by Rose Conrad

Created on: November 09, 2007

When I decided to become vegetarian back in the 70's at the tender age of 17, it was still considered to be a little "strange", and eating out consisted of salad, salad, and yet more salad. But times have changed, and now it's relatively easy to find excellent vegetarian food wherever you are travelling, though I accept that for vegans things are still a little bit more difficult, as the constraints on their diets are much stricter.

The Vegetarian Society here in the UK publish a very comprehensive list of places to eat both here in Europe and further afield. The restaurants don't have to be purely vegetarian, but they have to provide a good, alternative vegetarian menu consisting of more than just a sad nut cutlet on a plate of wilting salad. The Vegan Society publish a similar list, though theirs is obviously smaller.

For the overseas traveller, I guess the hardest thing is the language barrier. Explaining to a meat eater in your own language, that you don't want a "veggie burger" that has been cooked on the same grill as one made of beef, can be difficult at times. Meat eaters just don't understand that for most vegans and vegetarians, the idea of their food being "contaminated" by grease and juices from an animal fat product cooked next to them, is almost as bad as eating the meat itself. So therefore, I imagine it must be much harder trying to explain it in a foreign language. Because I am fortunate enough to be fluent in several languages I have never come across this problem personally, - if they don't speak English the chances are they will understand Spanish or French in most countries in the world, but I do appreciate there may be major difficulties here.

So how to get over the problem of finding suitable vegetarian and vegan food on the road? Well shopping in local markets is always a good and safe alternative to eating out in restaurants. If you can buy bread, fresh fruit, and vegetables that can be eaten raw, then you will never starve, and if the worst comes to the worst, you can set up camp somewhere and eat your picnic in the open air. And if that doesn't appeal, do some research before your trip. Telephone or email the Hotel you are going to, and explain the situation in advance, so they are prepared and will be able to cater. Certainly all airlines and train companies cater for vegetarians now as a matter of course, so you can always be sure of a decent meal while travelling.

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