Question of the month: what's the hardest thing about eating out?

Finding a meal with a great protein source.

Nanci Lawson

Via email

Not knowing exactly what you're getting. At home, you can read labels, but when eating out, you don't know how many calories and how much fat is in your food, and whether any animal products were really used. The waitstaff might tell you that the meal doesn't include animal products, but the cook may have just fried your veggie burger next to a beef burger, and the buns might include lard.

Todd Towler

Via email

I frequently feel sick after eating vegetarian meals at non-vegetarian restaurants. The vegetarian entrees often are made with cheap oils and mass-produced sauces that my stomach can't handle. Lots of those sauces contain MSG and all kinds of unnatural flavors.

Amy Spiders Petsch

Batavia, IL

Finding foods that don't have meat products hidden in them. It seems that most food servers (I am one myself) aren't aware that chicken broth or pork fat are meat. They assume that if the meal includes no actual pieces of meat, it's OK for vegetarians. It's also difficult to find out whether or not the oils used for sauteed vegetables and french fries contain animal fat or are also used for cooking meat.

Kristin Rogers-Wyss

Bradenton, FL

Finding healthful vegetarian (or vegan) meals at a "regular" restaurant. Some places will make vegetarian versions, but sometimes all this means is that they remove the meat or cheese and don't add any extra veggies.

Natalie Barrington

Toronto, ON

Canada

Going to places that have only two vegetarian choices: a veggie burger or a salad. That gets old after awhile.

Ann Wilson

Newport Beach, CA

Friends making a big deal of where we should go to eat. They know I'm a vegetarian and think they have to go out of their way to find a restaurant that serves vegetarian food. I can find something at any restaurant, even if it's just a salad and a baked potato. Enjoying my friends' company is more important to me than the food.

Debbie Baker

Lawrence, KS

Friends who point out everything on the menu that a vegetarian can eat. Do they think that becoming a vegetarian affected my ability to read?

Bethany Clough

Fresno, CA

Challenging myself to try new things instead of always ordering my old usuals--especially since many of my favorite restaurants have expanded their menus to offer more vegetarian options.

Anne-Marie Smith

Goderich, ON

Canada

My family. I'm only 14, so I don't get to choose where we eat. They almost always pick KFC. The second we walk in there, my stomach starts to turn.

Blasia Fraser

Via email

Finding deliciously prepared vegetables--few restaurants serve them. Some still believe that only pasta dishes are vegetarian. And although many offer soups, they're meat-based.

Carolyn Darby

Albany, OR

Portion sizes. They are almost always too big. I can take food home, but it would be even nicer to eat out more often with smaller portion sizes and lower prices.

Mary M.

Via email

Trying to find a restaurant with enough variety. Where I live, there are mostly big chain restaurants and only a handful where I'll eat. It's easy to get tired of your favorites.

Amy Blankenship

Huntington, WV

The lack of menu items for vegans. I have an extremely difficult time eating out and usually would rather just eat at home.

Christine Watson

South Holland, IL

There just aren't enough options. I don't want pasta every time I go out to eat. I find it hard to believe that tofu is still not widely recognized as a meat substitute. Sure, you can get the occasional veggie burger, but there are enough vegetarians now to warrant broadening some of these menus.

Ilene Snyder

Windsor Locks, CT

1) Finding restaurants with vegetarian options besides a side salad, which often comes with bacon.

2) Explaining to servers that chicken and fish are NOT vegetarian.

3) Finding servers who are able to explain what is used in preparing a dish (are the beans made with bacon fat? is the soup based on chicken stock?).

4) Finding restaurants that are willing to make substitutions.

Shannon Smith

Chattanooga, TN

Variety! I get tired of salads, wraps and veggie sandwiches all the time. I would like more hot meals.

Gina M.

Via email

Finding vegetarian foods that are healthful. I can't get my husband, who became a vegetarian for health reasons, to understand why it isn't good for him to order potato skins loaded with cheese and sour cream every time we go to a restaurant.

Bobbi Mone

Millersville, MD

The cost. When you want to order only vegetables, you have to pay much more because you're buying each thing separately.

Laurie Lyon

Via email

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Reader Recipe

WARTIME BRAN LOAF

Serves 8

Based on a recipe from
World War II, when rations
were scarce in Britain, this
English tea bread recipe
contains no butter, oil or
eggs yet tastes astoundingly
rich, says Louisa Stephenson
of Ontario, Canada. We
agree. For a variation, add
nuts and dried cherries or
any other kind of dried fruit
such as figs, pineapple or
cranberries. This loaf slices
more easily the day after
baking.

2 cups All Bran Original
(pieces, not flakes)

1 packed cup brown sugar
2 cups skim milk
2 cups raisins or mix of
raisins and golden raisins
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
Grease and flour 9x5-inch
loaf pan.

2. Mix All Bran, brown
sugar, milk and fruit
together in large bowl, and
set aside for 10 minutes
until bran becomes mushy.

3. Add flour, baking powder
and baking soda; stir to
combine completely. Spoon
into loaf pan.

4. Bake about 1 hour, or
until toothpick inserted in
center comes out clean.
Remove from pan, and cool
on rack.

PER SERVING: 400 CAL; 8G PROT; 1G
TOTAL FAT (0G SAT. FAT); 101G CARB;
0MG CHOL; 470MG SOD; 12 G FIBER;
58G SUGARS

COPYRIGHT 2005 Vegetarian Times, Inc. All rights reserved.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning