A menu that is accommodating for all guests is one of the main features that people look for in restaurants, according to Lightspeed Point of Sale. Gluten-free diners want gluten-free options, vegetarian customers want vegetarian options and, most importantly here, vegan restaurant-goers want vegan options.
Many eating establishments used to simply include salads on their menus and consider the vegan population satisfied. However, several chain restaurants have introduced other vegan options over the last few years, giving vegans more choice in where they can eat and what they can eat.
Traditional Restaurants:
If vegans are looking for a traditional, sit-down restaurant experience, they might consider visiting an Olive Garden or a Cheesecake Factory.
Olive Garden offers an extensive variety of vegan pastas that can be topped with either marinara or tomato sauce and a mix of vegetables. Better yet, the restaurant’s signature breadsticks are vegan, as the garlic topping is made with soy.
The Cheesecake Factory, known for its large menu, has a soy-glazed edamame appetizer, a veggie burger made with brown rice, mushrooms and black beans and Evelyn’s Favorite Pasta, which are all suitable for vegans to eat.
Fast-Food Joints:
Chipotle and Dunkin’ Donuts satisfy vegans looking to get a quick bite.
At Chipotle, vegans can replace the meat in their burritos and bowls with sofritas, made from organic tofu. They can then load up with a wide range of vegan options, like brown and white rice, black and pinto beans, fajita vegetables, four different salsas, lettuce and guacamole.
Dunkin’ Donuts covers breakfast for vegans, offering a variety of vegan bagels, including flavors like cinnamon raisin, garlic, onion, sesame, poppy seed and plain. In addition, many of the chain’s drinks can be made vegan by substituting almond milk for dairy.
Tsubomi Poley, who has been vegan for eight months, is familiar with the vegan options that both of these fast-food restaurants offer.
“Chipotle has a ton of vegan-friendly options, and since everything is customizable, ordering there isn’t as difficult as it sometimes is at other restaurants,” she said.
Poley describes herself as a “big coffee drinker” and explained how she takes advantage of Dunkin’ Donuts’ non-dairy milk, as well.
Pizza Places:
When vegans are craving pizza, sans cheese, Domino’s and Pizza Hut have their backs.
At Domino’s, vegans can order a thin crust pizza with either tomato-based sauce or barbeque sauce and load it up with toppings, like banana peppers, black and green olives, red peppers, mushrooms, onions, pineapple, spinach and tomatoes.
Pizza Hut is similar, as its hand-tossed and thin crusts are vegan, along with its marinara, barbeque and buffalo sauces. The pizza chain also offers a variety of vegetable toppings.
Vegans no longer have to worry about finding something substantial on the menu when they go out to eat with friends and family at the restaurants discussed, in addition to others not mentioned.
“I think, overall, that a lot of people are under the impression that being vegan is super difficult, when in reality, people at food places are often willing to work with you to find something you can eat,” Poley said.
Vegans can now look forward to a meal out knowing that they won’t just be eating another salad—they’ll be eating a menu item of their choosing that satisfies both their tastes and cravings.
The topic of this post is something that has always interested me because I cannot imagine how difficult it must be to go out to eat. If you asked me what vegans can eat at restaurants, I would probably give you the same boring answer: salads. I think it was really interesting how you split food up into different categories, and I really think it makes the reader feel like there are so many options for them. I loved how you mentioned specific restaurants and menu items, but I would've liked to see more of these. Other than that, this was very well-written and very helpful to people in the vegan community.
For the non-vegan community, I think it is great that you are bringing this topic to people's attention. I don't think it crosses people's minds that vegans have to know what a restaurant offers before they can agree to go there. This post definitely sheds light on this somewhat difficult task in a vegans life. I also really appreciated the comments about how most restaurants count one salad on the menu to satisfy the entire vegan community, because this is spot on. Most of the places I go only have salad that I can eat, and sometimes not even that, because the salads are topped with meats or cheeses. While yes, it is simple to ask for these items to…