Often when I am going out to lunch or dinner with friends, they insist that I pick the place because I know where I can eat. For 1. I HATE picking restaurants, unless I have a crazy craving for Indian or Sushi or something, and 2. I can eat ANYWHERE. And I mean that!
Except for a string of bad luck about a month ago, my order rarely gets screwed up. I can eat in pubs, steakhouses, cafes, coffee shops, chain restaurants, ethnic restaurants, you name it. And I generally do not order a salad unless that is what I am craving. I'll admit, when you first look at a menu, it doesn't look very vegan friendly. But, if you get creative, you have a world of possibilities ahead of you.
For example, I will often ask that they switch out meat for double veggies in things like salads or stir fry. I order pizza or quesidillas with no cheese. Recently, I have started subbing out meat or cheese for rice or beans, and have been ordering "fish" tacos or more hearty wraps. Any place that has an actual chef will custom make a dish for you as well, and as one server told me, they get excited by the challenge. Sweet.
Even when I go over to someone's house for a party or get together, it is rare that there isn't something that I can find to eat. I don't feel like I am missing out when there are dishes that aren't vegan friendly; most of the time they just don't appeal to me at all.
I will admit that I am more lenient than most people are when it comes to things "touching" my food. If I can avoid it, I will, but if someone accidentally put a slice of cheese on my sandwich, and I can pick the entire thing off, I will. I have scraped sauces off of sandwiches in the past and survived. I have eaten things by accident and somehow lived to see another day. For me, the concept of being vegan is to make a 100% effort to not eat meat and dairy, all while living a normal life and not sweating the small stuff.
So, the moral of the story is, if we are going out to eat: Don't make me pick the restaurant!
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