30 Missions

Mission #6: World Cuisine

Dear Vegan at Heart,

Today your mission is to read about vegan options at restaurants that serve delicious international fare.

When I tell people I’m vegan, they often look at my sympathetically and say, “that must be hard when you go out to dinner.” Um. Not even REMOTELY…as long as I choose a vegan-friendly restaurant. Restaurants that serve cuisines from around the world happen to be some of the most vegan-friendly restaurants around. And while your waiter might not have heard the word “vegan” before, they are usually happy to make small adjustments to dishes once you explain about "no meat, no fish, no milk, no cheese," etc. Just ask them to replace the meat or dairy with veggies and/or tofu!

1. Take a minute to read this list of some dishes I order at these restaurants.
2. Think of any I’m missing that you already know and love.

CHINESE

1. steamed veggie dumplings
2. tofu and broccoli with garlic sauce
3. mixed vegetables with cashews
4. vegetable chow fun or mei fun

ETHIOPIAN

1. vegetable sambusa
2. vegetarian combo, which includes a bunch of dishes, including my faves:
3. string beans & carrots
4. gomen (collard greens dish)
5. yater kikalicha (split pea dish)
6. yatakilt alicha (cabbage, carrot, potato dish)

INDIAN

1. vegetable samosas
2. chana saag (chickpeas and spinach)
3. daal saag (lentils and spinach)
4. aloo gobi (potatoes and cauliflower)

[Note: be sure to ask for "no ghee," a clarified butter that's usually added at the end of cooking]

ITALIAN

1. bruschetta
2. pasta marinara
3. pasta primavera
4. pasta with garlic and olive oil (with veggies or mushrooms, optional)
5. pizza marinara with veggies (artichokes and olives make it more savory)

[Note: fresh pastas are usually made with egg, but dry pastas and whole wheat pastas usually aren't.]

JAPANESE

1. edamame
2. miso soup
3. salad with ginger carrot dressing
4. avocado sushi
5. cucumber sushi

[Note: you might want to ask for no fish sauce in the miso soup.]

MEXICAN

1. chips with guacamole or salsa
2. bean burrito (with guac instead of sour cream or cheese)
3. vegetable fajita (with guac)

MIDDLE EASTERN (Israeli, Lebanese, Turkish, etc.)

1. stuffed grape leaves
2. falafel
3. babaganoush (eggplant puree)
4. hummus
5. tabouli

THAI

1. spring rolls
2. massamam curry with veggies and tofu
3. pad thai with veggies and tofu (ask for no egg!)

[Note: specify no fish sauce for these as well.]

There are many more vegan-friendly world cuisines to explore, including Caribbean, Malaysian and Vietnamese. Enjoy!

Smily face,
Marisa

P.s. Agua y vitaminas!

 

How helpful is this mission? Rate it now!

No Pad Thai In my experience being raised on asian foods by my vietnamese grandmother, pad thai ALWAYS uses fish sauce. Unless you make it yourself, it has to use fish sauce because the sauce that is used on pad thai already has fish sauce mixed in. SO, unless you only get the noodles with nothing on them, then it is neither vegan nor vegetarian.

Lauren (Sat, 2nd Jun, 2012)

Love the suggestions Great options and I'm discovering that it really isn't that difficult to make vegan choices and restaurants. Great options!

Sarah T. (Wed, 23rd May, 2012)

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