We are vegetarian, both by choice and due to religious concerns. We love animals and cannot imagine thoughts of hurting any, however small or ugly they are
Most countries outside India serve vegetarian food as an exception, rather than norm unless they are owned by Indians. I really admire how Indians have been able to create the variety and depth with vegetarian food with slightly less than half the population being vegetarians
Most hotels have continental versions of breakfast where we can grab minimal stuff like bread, fruits, and cereals. Our safe option for lunch and dinner is to carry freeze-dried vegetarian food where we can simply add water and make a hot meal. We also carry it in our lunch box for consumption during the day, usually relying on breakfast in the hotel
Few more tips to make your veg food search easy
- HappyCow is a good way to find vegan and vegetarian restaurants
- Eze-eats is our default ready to eat brand for food- it has a lot of variety with good taste at right price point, although you get bored after eating it after 5-10 trips
- Remember to check out reviews of breakfast at the hotels you stay in, to find specific mention of how good or existent vegetarian food is at the place.
- Do not forget to opt for special meals 48 hours before your flight
- Carry nuts and trail mix to endure long days with light backpacks
- Check for ingredients using google translate app where you can scan the packet in supermarket using phone camera and do a real time translation
We have been able to convey dietary requirements at some places, successfully being able to taste local food. In some other places, we have tried looking for vegetarian versions without much success, but also list them here for you to try your luck
The definition of vegetarian is quite fluid. There are no standard green/brown/read labelling norms to indicate what has meat unlike India. We have had bad surprises opting for McDonalds burgers to find out that there is meat by default. Some places use fish oil/ meat broth as a base and do not consider that non-vegetarian. Some others consider eggs vegetarian!
Some of the interesting vegetarian dishes across the world
- Skyr- Creamy yoghurt in Iceland; We bought 1 kg buckets that lasted 2-3 days which we used to make curd rice equivalent from flat rice flakes
- Roshti in Switzerland- roasted pan fried potato in pancake form
- Fondue in Switzerland- melted cheese eaten with small pieces of bread
- Raclette in Switzerland made with potatoes and cheese on top
- Chicha Morada from Peru: Purple corn drink that is sweet and sour. Peru is home to giant corn varieties of different colors, and this is a flagship drink
- Coconut curry rice in Cambodia
- Ema Datshi from Bhutan made with chilies and cheese, also the national dish
- String Hoppers from Sri Lanka with sambal that include coconut, chilies, salt, onions
- Non bread from Uzbekistan, like Indian naan: Can be used as base if you carry curry powder with you
- Veg dim sums in Hongkong
- Traditional breakfast in Turkiye: A surprise for me to find a very wide range of veggies like tomato, cucumbers, dates, apricots, nuts, bread, cheese, jams, honey, yoghurt, milk, coffee. Peynir is their cottage cheese similar to Indian paneer
- Kebab in Turkey: These are not doner kebabs. They serve rice, bread, roasted veggies like tomato, long chilies, onions, eggplants, fries and salad in small towns
- Ayran, the buttermilk in Turkey- My go to option on Turkish airline flights
- Gevrek sandwich, simit bagels in Turkey
- Koshari from Egypt: Mix of rice, pasta, lentils, tomato sauce, fried onions
- Falafel in Middle East and now almost everywhere like US: Made with lentils and fried. It is sometimes served with pita, salad and sauce
- Hummus and pita from Middle East: Chikpea paste with olive oil and thin bread
- Ugali in Kenya- Maize porridge
- Managu in Kenya- made from African nightshade
- Githeri- Saucy stew made from beans and maize
- Mahamri- Fried bread
- Margherita pizza in Italy: Go to option on the streets, very different from what you expect. It has only tomato sauce on dough, less or no cheese, very thin base
- Waffles and French fries from Belgium: While you can find them across the world, originally it came from here
Few more vegetarian dishes we tried finding but couldn’t manage
- Sopa de Mani from Bolivia: Vegetable soup with onions, potatoes, vegetables, peanut base
- Spanakopita from Greece: Spinach and cheese pastry
- Tofu Bahn Mi from Vietnam: Subway like sandwich
- Nasi Lemak from Indonesia without the eggs
- Momiji Manju light- Maple leaf shaped cookies in Hiroshima Japan that usually have eggs. The light version is without eggs
- Khao-suey from Burma- We are yet to visit Myanmar but would like to see if we can manage to find this dish in veg avatar. We are fans of Burma Burma in Gurugram
Do note that just mentioning these names might not guarantee a vegetarian version of it, since many of these dishes also come with meat versions. You can find local versions modified to vegetarian versions if you go to a slightly westernized or Indian restaurant
We feel eating vegetarian food has an added advantage of being lighter on mother earth. Happy travels and all the best finding your next veg meal!