If you’re a vegetarian, you know how hard it can be to eat out sometimes. And if you’re considering vegetarianism, you may be looking at the menus of your favorite fast food restaurants and thinking to yourself “What am I going to be able to eat? The side salad?”
It’s true that some fast food restaurants are less vegetarian-friendly than others. McDonalds, for instance, used to deep-fry its fries in beef fat, and apparently still use some kind of beef flavoring in them. And until 2004, Burger King restaurants in the United States cooked their meatless veggie burgers on the same fat-covered grills as the rest of their patties. Even today, many vegetarians remain skeptical of such chains.
Other fast food restaurants, however, have not just vegetarian food but good vegetarian food. They aren’t the same thing as ordering takeout from the Whole Foods Market, but they’re cheap, and easy to persuade your friends to go to. Here, then, as a vegetarian, are my two favorite fast food restaurants: Subway, and Taco Bell.
Subway
“Subway!” the ads proclaim. Eat fresh.” What better motto for a good vegetarian restaurant? And with their main offering being sub sandwiches, it’s easy to see how a vegetarian could find plenty to love about Subway.
It’s true that there are other restaurants out there which offer sub sandwiches. The ads for one well-known chain, however, made fun of Subway’s offerings, and loudly proclaimed that their sandwiches had more meat than Subway’s. I’m sure a vegetarian could find something to eat there … but as even my meat-eating brother agrees, if veggies aren’t spilling out of your Subway sandwich every time that you take a bite, they didn’t put enough on!
Subway even offers a meatless veggie patty, to add protein and texture to your sub. According to http://www.vegetarian-restaurants.net/OtherInfo/Subway.htm, though, they often aren’t vegan, so if you’re vegan you may want to check if you can. Also, you may want to ask the sandwich preparers to change their disposable plastic gloves or wash off their cutting knives before working on your sub sandwich. Otherwise, you might get some meat juices or mayonnaise on it.
Taco Bell
The Mexicans may not see it that way, but Mexican food is very vegetarian-friendly, and Taco Bell even lists their ingredients in an easy-to-browse format on their website.
This page lists off a number of vegan and vegetarian options at Taco Bell. A lot of their food is vegetarian right from the get-go, like their Mexican rice and breakfast quesadillas, and can be made vegan just by asking for no cheese or sour cream. (Note that vegetarians will also want to ask for no sour cream, as theirs contains meat-derived gelatin.) It does say that their “soft burrito tortillas” aren’t vegan, but Taco Bell’s site says that all their tortillas are; I think they’re referring to the flatbread used in Gorditas, which contain milk according to Taco Bell.
So is it any good? Indeed yes. Taco Bell was one of my favorite places to eat out before I became a vegetarian, and it still is today! Their three grades of salsas are all vegan, and very delicious. And you can even order things “Fresco style,” to have them replace the cheese with a blend of tomatoes and onions. It’s vegan, it’s healthy, and it’s heavily promoted in their stores … a sure sign that their chain is friendly to us vegetarians.
The Upshot
Are there places you can eat out, even as a vegetarian? Yes. Is their food any good? Why not visit a Subway or Taco Bell and find out! And maybe, the more people order vegan or vegetarian dishes, the more fast food restaurants will respond to our preferences. It may have been fried on the same grill for awhile there, but even Burger King started offering a veggie burger!
There’s no need to spoil your and your friends’ outings … or to let them be spoiled for you. Find a vegetarian-friendly fast food restaurant, and order something that you feel okay with eating. And have fun!
