Surviving a business trip with few vegan options
In a few weeks I’ll be going on a business trip to an area that has almost no vegan options within walking distance. Last time I was there, I had some interesting food experiences:
bringing (smuggling?) oatmeal add-ins to the hotel restaurant at breakfast. Thankfully they at least served oatmeal so I could use my breakfast voucher that came with the room.
spending many a night trying to build a somewhat substantial meal at Subway, one of the few places that at least sort of had vegan options
eating a sad looking salad with iceberg lettuce and no dressing while out with a coworker because it was the only vegan thing available
receiving my first “vegan” lunch provided by the company: a strange zucchini sandwich covered in mayo with a side of Lay’s sour cream and onion chips. At least they tried!
eating a surprisingly awesome vegan meal at a Disneyland restaurant where the entire regular menu was basically meat and cheese in various forms. Sometimes the restaurants that are seemingly the least veg-friendly can surprise you!
I now know to always prepare for meal mishaps by bringing lots of food along to make sure I can make it through the long days of work I’m going to have each day. Assume nothing. I was in southern California, which I thought would be pretty vegan-friendly, but few people in this particular part of town seemed to have any idea what vegan meant. It’s a good idea to research the area beforehand for restaurants and grocery stores. This time I’m looking into restaurants that might be able to deliver to the hotel since I’ll be studying all night every night. If I had thought of this last time, I might have seen that there was an Indian restaurant with many vegan dishes about 3 miles away!
Of course if you’re being fed by a catering company, let them know about any dietary restrictions. After the initial zucchini sandwich incident, I clarified the meaning of vegan with the company a second time, and they were fortunately able to provide a vegan lunch for me from then on without any big issues. Still, sometimes it ended up being something really low calorie like a tortilla filled with just lettuce, carrots, and tomato, so I was glad that I brought lots of snacks. Don’t assume there will be vegan options at a catered lunch. You cannot subsist on carrots and lettuce alone.
Here’s a list of some foods I’m taking with me this time around:
Dr. McDougall soup cups: these can be made with just hot water from your hotel room coffee maker. They’re fairly low calorie but work well as a snack or part of a meal. I like the Pad Thai soup. It doesn’t taste like Pad Thai, but it is pretty tasty nonetheless. The Minestrone is also pretty good.
Instant oats: again, easy to make as long as you have hot water
oatmeal add-ins: chia seeds, dried fruit, nuts, peanut butter, and pumpkin seeds can make oatmeal a more satisfying meal. Some of them are also good snacks to carry around on their own.
dried fruit bars
protein bars
pre-packaged crackers with peanut butter
…and some stuff to pick up from the grocery store and keep in the mini fridge:
hummus: great for loading up an otherwise mildly disappointing sub from Subway
pre-cut veggies: with hummus!
bagels: with hummus!
bananas: with hummus! OK, maybe not.
This year, instead of dreading my food situation, I’m looking forward to traveling prepared, eating lots of hummus (per usual), and maybe getting crazy and ordering some delivery. Perhaps this will make it easier to endure the ridiculous amount of work and stress that this business trip will entail. At least I won’t be hungry!