CHAPTER 9- The Vegetarian Eats Out - Meals You Can Enjoy From Fast Food to Fine Dining
When you’re making your own meals at home, it’s easy to have complete control over every aspect of your eating. You stocked the pantry, you planned the menus, and you’re whipping up tasty meatless meatless entrees for you and your family. But unless you’re completely housebound, you have to go out in the world some time – and often, that requires eating in restaurants.
That doesn’t mean you have to toss out all your vegetarian principles. More and more, restaurants offer vegetarian options, and even fast food outlets have food you can eat. Depending on where you are, you can find something to eat. The reason restaurants have become more sensitive to the needs of vegetarians has nothing to do with social consciousness – it has to do with money. Vegetarians (and friends of vegetarians) have money to spend, too, and restaurants that don’t cater to meatless eaters lose business when those folks want to eat out.
Even if you end up in a restaurant that doesn’t have anything vegetarian on the menu, you can always request something special. Remember, restaurants want your money – and they get that money buy selling you food, and preparing it in a way you like! Salads can be made without the chicken or salmon that’s listed on the menu. You can even ask your server if the chef can prepare something vegetarian just for you. Chefs often get a little bored making the same things day in and day out, and yours may welcome the opportunity to whip up something new! Just be polite, ask nicely, and your request will be seen as perfectly reasonable.
Think ethnic
If you live in a big city, you’ll probably be able to find vegetarian restaurants in your town. If you can’t find any on the Internet or in the phone book, look for a natural foods store in your town – the employees there will be able to point you toward restaurants that are vegetarian-friendly. If both of those searches come up short, think ethnic! Chinese restaurants are great for vegetarians, offering delicious vegetable entrees, rice and noodles. Just take a moment to quiz your server about how the dishes are prepared – some dishes that sound vegetarian on the menu may contain meat or eggs. Tell your waiter that you don’t eat meat, and they’ll make sure your meal comes the way you want it.
Indian restaurants are terrific for vegetarians, too, although not all cities have them. The Indian diet has a rich tradition of vegetarianism, and restaurants offer a selection of vegetable curries and dishes made with chickpeas, which are an excellent source of protein (and delicious). If you’re new to Indian cuisine, you have a delightful adventure ahead of you – try dal, a traditional, spicy lentil dish, and samosas, delightful little pastries stuffed with meat, vegetables and spices (just make sure you don’t order the ones with meat!) If you’re avoiding dairy, though, be aware that many Indian dishes are prepared using clarified butter, called ghee – just ask that your meal be prepared with vegetable oil instead.
If your co-workers or family announce a trip to the Olive Garden or another Italian restaurant, don’t fret – Itailian restaurants are another great option for vegetarians, especially the ovo lactos. Pasta with meatless marinara sauce is a staple menu item, as it pasta primavera, which is loaded with vegetables. Many Italian soups, such as pasta fagioli, gets their protein from rice and beans (just make sure that they use vegetable broth, and not beef or chicken). At the big chain restaurants like Olive Garden or the Spaghetti Factory, you’ll find salad bar/bread stick combination meals that are perfect for vegetarians and easy on the wallet. And if the gang heads out for pizza, ovo lactos have lots of options, too. Plain cheese pizza, or even a cheeseless pizza topped with vegetables, are just as tasty as the meat-loaded kind.
Other ethnic options are excellent choices for vegetarians, as well. Hit a Greek restaurant and load up on hummus, dolma (stuffed grape leaves), baba ganoujh (a delicious eggplant spread), spanikopita (spinach pie) and salad made with a grain called tabouli. If you like Mexican fare, you can have gazpacho (a cold vegetable soup), chiles rellenos (green peppers stuffed with cheese, the breaded and fried) and bean-and-cheese versions of all the usual favorites – burritos, enchiladas, tostadas and tacos.
Eating with the common folk
If you’re an ovo lacto vegetarian, you’ll be able to find lots of things to eat at family-style restaurants, no matter what time of the day you visit them. At breakfast, you can enjoy waffles or pancakes, omelettes and egg “scrambles.” Other times of the day or night, there’s grilled cheese sandwiches, salads, french fries, egg salad and other items. It gets harder, however, if you’re vegan. In fact, despite the size of the menus in these restaurants, vegans will find little that they can eat. This is where it pays to be creative and flexible. Ask your waitress if the kitchen will top a baked potato with steamed vegetables, or ask if you can just side dishes and have a small salad, some veggies and rice. It may not be the most delicious meal you’ve ever had, but it’s an adequate meal until you can get something tastier.
As mentioned earlier in the chapter, your better restaurants will have menu items designed with vegetarians in mind – and even if there’s nothing that’s just what you want, the chef will probably be amenable to customizing a dish to your liking. Most of the time, though, you’ll find delicious vegetarian appetizers – you can even make a meal out of two or three of those if there’s no entrée that appeals to you. But you’d be surprised how creative a chef can be when asked to come up with something new on the spur of the moment, and your meat-eating friends will be jealous of the special attention you receive!
