Day 20: Traveling on a Vegan Diet

  I am off today to spend vacation in Florida with my family. While I am super excited I am also slightly worried that it will be impossible to find vegan things to eat. Being vegan when you are in the comfort of your own home is one thing, but when you are on vacation it can become a little bit more challenging as your options are a lot narrower. This will definitely be a test to say the least.

    Luckily I found this website Happy Cow which is an online community that is geared toward finding listings of vegan, vegetarian, or even veg-friendly restaurants in your immediate area. I also found out that they have an app for the iphone as well so you can find restaurants while on the go. This in not only a great site to look up restaurants and reviews, but is also great for links to vegan blogs, recipes, and so much more.    

     Today I tackled the challenge of finding vegan airport food….which was interesting. My parents and I decided to go to Chili’s for dinner where I had no idea what I was going to be able to eat. All their soups where made with chicken broth and they only had one house salad option, let just say my choices were limited. Little did I know they actually had a vegetarian black bean patty hamburger option. I ended up going with that and it was delicious. It was actually way more satisfying than the brand of tofu vegeburger I had in the past. So far so good.

    After this great experience at Chili's I decided to do some research and found that they had quiet a few options on their menu that I did not know about. Unfortunately I found it was a vegetarian option not vegan. If you are vegan you are pretty much out of luck at Chili's. Here are some of the stuff on their menu which is vegan:

Corn Tortillas are vegan
Salad without cheeses, meats, fried tortilla strips or croutons are vegan
Citrus Balsamic Vinaigrette Salad Dressing is vegan
Low-fat Vinaigrette Salad Dressing is vegan
Pico de Gallo is vegan
Salsa Picante is vegan
Rice is vegan
Guacamole is vegan
Black Beans are vegan

Steamed Veggies – Corn on the Cob, Broccoli, and Fresh Veggies are vegan ordered without oil or butter

    The only main dish that is vegan would be there classic fajitas without meat. You can check out their "Secret Menu" for further details on what vegetarian options are available when going to Chili's.