I am a busy person and like many of you, I often find myself dashing out of the house hungry in hopes that I’ll find time to grab a fast bite to eat. This is way easier said than done as is to be expected as a vegetarian living in a meat-centric world.
There seems to be a misconception that Vegans and Vegetarians don’t eat fast foods. As a meat eater, you can go into any corner convenience store and find yourself a pre-made meal like hot dogs/sausages, a sandwich/sub, soups and the like. It’s not too often that you’ll find anything vegetarian.
Check the cans of soup. I’ll bet pretty well all of them contain chicken or beef broths, various kinds of meat, or that the pea soup is made with Lard (i.e. Habitant Pea Soup). The cans of beans will likely have pork in them, though Heinz also makes them in just a tomato sauce. If there’s a Stagg chilli on the shelf it will be of the meat variety, though there is a vegetarian one available!
Next, check the frozen foods. You’ll find the freezers contain pizzas (with meat), “Michelina’s” entrees (all meat with the exception of frozen macaroni and cheese, which is a rare find), Burritos (most often meat and sometimes bean and cheese), and Swanson TV dinners (you got it… all meat!)
I used to work at a 7-11 and I knew the routine. They’d start selling something meat free and it wouldn’t sell well right away so they’d stop carrying it within a few short weeks, while they’d keep the meat products. I used to tell my manager that the reason was they weren’t giving the vegetarians time to discover the product. Nothing was ever done in the way of advertising to draw the vegetarians to it, so why would they suddenly believe they would find something suited to them in that store now?
Over the duration of my 'special diet', I have watched the cycles of grocery stores getting a new product that I would get into, and one day I would show up and it would be gone. Ask the management why it’s gone and they blame poor sales. I always ask the same questions:
· How long did you carry it?
· How much did you advertise it to vegetarians?
· How much did you advertise it to non-vegetarians?
· Do you still carry the meat version of that particular brand/product group?
The stock answers would most likely be “not that long”, “not much”, “not much” & “Probably”.
Another concern of mine is that cooks in restaurants don’t put too much care into the thought that they are preparing something for a vegetarian. Though they have a pretty good selection for vegetarians, my last 3 visits to Jack Astor’s Restaurant have resulted in my returning the food to be remade for me.
I don’t have time to wait these days for another 10 minutes while they get right what should have been prepared as ordered the first time. The first two times was because they had put bacon on a baked potato that I had asked for without it. The 3rd time was also bacon on a Caesar salad that I had asked for without it, then when the bartender goes to fix the order they send back a salad with basically just lettuce and some Parmesan and no croutons so again I have to wait another 3 minutes for this to be corrected.
This kind of thing is common in my life. I will often ask for a vegetarian item, say a Mexican flauta or an egg or spring roll, and will be mistakenly given the chicken version. And I know it at first bite. It’s gross!
There was a restaurant in London called “The Five and Diner” where I ordered a veggie burger and fries and found bacon in the fries when I got back to work. Again, I found myself going back to the restaurant to find out what the hell was going on. I showed the girl at the counter my takeout tray with the bacon in it and she didn’t seem at all surprised.
“Sometimes people want extra crispy bacon with their breakfast so we put it into the deep fryer” she told me.
“So you’re cooking your fries in pig fat?” I asked
“No, it’s vegetable oil”
“Not anymore!” I said
“Maybe you should get the salad next time.” She said, and of course I was instantly angry.
“Maybe you should get your manager right now.” I said through clenched teeth.
When the manager appeared I told him that they needed to stop the practise of cooking meat in with vegetables. I let him know that there are many vegetarians or meat eaters that wouldn’t be too happy knowing that pig fats were being cooked into their fries, and that because they advertised the fries being cooked in vegetable oil, it was ultimately false advertising. I also told him that he needs to train his staff to be a little more sensitive to the needs of vegetarians and not be so quick to stick us with a salad. He was patronizing and semi apologetic and offered me a free lunch, which I never used. Not long after that the restaurant closed down. I don’t ever wonder why.
I’ve always liked that there are options for me at a place like Taco Bell but I just found out the other day that there is now a surcharge to get beans instead of beef on a taco. This doesn’t make any sense at all. It’s not like it’s a huge inconvenience to anyone, as all of their food is prepared on the spot. I talked to the manager at my usual Taco Bell and he even told me that the cost centre on the beans is much lower than the beef mixture so it’s not that either. Like I say it makes no sense and is just further proof of the fast food industry’s lack of respect for non-meat eaters. I have told the manager that as long as that surcharge is there, Taco Bell has lost my business.
At least these days more and more grocery stores are carrying a wide variety of veggie options that are quick and easy to prepare, but you don’t want to always have to go into a grocery store to pick up a quick bite, right? I have found the various Loblaws stores to be very good at having a good selection of vegan and organic vegetarian fast foods, as is Metro.
There you’ll find the Gardein products, Veggie Patch, Yves and Tofurkey brands as well as some of the Schneiders vegetarian products. The PC Blue Menu brand has a few items of interest like a “Vegetarian Bolognese Spaghetti sauce” and a simulated “ground round”. Once again, going to a grocery store and standing in line for a couple of small items can be a real hassle. It’d be great if the variety stores like Macs or 7-eleven would stock such things, even if only a small selection.
Now that such items are out there, what is it that’s taking so long for stores to get on the ball with it and keep a regular and varied supply of them at all times? Most of these items have longer shelf lives than meats and fish as they are fully cooked. Perhaps it’s apathy on the part of vegetarians who are just so used to having to prepare a lunch or dinner to take with them for the day? Perhaps it’s a lack of knowledge about the vegetarian lifestyle on the part of the food distributors? Perhaps it’s a misconception that there is no money to be made by catering to the vegetarians out there?
That’s a pretty dangerous misconception to have, for any business.
Places to look for a quick meat free bite to eat:
· Smokes Poutinerie – They make a vegetarian mushroom based gravy. Delicious!
· Harvey’s – Their veggie burger is one of the premier burgers out there and not priced way over their regular meat burgers
· Jack Astor’s – Veggie fajitas, Spring Rolls, Greek hand tossed pizza and one of the best veggie burgers I’ve ever had!
· Los Comales (London, Ont) – Bean and Cheese Pupusas and a fabulous Jalapeno and Cheddar soup
· Subway
· Mr Sub
· Sammy’s Souvlaki (London, Ont)
· Shawarma Palace (London, Ont)
· Prince Albert Diner (London, Ont) – Veggie burritos, chimichangas, quesadillas, Veggie dog and the best fries in town
· London Burgers (London, Ont) – A good veggie burger and great people!
· Jambalaya (London, Ont) – Maybe not so quick but their Veggie Roti is a must try for anyone!
· Pho Ben Than (London, Ont) – They can have almost anything ready for take out in about 10 minutes (except peak periods) and have a great selection of Thai and Vietnamese vegetarian dishes. They made me a tofu eater where as I used to avoid it. Not any more!
If there’s any I have missed, please feel free to let me know in the comments.
7-11 is my dream job.
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