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I’m Vegan, but I Avoid Vegan Restaurants When I Travel
Who needs another pea-protein burger in places that have their own vibrant local cuisine?
Thanks to the rising global popularity of plant-based foods, it’s never been easier to avoid animal products when traveling. Of course, the degree of ease ranges depending on the destination, and there are still many parts of the world where local diets consist mostly and fundamentally of meat and dairy. (That said, a quick Google search for vegan croissants in the Paris yielded more than twenty results!)
While it’s difficult to ascertain exactly how many people identify as vegan around the world in 2019, global Google searches for veganism show an increase of 550% over the past five years. In most major cities, demand for plant-based offerings has risen, and supply has followed suit — often in the form of all-vegan restaurants in places where the conceit of such a thing would have seemed impossible, laughable even, a mere decade ago.
Easy as it is to be vegan and to travel these days, I make things a notch more challenging for myself when I’m exploring a new place: I typically avoid all-vegan restaurants.
In my experience, places that offer an exclusively vegan menu tend to occupy a narrow silo, and exist a degree or two…
