Eating Out for Lunch as a Vegan

Having made the transition from a regular fast food junkie American diet to a vegan several months ago, there have been several challenges faced along the way when it comes to eating out for lunch with co-workers who are not vegan. There are very few, if any, common fast food chains that commercially offer viable vegan options for lunch. However I have found several suggestions that I would like to share.

Taco Bell, one of my former guilty pleasures, which is also one of the fast food loving vegan’s best friend. Their beans are cooked with oil rather than lard, and they now have what is known as a fresco menu, which is the addition of a nice salsa to most of their common menu items. But there are many different menu items that can be substituted.

Things to avoid at Taco Bell if you are a vegan are obviously any of their meats, cheese and sour cream, most of which can be subtracted from any item that would include them.

Things you may now have expected are their guacamole, as found in their seven layer burrito without the cheese and sour cream. The cinnamon twists are also vegan. Their rice was also under speculation however according to a recent reading of their ingredients posted at http://www.yum.com/nutrition/documents/tb_ingredient_statement.pdf, it appears they are vegan.

Like Taco Bell, many local Mexican restaurants have similar options, and typically the staff is more than willing to find out if their beans are vegetarian or not.

Jamba Juice and Juice shack are also great sources for vegans, some of their items contain yogurt, cream or milk, however they have many items which are entirely fruit or contain soy milk in place of milk.

Starbucks contains many Vegan options as well, most of their milk including items can be substituted with soymilk.

Burger King and McDonald’s both offer a vegetarian burger, which if ordered without mayonnaise is mostly vegan, however the bun is not.

Subway’s Veggie Delite on Italian is also vegan.

Image via Wikipedia