Road Trip to Saratoga

Cheerio,
This weekend I took a trip to Saratoga with my father, sister, and two of her friends.  While we were traveling I realized how hard it is being vegan on the road/ somewhere new.  Unless you spend a good 30 minutes on the internet every day trying to find restaurants, it is very hard to find vegan options on the go.  So here are my vegan road trip tips (try saying that 3 times fast):

1. Stop at health food stores if possible.  They often have some sort of deli/cooked foods section with plenty of options to choose from.  If not, there are loads of things you can get that could work to fulfill your hunger.  Somewhere in northern NJ we stopped because my sister and her friends wanted Panera, which happened to be in a shopping center with a health food store.  So I got sesame kale salad, sweet and sour tofu, and a Hail Merry tart for dessert.  Not only was this lunch delicious, but it was healthy (even the tart)!  We did not buy other food while I was there but I would recommend buying snacks and things to eat in case later on you run into a non-vegan-friendly zone.  This is something I wished I did for our breakfast Saturday because I ended up with a side of hash browns and a less than fresh fruit cup.

2. Don't be afraid to ask for alterations to the menu.  The first night we went out to dinner and there was nothing but a vegan salad on the menu.  Now I can appreciate salads, but I am a lover of hot meals.  So I saw pasta with tomato sauce on the kids menu and asked them to make an adult-sized portion.  I did not realize how much food that would be (I barely ate half of it before I had to throw the napkin in).  But this is a good example of how to get something vegan friendly in a new place, do not be afraid to ask for a decent meal.  Yes being vegan is your choice, but really so is meat.  You have just as much right to a good meal as a meat eater, and don't you forget that!

3.  Read signs around town.  This might sound obvious, but you would be surprised how easy it is to over look the "dairy-free" signs.  We saw a gelato shop in town and I noticed a small "dairy-free options" sign in the corner of the window, so we went in.  HALF of their flavors were vegan friendly, and you would not know without asking because none of them were labeled as such.  I got lemon-basil with strawberry on top, and it was the perfect dessert for a hot afternoon.

 

 4. My final tip, ask the locals. After our disappointing breakfast Saturday, we went back into town and asked locals where would be a good breakfast restaurant with vegan options.  We were pointed to the Country Cafe and they had, right on the first page of the menu, "vegan option."  It was a tofu has with a choice of two vegetables ( I picked broccoli and avocado), polenta hash, and a grilled grapefruit half (which I really did not like).  This meal was probably my favorite of the trip.