# Vegetarian on the road



## spectacular (Aug 29, 2015)

The topic has been covered many times but not recently.

I just decided I'm going to be vegetarian again and am liking the change in energy the decision has brought on.

I'm curious about others' experiences and methods of keeping within the diet restrictions of vegetarianism while traveling and/or living outside.


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## psychofoamer (Aug 29, 2015)

It might be best to just dig up an old thread. 

But, I think it would be pretty hard to be veg on the road. It would seriously limit your options and many places. I guess if you stick to hip cities or the west coast it could be ok. But what are you gonna do if your in Texas or the Midwest and somebody offers to take you to lunch and they bring you to Wendy's? Eat fries? Or what if you get adopted by awesome people and they cook you dinner and its roast chicken? Are you just going to rudely decline? I think it could be offensive to quite a lot of folks who are trying to be compassionate and help out a traveler.


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## Odin (Aug 29, 2015)

Being vegetarian on the road might be easier if you have a way to carry a semi bulk amount of a staple food. 

I have mentioned this before in a cheap foods thread somewhere... but I love and believe in BuckWheat. (its not actually a wheat). 

I have bought it as cheap as 2 buck for 2 pounds at an international grocer. If you were to have a bike with kitty litter buckets. Store 4 pounds and your good for more than a week I'm sure depending on your intake.

I think it's easier to boil up than rice and I like the texture and taste. Some might not as if you don't boil it enough it might still have a granular texture... (softens up easy with more boiling/steaming) also plain it is very boring and a bit earthy food. But if you have just some butter to throw on there... or Sauce of some sort... 

Mushroom sauce goes well... (though that also needs a bit of butter & flour or cornstarch or creative reduction to make a sauce)... though it's just as fine with some veggies steamed on top and just butter... or even an oil... olive or a dressing maybe... 

Hehe... Buckwheat makes me happy.


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## psychofoamer (Aug 29, 2015)

Sure you could carry bulk beans & rice or buckwheat or whatever, but that still doesn't solve that "hey I just bought you a mcdouble cuz your holding a sign that says "broke & hungry" are you gonna just throw it away? I've thrown away kickdowns before but only if I have way too many mcdoubles or whatever. 

Flying a sign that says "traveling vegetarian- broke & hungry" would probably not get you any sympathy in most places, especially since a lot of people believe beggars can't be choosers. 

If you got a stack of cash saved and are not relying on the kindness of strangers, then vegetarianism may be a viable option.


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## Odin (Aug 29, 2015)

True... rejection is not the way to go when it concerns the kindness of strangers.
Getting handed a sack of meat sandwiches when you are hungry is still a gesture not seen often enough in todays society.

Though like you said you can just save those burgers... and then perhaps walk down to the next person flying a sign and give it to them? Or your companion/dog is a carnivore after all...

I personally would like to eat healthier but will eat most anything. I have a equal opportunity gastro-intestinal tract... (sometimes to my misfortune lol )

Not all kick downs are food... just use the spare change to buy your dietary needs/preferences and share the rest.

Though I understand... if you are invited to "Dine" with someone... that would be ... well Awkward to say the least if you refuse.

Not all people that kick-down though will be angry or not "understanding" of a vegetarian lifestyle.

I mean if I was gonna do something nice for a Buddhist Monk I would not try to force feed him Pastrami. LOL... "shakes head"...

I suppose it is also critical how your interact with those that are generous to you and how they react to your needs.

Complex... world we live in.

I think anyone even a person in unfortunate and desperate times has the basic human right to be proud of who they are.

Addendum: As long as you don't eat all my buckwheat and love to listen to Niel Diamond. :{PPPPPP


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## psychofoamer (Aug 29, 2015)

Also, this maybe an unpopular opinion. But this thread should be in the Hobo Kitchen section because I think vegetarianism on the road is NOT healthy.


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## psychofoamer (Aug 29, 2015)

Zen Buddhist opens hand, whatever Buddhist gets Buddhist takes...


