As some of you know, my diet has become more and more specialized over the years. First I was vegetarian, then vegan, then gluten-free vegan, then grain-free vegan, then grain-free/legume-free vegan, and now my food sensitivities are to the point where I can only eat about 20 foods. That being said, I still go out to eat with my family and friends! So just how do I do that when some people struggle to even get a vegan meal at a restaurant?
For basic tips on dining out, check out my blog posting from awhile ago. But the basic strategy for dining out comes down to two things: research and education.
First, I always check out a restaurant's menu online to see what they have to offer. I don't even look at the actual items anymore because 90% of the time there won't be a dish I can eat. What I look at is the ingredients. For me, at this point, I usually eat salads or sauteed vegetables, but this could work for any dish. So if I think I'll be eating a salad, I scan all of the ingredients to see what fresh veggies they have at the restaurant. For instance, maybe they don't offer avocado on a salad but they have guacamole or they have it in a sandwich, so I know I can ask for avocado in my salad. Or if I want sauteed vegetables, maybe I see they have cauliflower on one dish, broccoli on other, and mushrooms on yet another. I always check to make sure they use olive oil and then I can just ask them to combine all of those together and saute them with a little bit of garlic or just steam them. If you're at an Italian restaurant and they don't have a veggie marinara sauce, you can always ask them for olive oil and garlic (olio and aglio) and load it up with veggies. Or if you're at a Mexican restaurant, you can have them make you up a veggie burrito by either taking away or adding ingredients. You get the picture. The trick is you want to find a quick and easy meal they can readily prepare by combining ingredients they already have, not ask them to reinvent the wheel and create new dishes.
So once you have an idea of what you could get, the next step is very important - Call the restaurant! You need to call the restaurant to explain that you have specific dietary requirements and see if they are able to accommodate you. If at all possible, see if you can speak to the chef so nothing gets lost in translation. Sometimes, chefs actually have special meals in mind already that are just not on the menu - they often have a few vegan or gluten-free dishes up their sleeves that they can readily make for customers. If a restaurant will not accommodate you, then you will need to cross it off your list. But I have found very few restaurants that were not willing or able to accommodate me, even on my limited diet.
The third step is to let the server know when you arrive at the restaurant that you had called ahead and have special dietary requirements. It's best to do this when they are seating you and handing out menus so they can talk to the chef or manager if necessary. If you've already pre-arranged a meal with the chef, they will know you have arrived and will often come out to the table to talk with you.
When you order your meal, it's very important to reiterate again, but in a nice way, what you cannot have as well as what you can have. I always tell them that I can't have any additional ingredients, even spices, because of my allergies. However, when I was just a vegan, I would remind them no butter, eggs, animal products, etc. And when the server brings out my meal, I always double check again to make sure no mistakes were made.
I have encountered a few situations where I couldn't speak to the chef, whether they didn't speak English, didn't have time to talk, or just didn't want to, and my order was lost in translation. Although the server was very specific, the chef wanted to add embellishments because that's what chef's do! I never hesitate to send my meal back once if it's not correct. But if it comes out wrong a second time, I usually just ask them to take it off the bill and then eat later. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen. Depending on the type of establishment, I might send it back a second time, but if they can't get it right then, I won't bother again after that.
Although you may not get exactly what you would like or it might not be as good of a meal as at a veggie-friendly restaurant, you can still eat out with family and friends. And sometimes, chefs actually come up with creative dishes that really surprise you! And if you're going to restaurants your family and friends choose, it's only fair they occasionally go to one of your veggie restaurants, too!
On a side note, if you find a place that really is clueless about vegetarian, vegan, or gluten-free meals and they truly want to learn and be able to offer options to their customers, as part of my new Healthy Lifestyles Consulting business (more on that in a few days), I will be offering consulting to restaurants as well, so please send them my way!
Wishing you peas and good health,
VeggiePatti
www.veggiepatti.com
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Monday, December 10, 2012
Why It's Important to Wash Your Food
I've been meaning to write a blog post about this topic for quite some time, but I always get tied up with something else. I think I'm a pretty educated consumer when it comes to understanding our food chain - I only buy organic and I choose local when it's available. Now, some people will argue that it's better for the environment to buy local over organic and others will argue the exact opposite, so I say you need to decide what's right for you.
Now, if you want to know about the entire food industry, you should watch films like Food, Inc. or King Corn. What I'm talking about is more basic, and from a plant-based perspective. I want to follow where our food comes from so you can see why it's important to wash your food, because I know many of you out there don't. (And I guess it's one of my pet peeves.)
