A vegan goes on a road trip....

Earlier this week, I found out that I was going to have to make an unplanned trip to Virginia to visit my folks. While it is always a pleasure to travel, travelling as a vegan comes with its own set of obstacles. For example, I don't believe Amtrak has any vegan offereings in their cafe car and I now know that the coffee shop in the Baltimore station doesn't offer soy milk.... regardless of the pleas of this vegan prior to her 6:10 AM departure... (why won't Dunkin Donuts get with it???)

Anyway, I shouldn't whine too much. I had planned ahead and packed my own food and a small mug of coffee. Its just that at 6- anything in the morning a person needs more than one mug! Luckily I arrived safely and without injuring myself or anyone else despite my coffee shortage.

Now...imagine my pleasure when I learned that my parents had scoped out a nearby vegan friendly restaraunt from the awesome website HappyCow.net!! Score! Are my folks the best or what? Plus the restaurant was totally awesome.






The restaurant Nawab (pronounced Nah-Vahb), was a delightful Indian restaurant with a vegetarian menu with clearly marked vegan items. When I indicated I was a vegan, the hostess/ server quickly pointed out that they could also veganize most of the vegetarian options as well and told me not to hesitate to ask. When I ordered she even reccomended a vegan bread option (the roti). Everything about this restaurant was accomodating and perfect. My mother (who doesn't really eat "ethnic" food) asked a million questions and each one was patiently answered. My father and brother both seemed to love their meals as well. I had the Vegetable Jhalfrazie and plain roti. The dishwas good and had tons of flavor. I am a real fanatic about rice and was especially pleased to have some delicious aged basmati with my dish. This may seem silly to write about rice but still after a long train ride... it was great to have something comforting and familiar like this. The other vegan possibilities included Chana Masala, a vegetable curry and Eggplant Bartha.


The restaurant itself was clean and subdued with tables that were well spaced out and comfortable. My mother especially like the lighting on the walls and the tiles. All in all it was a great meal and I suspect that my parents will actually continue to eat here without me.

That was the high point in the day, foodwise. Dinner was at a place called Szechuan Inn. If you are a Vegan or Vegetarian..

DO NOT EAT HERE!!!!

The trouble started when we walked in the door:

Me: I am a vegan, do you have any vegetarian food on your buffet?

Hostess: No, but you can order from the menu. We have a vegetarian section.

Me: I am a very strict vegetarian. Are there any chicken stocks or fish stocks in the sauces?

Hostess: (with a slightly odd look) No, but if you tell your server she can make sure everything is all vegetables.

So the "Vegetarian Section" turns out to be an 8 item section marked simply "vegetable". It includes Ma Poo Tau Fu which is "cooked with a small amount of fresh pork". Hmm... this should have been a clue. But I see they offer Buddha's Delight which has always been 1) vegetarian 2) a combination of tofu and vegetables

You know what they say about assumptions.....

My parents order the buffet and I order steamed vegetable dumplings and Buddha's Delight. The waitress seems very perturbed that I am not eating from the buffet, so I explain that I am a vegan and what that entails. She nods, confirms my order and leaves the table. After about 3 minutes she returns to inform me that all sauces are made with chicken stock. So now my order is changed to the dumplings, rice , steamed veggies and (I assume) tofu. She still seems quite annoyed but I am still unsure why. In an attempt to make the best of this, I mentally tell myself how HEALTHY this low-sodium, low-fat meal is going to be.

Ten additional minutes later she returns to tell me that although the vegetable dumplings are on the menu, they do not actually serve them. Now I am having rice, steamed veggies and (hopefully) some tofu. The server still seems annoyed. Well, I didn't really need the dumplings anyway so thats fine by me...

The food finally arrives. I am served... white rice and steamed veggies... no tofu. Ever hopeful, I ask for some Sriracha hot sauce and I am informed that there isn't any. Instead I am told they have hot oil. The still annoyed server brings me some other (very hot) hot sauce. It turns out that this hot sauce was the highlight of my dinner.

Finally I dig in. The food is plentiful. Thanks to my lack of sauces it is healthy. Oddly it is tofu free.... Remember my thing about rice? Well I guess I am spoiled because in most Chinese restaurants I am served jasmine sticky rice, brown rice or some other high quality rice. This appeared to be Uncle Bens. Now if you are not a rice person, this wouldn't matter but.... for me it was just one more thing.

The final blow though was that as we were leaving I see a huge industrial size bottle of Sriracha hot sauce sitting on the bar!

We've returned!!!

We made it! Everything we own is wet and my husband says he is never, ever camping again..... but he survived and I had a blast. We camped on the island of Chincoteague, Virginia and while there I learned a few things about mosquitoes.
1) They can grow to be the size of small house flies
2) they can be black and white striped
3) Apparently they think vegans are the gourmet versions of humans


For every one bite the omni's got, I received between 7-10 bites. My husband says I look like I am recovering from "the pox".

From the food end, the potato salad and slaw were very well received. There were also alot of farm stands selling sweet corn, watermelon and peaches. I also got to make my vegan version of buckwheat pancakes from the hillbilly housewife blog. They are such a time saver and the recipe was simple to veganize. Overall, cooking at the campsite was a breeze.

What was a very pleasant surprise were the vegan offerings at a few local restaurants! Most of the restaurants on the island were of two varieties: fish-houses (my husband was told by several that the only vegan thing they could offer me was the "house salad") and ice cream parlors. So it was with great joy that we discovered:

Sea Star Cafe- The sign out front says "gourmet carryout". However, after seeing the big pink arrow underneath that said "vegetarian food" and the outdoor tables I nearly dragged my husband down the block and across the gravel parking lot. This restaurant had a substantial vegetarian section with all of the vegan choices clearly marked. They also had vegan desserts and unsweetened iced tea. How could we NOT have lunch here?

Now... I have eaten at many restaurants where the others at the table sit looking at my sad wilted veggies and say with sympathy "I could never be a vegan". This is not that kind of place! My husband had some sort of chicken sandwich and chip combo. I had a pile of fresh chopped raw veggies (not just lettuce!!!), hummus, tabbouleh and whole wheat pita, a glass of UNSWEETENED iced tea and a vegan chocolate-espresso cupcake for dessert. I only mention my husband's dinner to illustrate my point. After about five bites, he said to me, can I try some hummus? Seconds later when I slipped him a few pieces of red bell pepper and snap peas, he got up, threw his lunch away and helped me finish mine (well except for my cupcake.... I kind of have a thing about sweets!) The food is that good.

Saigon Village- This Vietnamese restaurant is one of the first ones you will see when you get on the island. Do not pass it by. There are many vegetarian/vegan options on the menu. (I would suggest asking for advice from your server so that you can be sure to pick something without fish sauce. ) The day I went, a nice young woman sat with me and completely marked up a menu for me, so that I would be certain of what was vegan. I was stunned by all of the choices. They serve a great deal of tofu dishes that were already vegan and were willing to leave the eggs etc... out of anything upon request. The food was really tasty and flavorful too! Way better than a "house salad". (not that I have any problems with salads mind you...)



Mainstreet Shop and Coffeehouse- Finally
if you are a coffee-nut like we are, it is always great to find a coffee shop that not only has soy milk, but also has excellent coffee. The coffee and espresso was so good that we went here six times in three days!






Oh and on a different note, on the way home we stopped at an Amish farmer's market. It was too hot for produce (no AC in the car....) but I was able to get some pumpkin butter, blackstrap molasses and blueberry preserves. I just spent the last twenty minutes flipping through cookbooks trying to decide if I wanted to make cornbread, muffins, biscuits or scones to use as a vehicle for my Amish goodness.