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## spectacular (Aug 29, 2015)

Leadbellytherxrcur said:


> Sure you could carry bulk beans & rice or buckwheat or whatever, but that still doesn't solve that "hey I just bought you a mcdouble cuz your holding a sign that says "broke & hungry" are you gonna just throw it away? I've thrown away kickdowns before but only if I have way too many mcdoubles or whatever.
> 
> Flying a sign that says "traveling vegetarian- broke & hungry" would probably not get you any sympathy in most places, especially since a lot of people believe beggars can't be choosers.
> 
> If you got a stack of cash saved and are not relying on the kindness of strangers, then vegetarianism may be a viable option.


I don't refuse the offering ever, but usually don't eat it if it has meat. I'll give it to someone else. As for being invited to someones house, I don't really want to know someone who would be offended by me not eating whatever meat they were having. We would likely not get along very well long term.

Also its not a situation that can't usually be resolved with a polite admission that one is a vegetarian. Usually ppl have meat with a side dish or salad or something else that the vegetarian can have doubles of. Or if the vegetarian is invited to a later meal they can notify in advance the inviter that they are veg.

Also Wendy's has chicken salads where the meat is able to be picked out. So does McDonalds. Burger king has veggie burgers. In n out has a no meat option.


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## psychofoamer (Aug 29, 2015)

I guess you would rather not know most of the population not in Hip cities or off the west coast...Sounds like an elitist attitude


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## psychofoamer (Aug 29, 2015)

If you're traveling sometimes you gotta step off your high horse and humble yourself...


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## Odin (Aug 29, 2015)

Leadbellytherxrcur said:


> If you're traveling sometimes you gotta step off your high horse and humble yourself...



Yes I would think most vegetarians if you have not eaten in days and have only gotten a single cheeseburger on an afternoon in a remote town on a cold windy day... your gonna eat to survive. So the truth of circumstance when traveling wins over ideology.

My view on not eating meat is that in protest of the agribusiness it is a very valid choice. And on moral grounds I suppose but it is also arguable. After all nature _edit: is flexible_ where it receives it's energy from.

Even plants eat animals.








Basically it comes down to what you can put up with or afford to sacrifice for your well being. Freeze and starve until you find a cornfield. Or eat that burger.


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## spectacular (Aug 29, 2015)

Leadbellytherxrcur said:


> I guess you would rather not know most of the population not in Hip cities or off the west coast...Sounds like an elitist attitude


There are plenty of people in the Midwest who are understanding. To say there isn't anyone who would is a bit of a generalization.


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## Kim Chee (Aug 30, 2015)

Confucious say, "When sign flying, take money you could use for drinking and spend on plants". 

I'm not sure how difficult it would be for a person to limit their diet in a limited world.

Be ready to suck it up and eat a hamburger every now and then or peel some pepperoni's off some pizza.

Hang on, if you are doing those things you aren't really a vegetarian.


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## psychofoamer (Aug 30, 2015)

I know that. I haven't confined my travels to the west coast like many. And I spent a lot of time growing up I. The midwest...I'm not generalizing. It's a fact based on experience. Sure there maybe some understanding people, but we are not speaking of the slim minority, I'm talking about the general population.


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## psychofoamer (Aug 30, 2015)

I traveled with a vegan for like 3 days while in the state of Ohio (which is the Midwest) and the poor gal all but starved when she refused to eat what was handed to us while we were flying. We weren't getting much dollars kicked down, mostly shitty fast foods 

Thank god somebody took us to chipotle finally where they have vegan options..


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## landpirate (Aug 30, 2015)

I like to call my self a flexitarian. Morally, ideally I'm a vegetarian. Most of the time I am. When I have money to feed myself I eat what I want to and that doesn't include meat.

