It’s not always easy eating a vegetarian diet. The Standard American Diet is a meat based diet.
Most restaurants have a variety of meat main dishes but little variety when it comes to vegetarian main dishes. This can be infuriating. Plus you never know if the dinners are truly vegetarian. Sometimes they will use ingredients like chicken stock in their recipes.
Similarly when you go to a potluck, you never know what ingredients were used when they were cooking the food. In late August, I went to a family reunion. I took a helping of what I thought was regular mac and cheese. I found out that it was actually mac and cheese with shrimp.
I ate some other food at the reunion. My stomach ached for the rest of the evening. I’m wondered if I ate something that was made with meat.
One way you can remedy this by making a dish or two that you know is safe. I cooked a vegan baked bean dish and a potato salad that was safe to eat. However, it was not a main dish so I decided to try eating some of the other dishes that were prepared. Bad mistake.
So the next potluck I went to I made a vegan pumpkin chili and brought along mac and cheese so I was able to eat safe foods. I ate those two dishes and also had some raw veggies.
Another issue is when work brings us food. Sometimes there is vegetarian friendly foods. While other times there is no vegetarian friendly food.
It’s truly frustrating but with planning it can be doable.
With restaurants, plan ahead. Check their menus prior to going out to eat if possible. I also know the vegetarian friendly restaurants around my area. I also know the best places to get a meal and what I can eat there.
Hubby told me that it is not easy to be flexible on road trips because I can’t eat at some restaurants. It was harder finding places to eat when I was gluten free.
When you are going to a potluck, make sure you bring a dish or two with you that is vegetarian friendly. Or bring something that you can eat. Something that you don’t have to share with anyone else.
When you know your work is bringing food, have a back up plan. I have cups of easy mac, cracker sandwiches, and cans of vegetarian veggie soup in my work closet. So if there is nothing for me to eat I can eat something.
As I said, it’s frustrating but doable. The key is to plan ahead.
Happy vegetarian eating,
Traci
