Eating out on a whole food plant based diet
Eating out when you’re following a whole food plant based diet can be a real challenge. If on top of that, you’re also “SOS-free”, which means you avoid any added salt, oil and sugar, this becomes a Herculean task. Are you ready to be the most annoying customer ever? Don’t worry! it’s actually not that hard to go off menu and make them serve you a WFPB SOS-free compliant dish.
Whole food plant based diet: Eating out in a non-vegan restaurant
If you’re on a whole food plant based diet plus SOS-free, you’re not going to be the standard customer in restaurants, bistros, pubs, etc. You might visit such places very rarely anyway but sometimes this rare occasion comes up. The look at the menu can be daunting and you’ll quickly notice, there is absolutely nothing that you can eat.
The menu, however, can give you a general idea of what single items the restaurant is using in their dishes. Are there any rice-based dishes? Potatoes? What options can you see under “side dishes”. Any restaurant should at least have a variety of fresh vegetables in the kitchen.
Ironically, for whole food plant based vegans, it can actually be easier to find something wholesome to eat in a regular restaurant than in a vegan one. That is especially the case when you are in countries or cities where only very few vegan-only places exist.
Beat the bushes and ask questions
Let’s ignore the vegan restaurants for now and focus on regular restaurants, where you might find yourself in on the occasion of a business lunch or a family gathering. When it’s your turn to order and the waiter or waitress is looking at you expectantly, start asking them questions.
What yet unprepared vegetables do they have available? Are they able to boil or steam with water only? Would they be able to prepare something super simple for you? There is usually something they can do for you.
You might want to stress that it’s currently the only thing you can eat. Therefore they should make it a big enough portion. Otherwise they might bring you a plate with just one small potato, half a mushroom, three pieces of broccoli and three stripes of bell pepper.
It’s very important to also repeat the no oil, no salt factor and make sure they really understand that, if that’s a non-negotiable for you. You could mention food intolerances or allergies in order to make sure they pay attention.
The meal you’re going to get will most likely not impress you too much. But at least you can stay compliant and not be the only one without a full plate under their nose. Just be ready to answer questions your co-eaters might have about your odd food choice.
A personal anecdote: Can I have 20 grilled tomatoes, please?
When I’m out and about I usually make sure I have ready to eat food with me. If anyone stopped and asked me if I have any plain tofu on me, the answer would be yes in 99 % of cases. When real hunger strikes, for me plain tofu straight from the pack can be the most flavourful and filling thing in the world.
Tofu is my light-weight solution for longer city or country walks. I’ll bring more bulky things with me when having a place to stay overnight. I wish I could see the faces of hotel staff, every time they find five empty cans of kidney beans or chickpeas in the hotel room bin!
My personal experience with eating out in restaurants varies from country to country. In Britain, Italy or Germany I tend to be frustrated about super small portions of plain vegetables. It’s definitely more fun to eat out in a country like Turkey.
Following a whole food plant based diet in Turkey
Some of my favourite things to eat ever are charcoal-grilled tomatoes, bell peppers and aubergines (eggplants). They’re commonly used within many traditional dishes and therefore easy to find in most restaurants.
Getting a sufficient amount of it as a solo dish can be a fun challenge! We’ve done it in probably 15 to 20 different restaurants all over Turkey with varying results. When I order 20 grilled tomatoes on skewers I get the funniest incredulous looks.
Sometimes they argue, that nobody could possibly eat that much and I’m just like “just you watch me”. A nice plus is that they tend to charge you almost nothing for your simple whole food plant-based meal. And I don’t only mean plain tomatoes, but even if you get a nice variety of just veggies.
Whether they feel sorry for your pitiful meal you’re forcing them to bring you or just being fair since the price of veggies is comparably low, I’m not sure. But this is my little anecdote that always makes me look forward to future travels.
