rain.

Crispy Aromatic Luck

Returning to the train station, I remember enthusiastically telling the taxi driver that I so enjoyed Eat and Two Veg’s version of  Peking Duck, aka “Crispy Aromatic Luck” (complete with pancakes,  green onions, and plumsauce), that I could hardly tell the difference from the real thing. The taxi driver commented “if you can’t tell the difference, why not go for the real duck instead”? That seems to be a common reaction from most meat eaters, and in all fairness, I suppose I used to think the same way. But now I wonder, if vegetable dishes taste as good, are better for health,  save animals and the planet, why would anyone choose to eat meat?

If you can’t get to Eat and Two Veg (or have been and want to relive your meal), you can check out their actual menu online. While all items on the menu are vegetarian, they have symbols to indicate dishes that are vegan, vegan optional, or contain soya protein.  If only all restaurants could be this way!