In today’s episode, we talk about how to travel with people who are not vegan or vegetarian. Traveling with people who don’t share your diet has lots of the same challenges as living with or dating someone who doesn’t. It takes lots of compromise, but if you’re persistent, sometimes you can get the other person to come around to your way of thinking.

There lots of scenarios with vegan/vegetarian/omnivore travel, so this show touches on only a few of them here: romantic getaways, business travel, and travel with friends.

On a getaway, I recommend that you pack a few helpful gadgets to help you. First, there are these personal-size travel blenders that you can get online or in most big box stores, like K-Mart or Walmart. Take this and your favorite protein mix and you’re good to go. You can use your blender to make all sorts of dishes while you’re on travel, even mac and cheese. I explain how in the show.

When on business travel, ask colleagues to eat with you or order lunch with you at restaurants that you’ve already vetted yourself as being vegan friendly. Have two or three choices ready, and don’t make them all exclusively vegan. You don’t want to annoy people with having to search around for a restaurant that fits your needs, and if you’re with other people you work with, you also don’t want to get them grumpy about having to eat at a restaurant where they have limited food choices. It’s best to find places that fit everyone.

When you’re with friends, you can really go all out with heading to exclusively vegan restaurants. Try all the newest, hippest, trendiest, or hole-in-the-wall places you can find. They’re your friends, after all, and should be happy to try new things with you. Just remember to keep it all about trying new experiences, though, and not all the political, social, and health reasons that you’ve chosen for yourself to choose a plant-based diet. There will be plenty of time for that.

In the meantime, highlight how great the food will taste and even if your friends say they don’t like it, they will have had a good time having the chance to try something new. Foodies love to try new food, so it’s really great to travel with foodie friends if you’re vegan.

In upcoming shows, look for more tips and helpful hints for vegan travel.

Resources:

NOLA Veggie Fest with Jehan Strouse