So let's think about where our food comes from. First, someone grows the crops and tends to them. Second, someone picks the crops. Third, someone preps (depending on where and what maybe washed, maybe not) the food and packages it. Fourth, the food is transported to a warehouse/clearinghouse or if you're lucky goes directly to the seller. Fifth, the food makes it to the store. Sixth, the store stocks the produce for the consumer to select. And not to mention all of the other customers picking up the food, inspecting it, and then putting it back.
Now think about all of the humans that have touched your food during this process. Think about all the room for human error and how each place has different processes and procedures. To most of these people, it's just a job. They aren't going to take extra great care with the food, not like they would if it was going directly to their families. And even if stores have policies, it doesn't mean that each employee is going to follow that policy.
Let me give you an example. At one store that I go to, if some of the produce falls on the floor, they throw it away. Yet at another store, I watched as some of the kale dropped to the floor, sat there for a while, and then an employee came over, picked it back up, and just put it back on the shelf! He didn't bother to wash it off or anything. And yet previously, at that same second store, I had watched a different employee throw away a bunch of perfectly good beets. I had asked him why he was throwing them away and he said the tops were broken off and no one would buy them because they didn't look nice. (And here I'm thinking, give them to a food pantry then!)
Each person has their own idea about food and cleanliness. We don't want to be wasteful, but we don't want to be careless either. If lettuce or some other type of produce falls on the floor, you don't have to throw it away, but for goodness sake, wash it off first before putting it back on the shelf.
Even if you just washed your produce with water, it's better than nothing. Some people choose to use a fruit and veggie wash. Others choose to use the food-grade hydrogen peroxide. Here's a little homemade formula I found out about during my juice fast - Wash your produce in water with some lemon juice and salt (1/2 a lemon and a tsp of sea salt from http://drbenkim.com/articles-pesticides.html). It forms a mildly acidic solution that removes pesticides, residues, grime, etc. Just soak for 5 minutes, rinse, and dry thoroughly before storing.
And if you're still not convinced that you should wash or inspect your food before you eat it, here's something I found on my kale after getting it home and AFTER washing it:
Just trying to promote a little conscious eating...
Wishing you peas and good health,
VeggiePatti
www.veggiepatti.com
Now, if you want to know about the entire food industry, you should watch films like Food, Inc. or King Corn. What I'm talking about is more basic, and from a plant-based perspective. I want to follow where our food comes from so you can see why it's important to wash your food, because I know many of you out there don't. (And I guess it's one of my pet peeves.)
So let's think about where our food comes from. First, someone grows the crops and tends to them. Second, someone picks the crops. Third, someone preps (depending on where and what maybe washed, maybe not) the food and packages it. Fourth, the food is transported to a warehouse/clearinghouse or if you're lucky goes directly to the seller. Fifth, the food makes it to the store. Sixth, the store stocks the produce for the consumer to select. And not to mention all of the other customers picking up the food, inspecting it, and then putting it back.
Now think about all of the humans that have touched your food during this process. Think about all the room for human error and how each place has different processes and procedures. To most of these people, it's just a job. They aren't going to take extra great care with the food, not like they would if it was going directly to their families. And even if stores have policies, it doesn't mean that each employee is going to follow that policy.
Let me give you an example. At one store that I go to, if some of the produce falls on the floor, they throw it away. Yet at another store, I watched as some of the kale dropped to the floor, sat there for a while, and then an employee came over, picked it back up, and just put it back on the shelf! He didn't bother to wash it off or anything. And yet previously, at that same second store, I had watched a different employee throw away a bunch of perfectly good beets. I had asked him why he was throwing them away and he said the tops were broken off and no one would buy them because they didn't look nice. (And here I'm thinking, give them to a food pantry then!)
Each person has their own idea about food and cleanliness. We don't want to be wasteful, but we don't want to be careless either. If lettuce or some other type of produce falls on the floor, you don't have to throw it away, but for goodness sake, wash it off first before putting it back on the shelf.
Even if you just washed your produce with water, it's better than nothing. Some people choose to use a fruit and veggie wash. Others choose to use the food-grade hydrogen peroxide. Here's a little homemade formula I found out about during my juice fast - Wash your produce in water with some lemon juice and salt (1/2 a lemon and a tsp of sea salt from http://drbenkim.com/articles-pesticides.html). It forms a mildly acidic solution that removes pesticides, residues, grime, etc. Just soak for 5 minutes, rinse, and dry thoroughly before storing.
And if you're still not convinced that you should wash or inspect your food before you eat it, here's something I found on my kale after getting it home and AFTER washing it:
Just trying to promote a little conscious eating...
Wishing you peas and good health,
VeggiePatti
www.veggiepatti.com
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