Traveling and The Vegan Diet

I have already made it 8 days, and Lent has not started.  My "test day" (to see if I could eat vegan) grew to two, then three, then four days.  Why stop... just keep this plant based diet going.  Thus the name of this blog should really be 50 Days Vegan.  Oh well.

It has not been difficult and the food has been tasty.  The only hard part has been being prepared to eat.

The tricky part is travel.  I had a trip to Palm Springs, where I was the keynote speaker at a large business conference, and the travel day to California left me a little hungry.  Upon arrival I had intended to find a Whole Foods before going to my hotel, but to my surprise there is no Whole Foods in Palm Springs (What? This is California!).

There is Trader Joe's, and they had pre-made vegan sandwiches, and other great choices.  I stocked up my hotel room with fresh fruit and other snacks, and the rest of the trip I never went hungry.

It was hard at the conference "Welcome Reception", as the waiters were passing great looking hors d'oeuvres that were basically all meat and cheese in combination.

An old friend who had moved to Portland several years ago was in attendance at the conference.  After my presentation he came up to say hello, and I ended up going to dinner with him and his boss.  We asked the concierge for a recommendation that would have good meals for meat lovers and vegan.  Without hesitation he sent us to a local restaurant, Sherman's Deli & Bakery.

Once in this culinary wonderland (the chef's case was full of the best looking cookies, cheesecakes, and other desserts) it was clear there was no hint of any vegan choices.  While we were waiting for the table I looked over the menu.  Nope... no options.  I asked the hostess about vegan choices and she replied, pointing to the menu, "All of our salads are fabulous... have a salad!".  There salads were ALL meat and cheese based:  a tuna salad, a chicken salad, a Cobb salad, etc...   If I had customized to fit my needs I would have had lettuce for dinner.

We decided to try another place down the street.

"Cork Tree - California Cuisine" looked promising.  Anything with "California Cuisine" in the name should be able to accommodate my vegan-ness.  While the menu showed no obvious selection, our fantastic waitress assured me the chef could take good care of my dinner.

HOME RUN!  A wonderful green salad followed by a customized vegetable and Navy Bean saute in a sauce I will dream about for weeks.  I think my meal was even better than the wonderful meats enjoyed by my dining companions.  The chef even came to the table to see how I enjoyed his creation.

I am sure Sherman's Deli is a great place,.... but I am happy we ended up a Cork Tree. 

thom singer