There are times when travel can get tricky for vegetarians. Theme parks are great and vacation hot spots are entertaining, but the heavy reliance on hamburgers, hot dogs and other fast food in many destinations leave many vegetarians craving something more creative than another visit to the salad bar.
Thankfully, it is getting easier for those who prefer meatless meals to find culinary variety in a growing number of cities…even while on vacation.
Vancouver
The jewel of Canada’s west coast is a hub for vegetarianism. There are hundreds of excellent vegetarian restaurants here as well as annual vegetarian festivals, excellent you-pick operations, vegetarian meet-ups, and fun-food tours. The Granville Market, a massive farmers market and craft fair right in the heart of downtown, sells fresh fruits, breads, and produce all year round thanks to the region’s mild climate. There are great tours offered here, allowing you to meet some of the shop keepers and taste some of the high-end chocolates and fresh-baked bread. Every summer, the city hosts VegFest Vancouver, usually in mid-June, celebrating local food vendors and all manner of vegan products. Vancouver is also a very diverse city with plenty of authentic Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Thai, European and other cuisines available.
San Francisco
San Francisco is not only famous for its unique architecture and gorgeous natural setting, but has long been a mecca for vegetarians. Almost every restaurant in San Francisco offers a wide variety of excellent vegetarian and vegan options.
Among many others, favorites include Millennium on Geary Street for a fancy night out, and Herbivore for the best veggie breakfast in town (with two locations in San Francisco and one in Berkeley). There are also raw vegan ice cream parlors, vegetarian fish and chip shops (where the fish is actually tofu-based), and it’s worth taking a trip to the entirely vegetarian grocery store Rainbow Grocery on Folsom.
Houston
When you are planning a vegetarian vacation, you may not consider booking deep in the heart of Texas, but perhaps you should. It may be famous for its cattle and its barbecues, but Houston is also home to a number of truly world-class vegetarian restaurants offering tasty veggie options beyond just a salad. The Pepper Tree on Richmond near the Kirby District is a popular choice for its all-vegan Asian buffet.
Book a vacation in Houston and you can shop at Nature’s Market on Almeda Road for all kinds of vegetarian items, including tofu, fresh fruits and vegetables and organic breads. Field of Greens on West Alabama is also a hit with local vegetarians for its pita sandwiches and its eggplant dishes.
London, UK
If you’re dreaming of a vacation overseas, London has a long vegetarian tradition that dates back to well before Paul McCartney made it trendy. The UK Vegetarian Society was founded in 1847, and the Vegan Society dates back to the 1940s. Today, London is a vibrant, multicultural city with influences from all around the world. There are vegetarian pubs specializing in veggie crumble (a hearty veggie stew with biscuits), restaurants focused on all varieties of hummus, Asian restaurants, Caribbean restaurants and African restaurants with vegetarian dishes. There are also high-end, five-star vegetarian restaurants. Try Food for Thought, which has been the go-to vegetarian restaurant in Covent Garden since the 1970s. Other great choices are Manna, the oldest vegetarian restaurant in the city, and Mildred’s in Soho (their Sri Lankan sweet potato and cashew curry is excellent).
The Mediterranean
It doesn’t get much better than the gorgeous, deep-blue Mediterranean Sea. The Mediterranean is famous for its cuisine, but it is often meat-based as cuisines. However, in Spain, the South of France, Italy, Greece, and Morocco, there are wonderful fresh fruits and vegetable, grains, legumes and oils available all year round. For those who are strict vegetarians, there are still plenty of sumptuous dishes. Many French restaurants offer a meatless version of cassoulet, which is a lovely bean stew. Greek restaurants usually serve a fresh spanakopita, and Moroccan tangines, culinary offerings that get their names from the earthenware pots in which they are cooked, are often meatless. There are also near unlimited choices in vegetarian pastas and salads. With a year-round abundance of fresh produce, the Mediterranean region can be very easy to travel in for vegetarians.
Laura Hoot runs HomeAway.com’s Travel Ideas site section and is also a busy freelance writer for sites including USA Today, GirlsGetaway.com, Travels.com, Trails.com among many more sites.