Fast-food vegetarian
Eating while traveling can be a bit of a pain for vegetarians. Most of us, at one time or another, have been driving on the interstate for hours when our stomach starts to growl. Then it’s time to look for a quick place to grab a bite to eat—but what is there for vegetarians to eat amid all those Golden Arches and other fast-food restaurants?
My quick-stop eatery of choice is Subway or Quizno’s. It’s generally fairly easy to find a Subway when you’re traveling, even if it’s somewhere unfamiliar. Just get off the highway at a busy exit and look for a strip mall. My favorite thing to get at Subway is a vegetable-patty sub—it’s really good! The drawback is that it’s not offered at all Subways. You can also get a veggie-delight sub or a veggie salad. Quizno’s has a fancier veggie sub, whose ingredients include guacamole.
Q’doba is also another good choice. I love their grilled-vegetable burrito (I usually get it “naked” in a bowl) and grilled-vegetable taco salad. They’re not quite as easy to find as Subways, though.
Wendy’s will also do in a pinch, for a light meal of a baked potato and garden side salad. They used to have a large garden salad that I was very fond of and ate quite a lot, but unfortunately they no longer offer it. This was a huge blow to me! I also remember when they had the pitas years ago—they had an awesome vegetarian one. I hate that they seem to have gotten LESS veg-friendly over the past few years.
Another solution I’ve found is to find a mall and head to their food court. There will generally be someplace there where you can get a veggie sub or slice of veggie pizza.
Fazoli’s is a fast-food Italian restaurant where you can get cheese pizza, a cheese-and-tomato panini or pasta with marinara or alfredo sauce. They’re not very easy to find, however, with a lot fewer locations that McDonald’s or Burger King.
Speaking of Burger King, they offer a veggie burger (as does Backyard Burgers), but I confess that I’ve never tried it. I just don’t “trust” a veggie burger from a fast-food hamburger restaurant—I really don’t want one grilled on the same grill as the hamburger patties. I applaud them for at least making a token effort, and you could always ask them to microwave it instead, but I’d rather go elsewhere. Though I suppose I’d get it if it were the only restaurant for miles and I was REALLY hungry.
What do you do for meals when you’re traveling? And do you trust the veggie fare at fast-food restaurants like Burger King?
