My father was getting upset yesterday because at Boston Pizza [it was my mom's birthday, so I didn't get much of a choice] I was having a hard time finding something [other than cheese-less pizza]. And why is it so hard to understand that I don't like salad?

Eating out while being vegetarian is one thing. Being vegan is another.


Does anyone else find it extremely difficult? I also live in a city of 12,000. So that may explain it.

I only like going out to certain restaurants that I know have vegan selections. I prefer either omni-restaurants that have their menu and ingredients on a website, vegan or vegetarian restaurants. I dont trust most servers to know what is in the food and I hate asking questions. I've thought about starting a folder the contains lists of restaurants and the vegan food choices in them to keep in my car for the times where we decide to go out at the last minute.

I don't enjoy eating out anymore. I also hate asking for special requests. I do it out of necessity. I find that the chain restaurants like Applebees, Ruby Tuesday, etc. are the hardest. They never have plain white rice. Their vegetables are awful. I do better at other restaurants. I can usually get pasta with garlic/oil/broccoli. Sometimes I get sauteed mushrooms,onions on a toasted bun with oil/no butter. You don't always know if the bun is vegan or not. Myrtle Beach was awful. I had fries and corn on the cob one day for lunch. Chinese or Japanese is usually ok. Yeah, it's not too much fun to eat out anymore for me.

It's always a craps shoot eating out.

Me, I don't find it that hard managing, but I do know others aren't always as fortunate as I am. :no:

Most the time I go out I'm going for the people, not the food. I eat before I go or after I get home and I just have a big salad with no cheese and no croutons while I'm there. It's no big deal and it's not really a "special order" since most places have salads.

I do hate special ordering, though, and I'm usually too shy to do it.

I can understand what you mean, I dislike eating out too. I never really liked it much anyway and now it's worse since I am vegan. I love to cook and honestly prefer to stay at home and cook. I know what's going into my food and think it tastes better than restaurant food.

Sometimes it is hard to avoid eating out when friends and family want to go out. I usually check out places online to make sure what is vegan and not at places. I know it is hard when many places don't post ingredient lists online. My family knows I do this and will make sure the restaurant is ok with me and there is food I can eat at a place before we go. I like places such as Panera Bread and Qdoba because they do have food that is veg*n and I can see their ingredient lists on their websites. I also like Middle Eastern restaurants because their food is good and they offer veg*n options.

Like someone else posted, you can always eat before or after you go out. It is more about the people than food, although, it can be hard to go out when you can't find much to eat and others don't understand why. You don't want to make a big deal about what you do and don't eat. I can't offer too much advice about it since I don't have to worry about it too much but I hope things work out for you. If you are a decent cook, maybe you can invite your family and friends over for vegan food and show them what great food vegans eat.

i never go out eating. apart from the problems already mentioned, i find it a waste of money. for the price of a meal in a restaurant i get three to five meals at home, plus at home i can shovel down huge amounts like a pig without feeling observed :cool: in the restaurant i don't even know if the food has been washed and prepared properly. i have seen documentaries on how disgusting and unhygenic some of those restaurants are behind the scenes, even expensive ones. no thanks :)

I agree with Misq17 about going for the company and eating something before you go. If you're not starving it helps.

I agree, eating out as a vegetarian is 10 times easier then eating out as a vegan. I have lost all of the joy of eating out now. The only places I like going to are places where I know I can get vegan stuff easily. Ruby Tuesday has an awesome salad bar that I love with soybeans! :eek: We have a chain called Sweet Tomatoes in Florida, it is a huge salad bar place and they have like pizza, pastas, soups and so on. They label what is vegetarian and what is not. I usually fill up on a huge salad and call it the meal.
Chipoltes is a new chain that I love. They have vegetarian tacos that I get. The tacos are filled with Rice, beans and sauteed veggies and I top it with lettuce. Those are so good. If I have to go to someplace like Chili's I get the Fajita pita but I substitute the meat with griled portobello mushrooms and leave the sauce off.

I have no issues special ordering or asking lots of questions. I guess I am just used to it though since I grew up a picky eater (even when I was a meat eater). I am the special order Queen! :chef:

what i actually hate most about it is that often it is the only time that others see what i *do* eat (you know, the neverending question of "so what do/can you eat??"). so, when eating out without vegan options and always resorting to the salad people are endlessly commenting on how that's all i eat! it's frustrating because obviously far from the truth. i think they're only half joking, too.

Does anyone else find it extremely difficult?



Nope. Just you.




It depends on the place.

I mean, if it's Boston Pizza, then yeah. Even if they had a vegan option it would suck. I don't know how anyone could eat at this restaurant equivalent of a locust.

But other places are better depending on how picky you are.

For instance, we have a Mongolian Grill here in town. They have a salad bar type thing (they even have tofu) and you fill your bowl up with vegetables and add oil and sauce and they cook it for you. On the same grill as the meat.

They'll scrape the grill clean and use different utensils if you ask. But chances are you might get some trace amount of animal in you. I'm not too keen on that so I stopped going after the first time.

I would argue that having it cooked on the same grill in no way contributes to animal suffering, but then I could also argue that supporting a restaurant that sells meat is at odds with a vegan philosophy as well. So it comes down to personal choice, grey areas, and the inconsistencies that abound in the life of a vegan.

Anyway, it's tough as a vegan because normally your options are VERY limited, and you will often be the topic of conversation (and not in a good way). But it'll never get easier so the sooner you come to terms with it the happier you'll be.

I reduced my eating out considerable when I became vegan because of this.

And while eating beforehand is a good idea, it does tend to compound the suck factor when you have to sit and watch other people enjoying an animal based meal while you sip your drink.

