This blog contains a collection of approaches and methods for vegans traveling abroad, including tips on how to find vegan restaurants, read menus and ingredients lists, preparation before booking a vegan cruise and more. The goal of this blog is to make the process of traveling as a vegan easier.
Without further ado, here are some tips to make your vegan travel a success:
Calling ahead.
One of the best ways to ensure that your meal will be vegan-friendly is to call ahead and ask about the menu. If you can, ask for a vegan menu option or if certain dishes can be made vegan by substituting ingredients or removing non-vegan items.
This will make your visit go seamlessly, without wondering if your dish contains animal products or filling up on bread until you get home and can eat again.
Pack Your Own Snacks.
If you’re traveling with a long layover, or a flight that will keep you in the air for hours, pack your own snacks and food.
Energy bars are great for travel because they’re high in calories and easy to carry. If you’re not a fan of energy bars, buy some fruit (apples, pears) or nuts (and seeds).
Fruits and nuts are also good because they're cheap wherever you buy them. Plus they're healthy!
If you plan to cook your own meals while traveling, try to bring as many ingredients from home as you can. You can bring spices like salt and pepper in a small plastic baggie. You can easily fit vegetable oil, soy sauce and maple syrup in your suitcase. That way, once you arrive at your destination, all that's left is buying fresh produce -- which will save you money anyway!
This will also save precious time searching for vegan products when what little grocery stores are available aren’t very vegetarian or vegan-friendly.
To keep everything cool on long trips (or car trips), it helps to have a cooler bag with an icebox inside of it!
Download a restaurant app before you leave.
Before you leave, download a restaurant app like HappyCow, which is great for identifying vegan options when you’re in a new city, and even better for figuring out where to eat if you’re traveling through rural areas.
When using the app, look for restaurants that have multiple positive reviews—or at least more than just one or two. These are the places with regular customers and a good reputation, so your meal should be tasty.
If there’s an option to filter by price range, sort by cheap or inexpensive, unless your budget allows otherwise. You may be spending less money on food overall when traveling as a vegan, but that doesn't mean you should go around splurging on expensive restaurants every day.
Learn to speak the language.
Having basic knowledge of the local language will allow you to ask important questions, such as whether or not the meal contains any meat, or any animal products at all. Even if a restaurant has a menu with pictures and English descriptions, those descriptions are often unreliable. The most reliable way to determine whether or not there are animal products in your meal is to ask using their language.
Learning the basics of a second language before traveling will also help you navigate through grocery stores and markets. Knowing which ingredients are vegan can be difficult without understanding what's written on the label. So save yourself that trouble by learning how to pronounce these words in the local language and avoid buying an egg omelet when you're looking for vegetable stir fry!
Stock up on snacks at grocery stores.
Grocery stores are a great place to stock up on snacks that can help keep you full until your next meal. Buy fruit and vegetables, nuts, seeds, bread and crackers, hummus and other dips, plant-based milk, vegan chocolate, cookies and other vegan snacks.
While you’re traveling around in the area you’re staying at it can also be convenient to have these types of food available so if you get hungry while walking around or if the restaurant you’re eating at doesn’t have any vegan options available then you can always fall back on having your own food with you.
These types of foods also tend to be cheaper than buying pre-made snack foods so it can save money as well.
Know your restaurateurs when you're looking for a place to eat.
Knowing the origin of the restaurant can help you make good decisions about what to order. If you're in a country or onboard a culinary cruise whose cuisine is not predominantly plant-based, it's possible that your options will be limited or nonexistent. It's important to do your research ahead of time, so you know whether where you're going will be vegan-friendly or if there will be some adjustments that need to be made.
Also, knowing what type of food is served at a particular restaurant can help you decide which dish is best suited for your dietary needs.
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