Eating Vegetarian away from Home

In relation to eating vegetarian I feel compelled to tell a story of traveling in California a few years back (at the time our now 6 year old was only 3 months old). Now, this is NOT a story to try to convert anyone to any sort of eating style, as it is my husband and my choice to raise our children vegetarian (and, we use that term loosely, as we are technically lacto-ovo meaning we eat dairy and egg products, as well as wild caught fish). I will also point out that if our children WANT to try red meat (or chicken, pork, hot dogs... is that a meat?), we are totally OK with it, they just won't get it at home. This story can be related also to any family with a member (or members) with any type of special dietary need.

Back to my original story, we're in CA, late at night, with 8 of us and our RV outside of Yosemite looking for dinner for both carnivores and omnivores. The result (sigh) Denny's. Starving, we all pile into our 'round' seating arrangement, scour the menu, and 4 of us opt for the 'veggie' burger. It comes out, I bite into it first, and MY first thought... NOT veggie burger. We bring this immediately to the attention of our waitron, she goes back to the cook and asks. We are then assured that the burgers are in fact 'Boca' Burgers, and skeptically, the other 3 take bites of their burgers. The consensus... animal MEAT. So, at this point (and it's approx 11PM, mind you), we get the attention of the waitron again, she goes back, is shown the box, and Boca Burger it is (as far as we know). Well, we all ate the burgers (with some hesitation, but we were hungry!), and no one was ill in the AM (I hadn't had red meat for 15 years), so I now question what was added to the burger to make it taste so 'meaty' (the same grill as the meat burgers?)

Result of this experience.. NOTE TO SELF, have a better idea of late night (or any time of day) veggie protein options wherever I travel.

I've searched the web in the past and here are some of the resources I've used since, starting with my favorite.

1. The Happy Cow - a Compassionate Eating Guide: a vegetarian restaurant guide and directory of health food stores, has a global directory, reviews, search options and more
2. Vegetarian USA - the Vegetarian Travel Guide, FREE city and state guides (USA): excellent resource for vegetarians, from lodging, to health food stores & restaurants
   
3. VegDining.com - 'your online guide to vegetarian dining around the world': good resource, but requires membership to enjoy the best benefits, worth a look, however
4. We also suggest (in the US) at Chamber of Commerce sites, which usually have good local directories

A few other thoughts when choosing a Restaurant while traveling

1. Sitting in a hotel somewhere? Pick the consierge's brain, thumb throught the yellow pages, ask locals
2. pick up a local paper and browse the ads, take note while sight-seeing or drving around somewhere, and see what looks popular
   
3. always carry some non-perishable snacks for yourself and your kids while on the quest for a dinner location, they will tie you over so you don't have to settle for choosing among a couple of veggie options on a menu at a non-vegetarian restaurant. If you are a vegetarian (or, have a desire for sea food, kosher food, or other special dietary need) it's worth finding a place where the entire menu is an option.
4. our last bit of advice (and thus the 'snack' tip above) is to start looking for a place to eat before you NEED to eat (and, more importantly, before the KIDS need to eat). It will save you from settling for anywhere, and avoid a child glucose crash meltdown

And, as a website specializing in making sure "kids Travel Happy" - it's always good to have things to do! Check out our Family Time Dinner Games