Restaurants and pub grub

Nick.R

Newcomer
Joined
Jun 14, 2016
Reaction score
2
Age
48
Lifestyle
  1. Vegan newbie
Hi all.

I'm a couple of months into a completely vegan diet but have really struggled eating out with my family this evening. I don't eat out often but will do every now and again with my wife and 2 children. This evening we went out to the local pub, a place we've been going to for 10 years plus. Whilst everyone else had full plates of food, I had two side bowls; one of chips, one of salad. This is the second occasion that I have been in such a situation where I've just had to forget about going out and enjoying a meal and just be happy that everyone else is happy with theirs. I didn't feel all that great to be fair, I pretended to be cheerful but went hungry and my family looked on at me with pity. How do people manage these situations? I don't want to be selfish and stop my family going out for meals at their favourite places. Not sure what to do.
I'm off to make myself beans on toast.
Anyone else struggle like this?

Nick
 
Hi Nick,

Sorry to hear you didn't have as nice a time as you wanted. :( I think most people have been in a similar situation.

Did you ask about jacket potatoes? Sure it might not be a huge upgrade from chips and salad but it's something.
Does the pub know you've gone vegan? It might be worth mentioning just to see if they've had other people in that area asking for vegan food. Any pub will provide an option if they believe it is a finally sound move for the business, so it's never worth staying quiet about your veganism. You can always send an email if you really don't fancy having the conversation.

What about taking your family to a vegan/vegetarian restaurant? It seems only fair, and I am sure they will want their daddy to be happy. No solemn looks then. You don't need to do it all the time, just every few meal outings?

Even a place like Nandos offers lots of vegan options these days. I'm not sure where you live but there must be something reasonably close on www.HappyCow.net ?

 
Hi
Thanks for your post.
I'm not really talking to people about going vegan and have almost felt apologetic and like I'm a nuisance when asking for something different. I will have to sort myself out as this is just going to happen all over the place.
I'm in Birmingham and I know there are some specific vegan restaurants hit I'd likely be dining alone if I was to visit these.
Thanks for the link, it proved very useful.
Nick