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Travel Question – How Do You Both Travel as Vegetarians?

Posted by on July 8, 2010 .

Travel Question – How To Travel As A Vegetarian.

This week we received a question from Mark: “Hi there! I’m a vegetarian about to leave on my first RTW trip, and I came upon your post top 6 countries for vegetarian food lovers. So I’m wondering: what is it like traveling as a vegetarian? I’ve heard it’s very hard finding vegetarian meals in Asian countries”

Hey Mark. traveling as a vegetarian isn’t actually as hard as you may think, here are a three ideas to make finding vegetarian meals and traveling the world on a vegetarian diet.

Make Yourself Understood:

We often found that the most difficult task was to make them understand what a vegetarian diet really was.

Often they thought it was something much more complicated, not realizing that a vegetarian salad can be the same as a shrimp salad just without the shrimp.

Sometimes it’s easier to say “no meat please” rather than ask “is it vegetarian?”, also knowing how to say this in the local language is often helpful.

In Asia a very common vegetarian meal is fried rice/noodles with mixed veggies. If you ask for a vegetarian version of fried rice and they can’t make it, then they either didn’t understand you or they only have pre-cooked food and can’t change it

(It’s common to make a big fry up in the morning and have the food sitting there for the whole day, which is something I wouldn’t recommend you eat anyway).

how to travel vegetarianLook For Alternatives – Be Creative:

If there are no vegetarian meals on the main course, just put together some appetizers and make them into your own meal.

One of the downsides when traveling was that we couldn’t always try the local specialties as they often included meat.

We made sure to try all their local desserts instead ;) , which turned out to be a lot of fun – it’s amazing what people eat for dessert..!

Be Prepared:

There might be times when you really can’t find anything vegetarian to eat, so bringing a snack bar or some other snack along with you can be a good idea.

If you’re a vegetarian because of ethical reasons, then be prepared for the animal cruelty you may have to face. It can be difficult at some times, but being prepared for it will make it easier to deal with so it doesn’t come as a shock.

I wish you a great trip Mark, and if you or anyone else has any more questions then just ask us, either in the comments below or send us an e-mail from our site.

xox Sofia

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  • http://www.baconismagic.ca Ayngelina

    I'm not vegetarian although I find a lot of travelers in Central America eat meatless at least one meal a day.

    Locals seem to be really aware of vegetarians and if you say you're one they'll try to find something you can eat. The only downside is that often things are still cooked in meat fat. Last night I was with two vegetarians who ate veggies clearly cooked in lard, but they are willing to be flexible on the road so it was okay with them.

  • http://www.neverendingvoyage.com Erin

    We are vegetarians and have travelled all over Asia and are now in South America. We have always been able to eat – the biggest problem can be getting bored with the veggies options. Learning some of the local language really helps – at least being able to say “I don't eat meat, chicken or fish”. Unfortunately we have also had to be less fussy about hidden ingredients – we have a bit of a 'don't ask' policy because otherwise we would have so few options.

  • http://www.baconismagic.ca Ayngelina

    Erin,

    I could never get sick of beans but eggs every day would kill me. I've met a few people who are eating fish just through Central America because they need a few more options.

  • http://twitter.com/bunE Christine Cassidy

    I am very strict vegetarian – no eggs, animals, fish, cheese w/animal rennet and traveling in Japan was difficult outside of big cities, they really just don't “get it”. A good interpreter helped a lot but many time she just had to point out on the tray what likely had dashi in it (fish in the broth) and we just ate what we could and left the rest. In Kyoto & Tokyo it is easier to find vegetarian restaurants and shojin ryori (vegetarian temple cooking). Happy Cow is a great resource, check it before you go: http://www.happycow.net/ .

  • http://www.viaggiando.com.br/ Camila Navarro

    Great tips! As a vegetarian, I love this post! Sometimes it's not easy to be a vegetarian traveller, but we always can find a good pizza! ;-)

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/5MMSKNILFLD4DC4CDQN4PPDIG4 Shabuj

    You write there is hard to find a vegetarian in the Asia Region.But it is not true for now a days.Today many people are keeping their food habit as vegetarian.I am a vegetarian also.I know many people who are vegetarian.Bollywood actor Shahid Kapoor is also a vegetorian.It is very helpful to keep your body fit and fresh like tender.

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/5MMSKNILFLD4DC4CDQN4PPDIG4 Shabuj

    ou write there is hard to find a vegetarian in the Asia Region.But it is not true for now a days.Today many people are keeping their food habit as vegetarian.I am a vegetarian also.I know many people who are vegetarian.Bollywood actor Shahid Kapoor is also a vegetorian.It is very helpful to keep your body fit and fresh like tender.I preffered the site http://www.bahamas4u.com for more information about spending vaction to keep your body and mind feet

  • http://www.MyBeautifulAdventures.com/ GlobalButterfly

    I have never found it difficult in all of my travels to find something veggie to eat. I've been veggie for over a decade! I think it is challenging to be a vegan though…

  • http://twitter.com/swimkatieclapp Katie Clapp

    Thanks for the great guide to vegetarianism on-the-go! We figured our readers over at http://www.hotelmarketingstrategies.com would appreciate it, too, so we featured you in this week's “Hotelier Highlights”!

    Here's the link: http://www.hotelmarketingstrategies.com/hotelie…

    Keep up the great work, and have a nice rest of the weekend :)

    Katie Clapp,
    Editor, Hotel Marketing Strategies

  • Sofia

    Hey Ayngelina! Oh I can't wait to go to Mexico and try the food there, it seems really tasty!

    Yeah I often do the same as your friends, I think that sometimes you'll just have to ignore the fact that the veggies are cooked in animal fat, or have 'touched' meat when they take out meat from a meal and 'make it' vegetarian.

  • Sofia

    Haha yeah we felt the same in South East Asia, we got so sick of fried rice/noodles with veggies after a while, but the desserts made up for it ;)

    Yeah you do have to be less fussy when traveling. I often feel that I don't want to be too much trouble and make things complicated for them asking about every single detail, and like you say, you would have fewer options.

  • Sofia

    Hi Christine!
    Yeah I've used happy cow once in a while, it's a good website so thanks for sharing.

    I'm not that strict vegetarian so I don't have any problems with egg and cheese, but I can imagine that it would be quite tricky sometimes.
    Language helps a lot, maybe images would help too? Like a cross over the food you don't eat?

  • Sofia

    Hey Camila! I'm glad you like the post, yeah pizza margherita is always a safe option worldwide ;)

  • Sofia

    Hey andi! That's great to hear, I've noticed that it's becoming easier and easier to be a vegetarian, there are more options out there and I also think people are starting to accept it more.
    But yeah, vegan seems to be pretty hard still..

  • Sofia

    Thanks Katie! I'm glad you liked it so much, and I hope your readers will too :)

    Have a great week!

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  • Hazell

    Just came across this post – good advice! We’re a group of travelling vegetarians and we’re writing about our experiences as we travel here http://www.theveggiebus.org. We’re in India at the moment and loving the vegetarian food on offer, but in some remote parts of China we had real problems! We found saying that we were eating a strict Buddhist diet was more widely understood. Find out about the religions in the countries your visiting and put your dietary requirements into a context locals will understand.