How To Travel Like a Vegan Foodie

“El Tubo” A local favorite and pub alley in Zaragoza, Spain - Eating artichoke and mushroom skewers

Flights are booked, your bags are packed, passport is ready, and you are ready for that next trip! You’re feeling that travel rush, looking forward to what you’re going to see, and stay, but more importantly — You’re ready to eat amazing food! However, how do you find the best restaurants when traveling as a vegan? How can you ensure you have the best experience possible?

You’ll never forget the meal experiences you have in different cities.

The new ambiance, flavors, language all contribute to a memorable moment.

Hi friends my name is Eunice and I live for traveling and eating amazing vegan food! You’ll never forget the meal experiences that you have in different cities. The new ambiance, flavors, language all contribute to a memorable moment. Today I’m here to tell you that, yes! It’s possible to have this experience if you live out a vegan diet.  So what’s the first step to enjoying the local vegan cuisine while traveling vegan? 

Tips when traveling as a vegan

Get your Google search right!

Research! Some of you may or may not like that idea but trust me, you will have a much better time if you just pre-plan at least a few places you want to try. Although Google searching is of course one of the great ways to find vegan restaurants; I’m a firm believer in digging a little deeper, especially if you want to enjoy the local cuisine. Sometimes the top-ranked search results for vegan restaurants can be westernized food like burgers, acai bowls, soups, etc which is great but, I don’t know about you, but if I’m in Rome the last thing I will want to eat is a burger, I’m going to be looking for vegan pasta dishes! 

For every city I visit, I search "traditional dishes in …." or "Top 5 foods to eat in ...".  This simple trick is how I got to experience the best local food in Porto, Portugal (and every other city I visit). So when searching for Porto, I stumbled upon the "Franceshina." similar to a croque monsieur, it's a grilled sandwich loaded with meat, and topped with melted cheese. It is a traditional dish specific to Porto, not even the rest of Portugal! But guess what? There's multiple vegan versions of this in the city as well! If I had only focused on the “vegan food in Portugal'' search results I would have never realized there was a 100% vegan version of fraceshina that tastes like the real deal. (By the way, that grilled vegan sandwich was amazing and you can check it out in this video.) 

Another thing I like to do is see pictures! I’m such a visual person and a photo of course is worth more than a thousand words. So Instagram is one of my go-to places. There’s no better way to search vegan food in the city you want to see than through the #vegan hashtag followed by your favorite city (ie. #veganroma #veganmexicocity aka #vegancdmx etc) What I like about this is that tourists aren’t the only ones posting photos, it’s locals too, and that’s the key. Also in a lot of countries like Spain, many vegan restaurants don’t even have websites; Instagram or Facebook is basically they’re website so they may not even pop up on the first page of Google results. I basically just scroll until I see a photo I really like and then bookmark it and create a collection so I have them quickly on hand to what I want to try. 

Be Visual!

I’m such a visual person and a photo of course is worth more than a thousand words. So Instagram is one of my go-to places.

Then the real planning nerd side of me comes out. Google Mapping! After creating my must eat places and must see tourist attractions, I make a list on Google Maps so I can visually see where each place is located based on where I’m staying. This then helps me plan out my days. I encourage everyone to fit the sightseeing in between meals and WALK as much as you can to help walk off those meals and get exercise on vacations so you don’t forget to stay healthy, fit and make room for more food of course ;). 

Use Google Translate!

Learning how to say “I’m vegan” in the local language is always a good thing to have on hand along with some other common phrases. 

Go Shopping!

Another great option is to go to local grocery stores and ask what options they have. Nowadays many grocery stores have amazing vegan options so I love going to explore what each one has. Spain, for example, had the #1 voted vegan frozen pizza at the Mercadona supermarket. 

Mercadona Vegan Pizza - Image Source Mercadona

Be Social!

Last but not least, don’t be afraid to go into vegan grocery stores or restaurants and ask the employees. Most likely they’re vegan and will give you they’re personal recommendations of where to eat. 

Planning can seem overwhelming, but honestly, it’s a lot of fun and can only make your vegan food adventures more exciting. Vegan blogs and websites like Happy Cow are also great resources for tips. 

Hope you enjoyed this resource and tips for traveling like a vegan foodie. If you want to check out videos on vegan travel destinations here on Rated V Food.