I was vegetarian for over 15 years. Then became homeless. I had no money and only ate if I found it or begged for it. I got bought Kebab's and burgers and all sorts of meaty crap and I didn't eat it, i'd keep it for someone else, but one day I was so hungry I went bin diving and all I found was sausage rolls (do you have them in the states? Sausage meat inside puff pastry) anyway I ate one and guess what I didn't die. I mentally felt pretty shit, but I wasn't sick or anything and I wasn't hungry anymore and that's all I could ask for really.

So now I basically eat meat if its free and I'm hungry, if it will offend somebody if I don't ie. They've cooked me dinner or have bought it for me.

The rest of the time I don't eat the meat. Coz it's horrible and usually doesn't taste good and is expensive, but I realise sometimes it's a necessary evil to keep me alive (probably over dramatic!) But I don't really see why we need to define our eating habits or justify them to anyone other than ourselves. I am realistic and feel that i'm not defined by what I eat, actually it's nobodies business. We're all just doing our best to stay alive, however it is we do that


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## landpirate (Aug 30, 2015)

7xMichael said:


> peel some pepperoni's off some pizza



This made me laugh. I have eaten so much peeled off pepperoni pizza. I'm surprised it's not actually an option on menus at dominos or wherever now ::woot::


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## psychofoamer (Aug 30, 2015)

landpirate said:


> This made me laugh. I have eaten so much peeled off pepperoni pizza. I'm surprised it's not actually an option on menus at dominos or wherever now ::woot::



It's called cheese pizza


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## Odin (Aug 30, 2015)

Leadbellytherxrcur said:


> It's called cheese pizza



Yea but then it doesn't have those Checker sized circular depressions in the cheezzze topping.

Plus... Have you ever played Checkers with pepperoni on the board? It's fun you can throw them at each other when you hop hop hop.


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## Deleted member 13433 (Aug 30, 2015)

sometime in the late 80's - certainly by the early 90's I totally went vegetarian on the grounds of inhumane treatment in the factories where these poor animals are only living just to die.

*and I did say factories, because that's the cold light of truth !!

Now, this was easy having a good job that paid lots of money - but somewhere along the line, once I started free-diving I suddenly without warning found myself being a fish-atarian.

I can't explain how or why that happened - but it did.

Now where I am thinking for spending my retirement - my golden years ha ha !! - wilderness camping out of a canoe, guess what - I'm going to have to re-consider my views on eating meat.

That's still at least 10 years out from now, so I have a whole lot of time to learn and observe from the animals which I monitor as part of my wildlife monitoring thing which I do as a volunteer.

Me and my dog have came across truly gruesome sights - including the one where a deer was ripped apart by coyotes just a little while before we stumbled upon it. In fact, I took a picture of it when I was able to properly compose myself and it's on my profile page here. I did not elect to photograph all the more gory stuff, but you get the idea............

While my dog was genuinely interested in this revolting bloody mess, I was finding myself clutching my chest, then I thought about it some.......

Nature as a whole [with the exception of killer whales] tends to end suffering rather quickly and what happens then is the animal which perishes in turn gives life to all that remain.

I am fairly certain that deer carcus not only fed the coyotes but also birds and other small mammals, which in turn helped get them through he winter.

Where I am going with this is there has to be a balance in life, and there is such a thing as the circle of life - the problem lies when that circle of life becomes exploited.

I've seen many a vegetarian / vegan shit blood when they found out what they were eating contained palm oil in it, and we won't go into how many animals die for the sake of palm oil..........

Every thing - every action you take counts.

If you are a vegetarian and you are given a burger or whatever - the choice of what you do with that burger is yours - but know that an animal died for the sake of making that burger.

It would really be a shame if that animal died for nothing - but again, with the amount of food that is wasted in this country - unfortunately - most do.


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## Skit (Sep 5, 2015)

I've eaten cheese and some non-vegan pastries when I've been starving but have yet to be so hungry that I would eat meat. Sure some places are harder than others (fuck texas) but it's always possible. Spend $3 on banana's instead of a steel reserve and feed yourself for more than a day.


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