Hope the new places on your trip are all good!
Generally speaking, I'm not too picky about my food, so as long as it's not terrible I can usually enjoy it. In the states I've had bad service more times than I can count that almost ruined the meal, but I can't recall ever having bad food. Maybe I was just always lucky.
In Japan I've never not had great food. My wife is vegan, so we don't go out to eat too much these days. Japanese restaurants are not usually vegan friendly. It's one of those things where you order no meat and the waiter brings you meat, then you explain that that is meat and you can't eat mean, they nod understanding and go away, and then bring something with a different kind of meat. I'm sure you've seen similar jokes. Wife has been dealing with this since she was a little girl, so she can usually explain things in a way they can finally understand, but it's usually not worth it.
But when I go out myself and am not as strict as she, I am almost always happy with whatever I try. I do try to pick new places, but yeah, I also am a creature of habit and usually fall into going to the same places.
It must be difficult for Vegans, and I think the same (or similar) goes here as well.
I have a mate who is (was) as chef and it is common practice for them to use non-vegan products in their vegan meals for whatever reason (cheaper usually) and the consumer is no the wiser. This wouldn't work with people with nut allergies of course, they'd react, but I guess it's not something some vegans would recognise I suppose. I wonder how widespread that is. I mean, animal-sourced products are so widely used and it's amazing what products they appear in or are used to produce.
Is vegan food produced in an environment where bugs or vermin may have been killed still vegan? I don't know the answer.
Yeah, in Japan it is the same. They usually add meat stock to everything and other meat sourced ingredients. My wife has been following the diet long enough that she knows all about it and often will ask the waiter in detail.
But you get at exactly what I always bring up. Farming itself is hardly bloodless. There are usually at least a few critters that get caught in the tractor. There is no ill intent of the farmer there, it's just how it is. Even back in the day before machines, I imagine there was plenty of death that went along with farming. I know around rice paddies, for instance, poisonous flowers were traditionally planted in Japan as a way of attempting to prevent field mice from eating the rice. And when cooking, how many insects make their way into the food? Should we be like the Jainists and attempt to not even harm a mosquito or ant?
I think to some degree, we have to accept death comes with our food, even if we hate the idea of it. I don't like causing harm to things, so I'm definitely sympathetic to that feeling in vegans, but I am also pragmatic. I have always favored the traditional Buddhist way, at least the Japanese Buddhist way. When they are offered meat, they will accept it and eat it, for it would be wasteful not to, but they will say a silent prayer of thanks to the animal.
You say it well.
I don't care why a person eats the way they eat, it's low on my list of life-priorities, however I respect that people have the right to choose how to eat and if that's vegan or anything else that's ok by me. However...yes, we need to accept that food production, any food production almost (probably) always comes at the loss of life in some way as you have intelligently mentioned. It's naïve to think otherwise I believe. I mean...a vegan driving to the vegan restaurant in their car...They didn't run over any ants? A silly example, but a point nonetheless.
I think people should believe it what they do though, and whilst being realistic (pragmatic) is also my thing, I understand that people need to hold onto their beliefs if they are to have passion and conviction in their lives. Unfortunately, there are those who believe in such things that cause others great harm, terrorists for instance, but it is belief all the same, right or wrong. Humans are weird, amazing, smart and stupid...
It is no different to when I shoot something. It's not in my nature to enjoy killing and I've never enjoyed it...if I did I would know it was time to stop. Respect is always given in the same way as you mention above. It's the least I can do.