Eating Out Doesn't Have to Be Impossible for Vegans

But be careful, because some restaurants might offer a veggie burger or some other vegetarian option (there really aren’t many choices unless it’s a vegetarian restaurant) but their offerings might be loaded with fat and high in calories. In regular restaurants, you can order a baked potato and salad with Italian dressing on the side. Some restaurants have big salad bars where you can load up with fresh vegetables and fruits.

Ethnic Restaurants

But sometimes you want something more elaborate. Besides going to a vegetarian restaurant, it’s often easier when eating out in an ethnic restaurant to find vegetarian and vegan food.

Here are some suggestions: Pizza without cheese (ask for extra vegetables), Chinese moo shu vegetables, Indian curries and dahl (check to see if they’re made with butter), Italian pasta and eggplant dishes without the cheese, bean tacos without the lard and cheese (Taco Bell and other Mexican restaurants), Middle Eastern hummus and tabouli, Ethiopian lentil stew, Japanese edamame and vegetarian sushi rolls, and Thai vegetable curries.

There are websites that list vegetarian and vegan restaurants for eating out. HappyCow.com has an online resource list of vegetarian restaurants around the world.

Restaurant Chains

If more vegans and vegetarians frequent the chain restaurants when eating out and make it a point to ask for vegetarian options, the restaurants will start to offer more veg-friendly selections.

Here are a few chain restaurants and some of their vegetarian offerings. Although the food may be vegan, it might also be loaded with fat and unhealthy ingredients. You can check online at many of the restaurants’ websites. Increasingly, they are making public the nutrition information.

• Arby’s offers a baked potato and a garden or side salad with Italian dressing.

• Boston Market has several vegan options, including the steamed vegetables, tossed salad (without the croutons and dressing), apple cobbler, chunky cinnamon applesauce, cranberry walnut relish, and fruit salad.

• Bruegger’s Bagel Bakery has bagel options for vegans, which can be topped with fresh vegetables, Dijon mustard, or vegan hummus spread. They also serve several vegetarian sandwiches, which can be made vegan by leaving off the cheese and dressing.

• At Chili’s, you can have the tostada chips and salsa, followed by the veggie quesadillas—replacing the cheese and sour cream with extra vegetables—or the Cadillac Fajitas without the meat.

• Macaroni Grill has several vegan options, including all the pastas with garlic and oil and its capellini pomodoro. Try these without the cheese: Tomato bruschetta and penne arrabbiata. When opting for a salad, choose the house or garden without the cheese and top it with the restaurant’s balsamic vinaigrette, Italian dressing, or roasted-garlic vinaigrette.

• Ruby Tuesday offers a veggie burger that’s vegan if you leave off the mayo and cheese. It also offers a veggie burger wrap (414 calories) and has a good salad bar.

• Subway’s Veggie Delite sandwich is 230 calories on Italian bread and without cheese and mayo.

• Several of Taco Bell’s dishes can be veganized simply by omitting a few ingredients. The 7-Layer Burrito can be vegan by omitting the cheese and sour cream. The tacos, nachos, and Mexican pizzas are vegan when you ask the cashier to hold the meat, cheese, and sour cream. Or stick with the bean burrito without the cheese.

I remember attending a lecture by a raw food expert a few years ago. He said he had little cards printed up that he could hand to the waiter to give to the chef. The card said he ate only raw foods and it listed the foods, such as carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, onions, broccoli, etc. He would usually be served a plate of food that was much more creative and interesting than just the standard iceberg lettuce salad.

There’s an Italian restaurant in my town that offers an exceptionally good salad with fresh dark-green lettuce, raw broccoli, tomatoes and other tasty vegetables. When I knew I was going to eat there, I’d put a small container of my own salad dressing in my purse, along with a few olives, and order the salad without dressing and cheese. It was delicious!

When you know where you’re going, you can plan ahead. Bring along an avocado, ask for lemon, and you’ve dressed up that otherwise potentially boring salad.