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Hey Steemians, I hope you’re all having a lovely Sunday 👌

If you’re following me, you might now that I’ve been vegetarian for 6 years and vegan for almost 4 years. In September 2016, I started an open-end trip around the world and the last couple of months I’ve been traveling in South East Asia.

So many people have been asking me how I can maintain a healthy vegan diet traveling in these countries that are known for their high consumption of meat, fish and eggs.

I admit that it isn’t always easy and some destinations are more of a challenge than others. But as everything in life a good diet is a matter of priority and I made health one of my priorities in life. Even if I don’t eat a 100% “clean” diet all the time, I follow a 100% vegan diet - mainly consisting of wholefoods.

In my opinion, what matters is everyday life, not the exceptions we make once in a while.

So, if you have two weeks of vacation a year and you want to go to a nice place, relax and indulge in some tasty -and maybe not super duper healthy food- that’s totally fine. But when you travel long-term and traveling becomes routine, it’s not the smartest thing to pretend it’s a vacation. Otherwise you might ruin your health, which you need to be able to enjoy life -and your trip around the world- to the fullest 💚

So in this article, I’m sharing my 8 best tips on how to travel the world and still follow a healthy vegan diet with you. Enjoy!

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1. A positive mindset

I’m aware that most guidebooks on whatever topic start with this point. But in my opinion it’s crucial to have a positive attitude about food and not think of it like it is some kind of obstacle. So, if you’re planning a trip, instead of worrying too much about what you will eat, you should be looking forward to the amazing culinary experiences you will make while traveling.

Of course, there will be some language barriers and sometimes people will not even know what the word “vegan” means. But that’s what traveling is all about. Get into contact with locals, overcome language and cultural barriers and discover new things.

Before I traveled to Cambodia I’ve read the worst things about food in this country. Bloggers wrote that there is fried meat everywhere and that you can only find the typical dish called Amok - a nasty tasting fish curry.

Well yes, you can find grilled meat in every corner of the street and Amok is part of every local menu. BUT no one said that there’s also a vegan version of the curry. No blogger wrote about the amazing veggie dishes the Khmer cuisine has to offer. I’ve tasted amazing tomato eggplant stews and discovered banana blossom salad for the first time.

So, don’t waste your time worrying too much but look forward to an amazing (culinary) adventure!

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2. Choose your destination wisely

The easiest way to make sure that all your culinary needs will be met, is to choose a healthy vegan hotspot. If you are flexible regarding your destination, just google which places are known for their many vegan options.
Here are just some of many:

Ubud - Bali
Chiang Mai - Thailand
George Town - Malaysia
Chennai - India
New York - USA
Melbourne - Australia
Berlin - Germany
London - UK
Tel Aviv - Israel
Buenos Aires - Argentina
Lima - Peru
and many more

Of course, you won’t always choose your destination depending on food choices. If there’s a place on your bucket list, just google “place + vegan” to find out what the food situation looks like there. You don’t necessarily need 100% vegan restaurants and cafes, if there are places that offer veggie dishes.

If you’ve booked a hotel, you could call and ask for vegan options, so they can prepare. But I personally like to stay flexible and usually book accommodation without breakfast. Oftentimes vegan breakfasts in hotels consists of toast and jam - which is plant based but not the healthiest choice 😛

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3. Prepare healthy snacks for on the road

Some major airlines offer special meals like vegan, but sometimes they are not the healthiest either. Of course, you’ll eat them before you starve. But if you want to make sure to eat well while traveling to your destination, you should bring along some healthy snacks like fresh fruit, vegetables, vegan spreads, raw vegan energy balls, …

Especially for long train or bus rides you should be prepared well, because nothing is worse than being underway for many many hours, carrying heavy bags and being hungry! Airports, train and bus stations many times don’t offer healthy food and if they do, it is generally overpriced. And we all know what happens when we’re hungry or should I rather say hangry 😋 We’ll probably end up in a shop stocking up with chips and chocolate in order not to starve before we arrive at our destination.

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4. Apps & Services

The latest when you’ve arrived at your destination of choice, you want to find out what healthy vegan food options they are close by. I would like to recommend two apps I’m always using to find good food spots, namely Happy Cow & Tripadvisor.

