Eating Healthy, Staying Sane
Choosing to become vegetarian or vegan in the first place requires quite a bit of thought, followed by strict morals. It’s a challenge that is lessened with every year that passes and every new recipe, shop, restaurant or tip you pick up along the way. At home you get in to a routine, you know what’s safe and what’s not. But when you’re backpacking, touring around, changing locations on a daily or weekly basis, your foundations are shaken. It’s a challenge. But it is not impossible to get you fed without fighting a moral battle at each meal time.
1. Research: First of all comes the boring bits. You’re going to need to do some research. This is especially true if you’re going to a country where not only is cuisine going to be a barrier, but language as well. It’s hard enough to make yourself understood in a native-English speaking country, more so when you’re looking for vegan cuisine over vegetarian. When your diet restricts you from walking into any eatery and just shout, ‘Feed me,’ to be happy then it’s better to spare a moment to find some shops and restaurants than to go hungry.
For research purposes, the internet and travel guides are always your best bet. Another handy travel accessory is a copy of the Vegan Passport. This pocket-sized book from the UK Vegan Society translates vegan into 93% of the world’s languages. There is also a visual representation of your needs should you be asking the help of someone who is illiterate. Handy.
It’s hard enough to make yourself understood in a native-English speaking country, more so when you’re looking for vegan cuisine over vegetarian.
2. Be Prepared: When the option presents itself, stock up as much as you can. Even if you’re on a short walk around town, sure that you’ll have no problem finding a restaurant to pop into, you should still have a snack with you, just incase. Personal experience: Took a train into Salzburg, Austria on an empty stomach. Checked into my hostel then went in search of food. Except it was a Sunday. And on Sunday everything is closed. It took me nearly 3 hours to find a giant pretzel. And that was just because there was a festival going on and I stumbled across it as I got myself completely lost in the cobbled, winding streets. Not fun. So like I said, stock up. Water, or course, is a must. As are fruit, veggies, nuts, crackers and other snackables. When you’re hungry and there’s no vegan friendly resource to be had at the local sausage stand, you won’t mind that extra bulk in your bag. Also, you don’t want to spend your entire vacation surviving off of bread and French fries. You’ll get home feeling a lot heavier and a lot less healthy.
3. Worse Case Scenario: Low on food, low on energy and without a reliable source of veggie-friendly food, first thing is to not panic. Look for an ethnic restaurant. Japanese, Indian, Mexican, Thai, etc you should always be able to find something suitable. Facing row-after-row of steak houses and Fish n’ Chips shops, ask a local. If you’re somewhere that English isn’t widely known, check at a hotel or restaurant. Anyone dealing with the hospitality industry will be more likely to take the time to understand your request and to help you find a solution. And then once you have survived the ordeal and your belly is once again full, you can learn from this and review steps 1 and 2 in this article.
