I've been a little concerned about road food...flying across the country with a bit of food for a day or 2 is one thing, but otherwise, worrying too much about food 4 days from now is a pain and possibly unnecessary stress. OTH if one feels like there is nothing to eat, that is also a stress when following a veg/an lifestyle/diet, so better to worry about it now and make sure something happens, than having issues on the road.
So I googled vegan road food, and here are some suggestions:
- Subway Veggie Delight sandwiches
- Bring a cooler -
- Eat mostly fresh fruits and vegetables: Bananas, dates, clementines, celery, and handfulls of undressed greens - hmm...I don't think bananas and greens travel well, and find celery kinda bland...but the idea behind this might work: carrots, and especially apples are available on the road at lots of stops, and apples keep pretty well, and I can get some lovely Michigan apples to bring with, and of course nuts and dried fruits....
- Pack a container of nut or seed butter, which makes anything palatable and keeps for days unrefrigerated. Also some sort of hummus
She also suggests a snack made of nuts and dates, etc. These ideas seem very reasonable - easy to eat in the car; full of protein, keep without refrig.
Our first couple of stops, in Madison, WI and then WI Dells, should be easy; in the first, there's a co-op there, and several restaurants that will have good vegan options, since it's a Uni town, and the Dells has a fave restaurant...
listings of restaurants: http://www.vegmadison.com/restaurants.html & http://www.vegguide.org/region/95
Some of the ones I wound like to try:
- thegreenowlcafe.com/, ALL VEG, 1970 Atwood Avenue, Madison -
(608) 285-5290 - Himal Chuli, NEPALESE, Large selection of vegan dishes - seitan and tofu stir fries and curries. The veggie momocha's are vegan! 318 State Street, Madison, WI 53703-2021 (608) 251-9225
- Chautara, NEPAL/HIMALAYAN, 334 State Street, Madison, WI 53703-2021
(608) 251-3626 - Kabul, AFGHAN, 541 State Street, Madison, Wisconsin 53703 (608) 256-6322
- Lao Laan-Xang, THAI, 1146 Williamson Street, Madison, WI 53703-4841 (608) 280-0104
- Baduang, INDONESIAN, suppliers of local tempeh, even to Co-op, 600 Williamson St. (608)255-6910
- Monty's Blue Plate Diner, AMERICAN, Bfast all day, separate Vegan menu 2089 Atwood Ave (608) 244-8505,
- www.willystreet.coop/ COOP, 1221 Williamson Street, Madison -
(608) 251-6776, 2 locations, and serve breakfast
Some guidelines from: http://www.ehow.com/how_2124838_eat-vegan-road.html
- non-perishables* in small packages, so leftovers aren't an issue
- standard vegan snacks: nut milks, juices, fruit, instant meals
- research - that's what some of these posts are about....
- ask the locals - Rachel Ray used to say that on her $30 a Day food travel show
Another suggestion, this one from http://veganlunchbox.blogspot.com/2006/07/road-food.html: We don't like to eat out more than once a day when we're on vacation (too many other things to see and do), so I'll be packing a big cooler with...bars, plus tons of fresh fruit, veggie sticks, hummus, sandwiches, crackers, juices, and a jar of almond butter.
http://matadornetwork.com/bnt/the-ultimate-vegans-guide-to-finding-food-on-the-road/ suggests research, online and off, major cities shouldn't be a problem, go ethnic in restaurants for more veggie-based cuisine, shop at the Co-ops, various suggestions for int'l (not this time for us), and tuck a few protein bars in the luggage.
http://ask.metafilter.com/155811/Road-Food-for-vegans lists some books on the subject, though seems like the most up2date entries may be via smart phones....specifically the one I found, http://www.vegguide.org/, and also http://www.happycow.net/ AND I just learned from this that it's VEGETARIAN WEEK (Oct 1-7) so how apropos!