Happy Cow is the largest search engine for vegan, vegetarian and veggie-friendly restaurants, shops and cafes worldwide. Here you get information about the location of the place, opening hours, directions and also pictures of the food so you can check out the place before you actually go.

Also I love to search for healthy food on tripadvisor because they offer a search function for their reviews. So if I’m looking for information about wifi or prices I can type the key word into the search and read those reviews that mention these specific words.

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5. Vegan Passport

What you probably won’t find in online search engines is street food stalls. I love street food but sometimes the street sellers don’t speak English that well, so you need other means to communicate.

You could make yourself a vegan passport which is a booklet or paper that explains that you’re vegan (what you don’t eat) in the local language. Also you could ask a friendly local to say these sentences and record them on your phone. There’s a thing called no-word dictionary, which is a little book with 600 images which you can also use to overcome the language barrier.

Also, you should always learn some words and sentences in the local language and always try your best to use the basic stuff to show some respect and politeness. This together with English, your vegan passport, some “monkey language” (gestures) and a lot of patience will work most of the times. If after all these measures people don’t understand you, they don’t want to. But in 10 month traveling South East Asia this has occurred to me in less than 1% of the cases.

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6. Connect with other vegans

Another way to find the vegan hotspots in town or even some secret insider tips is to connect with other vegans at your destination. Almost every major city has a vegan/vegetarian facebook groups and there are so many meetups happening everywhere. Oftentimes it is not only travelers meeting but also locals taking part in these meetups, so you might even get some good food tips from local insiders. This is not only a nice way to eat good food and connect with likeminded people but also to make new friends or travel mates 💚

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7. Back to basics

The only way to be 100% sure that you’re eating vegan and healthy is to cook yourself. Especially when you’re staying at one place for several weeks or even months, I strongly suggest to rent accommodation with a kitchen. Eating out 3 times a day might not be the healthiest because oftentimes a lot of oil is used in the restaurants. Also, you’ll spend more money than if you cook yourself.

Some people think being vegan -especially when you travel- is super complicated. But they forget that fruit, veggies, grains and legumes are all vegan. You can get plant based foods anywhere in the world and most of the time these are the cheapest foods.

Of course, you don’t want to cook 3 times a day when you’re traveling but it’s good to have the chance at least. I personally cook 60-70% of the times and eat out 30-40% depending on the destination and pace of travel.

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8. Buy where locals buy

Now you’ve found accommodation with a kitchen you will want to buy some healthy fresh produce. As soon as you arrive at your destination you should ask your host or neighbor where they buy their food. Don’t make the mistake to go and buy stuff at tourist markets. Compared to the local markets, prices are way higher here and the fruits and veggies are not of the best quality. In touristy locations, I often feel treated like a number, just another tourist that will never come back again.

Whereas at smaller local markets prices tend to be lower and people treat you nicer. Foreigners aren’t seen very often in these places, so the sellers are happy to have some “special” customers. If you try and use the local language and you’re friendly to people, you will always get friendliness in return. I remember a small local market in Chiang Mai, Thailand, I used to visit frequently. I made friends with the sellers and they always gave me bananas as gifts. Going to local markets is a nice and definitely a cheaper experience.

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Maybe not all of my suggestions will be applicable to everyone because it depends on your destination, the pace of travel and your accommodation. But everything is possible if you are flexible. If you can’t cook, you could go raw vegan for a week. If there are no vegan restaurants, you could just explain to the street sellers, how to prepare the food for you. I used to do this on Koh Chang in Thailand and I always went back to that one street food stall and people remembered me and after a while I didn’t need to explain too much anymore 💚

I hope my tips are of help and if I forgot something and you’d like to add something, please leave a comment.

If you liked this post, don’t forget to upvote and resteem 👍💚

I wish you safe, happy and especially yummy travels 😝😉

German

In diesem Video gibt es die 8 Tipps nochmal auf deutsch 💚

Ich freue mich unten in den Kommentaren zu lesen, wie dir dieser Artikel gefallen hat 😊

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8 Tips on How to Eat VEGAN While Traveling | Vegan essen auf Reisen