Yeah, no. That wasn't helpeful, was it? Sorry. :)

Cheers!
TJ

PS. I'm so with you on the salad. Blech.

I hate it too! I would either eat before or something. You really never know if they put something on/cooked it with something etc. So there's no way of knowing if the soup that was "veg*n" has anchovie paste in it, animal flavors, etc. I like to knoe EXACTLY what Im eating, which is why I cook for myself! : )

I'm with you on most restaurant salads. There's nothing worse than getting a plateful of iceberg lettuce with a few pieces of shredded carrots and one cherry tomato. :spew: I love salads with lots of greens, beans, nuts, fruit, veggies, ect. Unfortunately, most places serve the first type of salad.

I used to love eating out but not anymore. It's never worth the $. The noise and the wait. I always equate the $ paid for one meal to $ paid for a pair of shoes that will last me alot longer. We even stop ordering pizzas and started making them ourselves. They taste so much fresher.
If we do go out, it would be to small, neighborhood restaurants where you will recognize the ingredients and the food is homemade or from locally grown produce.

At Myrtle Beach it ended up costing me $13 for fries ($1.49) and half an ear of corn on the cob ($1.49)for lunch. When we went out to dinner it cost me $40 for a garden salad and a virgin pina colada. Everyone else had steak, seafood, bloody marys and beer. I hate not splitting the bill when everyone else is.

I don't mind eating out too much. I am surrounded by too many omnis/processed food eaters. I adapt. I dont' really mind pizza without cheese, or going to a steak reastaurant and ordering sides. (I don't pay for those meals, so I have no qualms about supporting a restaurant chain who makes it money by slaughtering innocent cows and chickens.) Besides, steak restaurants are about the only time I get sweet potatoes.

The biggest problem I have when eating out is whether or not the restaurant is smoke free. My husband's and my new favorite restaurant is IHOP. It's smoke free, and vegetarian friendly.

There is a Mongolian grill by us, too. We went to it once, but Andy doesn't care too much if we go back. I liked it because it was very veg*n friendly. I didn't think too much about getting trace animal, but my husband did tell the guy to make sure my veggies and tofu was nowhere near meat. The kid asked if I was vegetarian and I said yes. He said that he is too. (He joked about the irony that he'll go home and eat a veggie burger then go out and smoke. I told him I used to do that, too. Now I don't smoke.)

I also like to look at the menus on-line, especially with someplace new. If I have to, I will just order a salad and eat at home. However, my husband and I are both adventurous when it comes to restaurants. While it can be frustrating, I welcome the challange. Besides, even if it's just a baked potato, and a side salad, it's a baked potato and a side salad I didn't have to make.:)

Since my husband has started his pastoral inernship, church members have either been taking us out or inviting us over for dinner. It's not too bad. The other evening I had some baked veggies with some interesting spices. And a yummy salad with ingredients I don't normally buy. And dessert fo melon and watermelon. Yummy. Last night it was basically pasta and tomato sauce. I should have asked about the spices; I think the family kept referring to it as manacotti, manacazzi? It was good. That, and another salad with ingredients I don't normally buy and some white Italian bread and I was good.

I learn to be flexible. It works. I don't go hungry.

Peace and blessings,
Laura

I hate eating out also. My family hates eating out with me. They get embarassed when I decide not to order anything. I don't think its embarassing. I'm a vegetarian, and I've gotten sick of salads. I'm also a very healthy eater and most importanly extremely picky.

When I go out with friends/family I usually just sit there. I don't like not knowing the nutritional info on my food anyway.

I think it sucks restaurants don't have more options. :(

I stopped ordering salads because when they went to places like steak houses, and even italian restaurants etc. the salads seem very old, and I'm used to organic vegetales, so it just tastes disgusting. Not to mention they get very old, very quick.

Ruby Tuesday is usually the only place I will eat out at. I have an addiction to this place. The salad bar is great and their veggie burger is amazing..w/o the cheese and mayo and topped with bbq sauce. :lick:

I love eating out! It's one of the things I like to do most. I can always find something, even if it sucks, oh well. I'm there to be out of the house with people I love. Sometimes I just forget the food and go for the wine list instead. :p

I've ordered veggie pizza's with no cheese before and they're not bad. eh, sometimes I get a strange look or two from the cashier :think: but no biggie.


eta:medesha has the right idea

I don't go out to eat much, but when I do I have the best luck at Asian restaurants. No such thing as a veg restaurant here tho.

It was surprisingly not too difficult to eat out when we were in Lille, France two weeks ago. We went to one place called the Grizzly Grill and they had a huge salad bar and we were able to get their pizza without cheese. I think Paris is a different story -- OK if you are veggie and eat eggs, but difficult if you are vegan although I have seen lists of suitable restaurants on another website. There is nothing wrong with eating salad either, unless you don't like it. My DH is coming around, although he won't eat any kind of dressing -- not even my low fat ones.

I love eating out. It means I don't have to cook anything (and by cook I mean microwave something at home, of course). And usually means I'm getting to hang out with friends or family. It's boring eating at home all the time by myself. Of course, when eating out, I prefer to always pick the place. :P heheh.

I don't really like going out...mainly because there's not many vegan options.

about all I can get is some sort of pasta dish, a salad or maybe something else. I just tried to stay clear and if I have to go with someone, I don't always end up eating anyway!

*sigh*

It use to bother me at first, but it really doesn't anymore. I usually end up ordering a salad or side orders for my main dish. I'm a vegetarian and I couldn't imagine eating out with omnis as a vegan- how frustrating.