What Vegetarian and Vegan Travellers Eat on the Road

As vegetarian – and even more so as vegan – travellers, the one question we often get asked is what do you actually eat? For a non-vegetarian traveller, the idea of finding food which doesn’t come with meat included while on the road can seem like an impossible task. There’s no doubt that it requires a bit of extra effort to find good vegetarian and vegan food while travelling, but it’s wholly possible and when you’re actually looking out for it, it’s much easier.

I asked five travel bloggers who have vegetarian, vegan or raw diets what they eat in order to keep healthy on a typical day while travelling.


Catherine Forest

Raw Vegan, Road It Up

We are a nomadic, mostly raw vegan family of five currently travelling across the Americas in a bus. We lived in Costa Rica for six months a couple of years ago where it was much easier to be low fat raw vegans. Now that we live on the road, we have our green juice everyday (that we make in the bus with our Omega juicer).

Breakfast

Apple ginger medley: 1 cup of soaked almonds, 2 cups of cubed apples, juice of a lemon, grated fresh ginger, raw honey and cinnamon.

Brunch

A big glass of green juice: 3 bunches of kale, 1 bunch parsley, half a cucumber, 1 lemon, 5 oranges, 6 apples, a thumb of fresh ginger and a thumb of fresh turmeric (for five).

Lunch

 Green smoothie: 5 bananas, 5 medjool dates, baby spinach, frozen berries and mangoes.

Afternoon Snack

Raw lemon bliss balls: hemp seeds, coconut, raw honey, coconut oil, lemon zest, vanilla, sea salt.

Dinner

Homemade vegan sushi: wrapped in seaweed (or collard leaves) and filled with avocado slices, cucumber and julienned carrots.

Raw vegan travel - Catherine Forest


Victoria Duggan

Vegan, Uprooting Our Lives

Me and my partner have been on the road nine months and are long term vegans.

Breakfast

Fruit smoothies: very easy to find in most countries on the street for cheap.

Lunch

Brown rice with stir fried vegetables and vegetable curry.

Afternoon Snack

Chopped vegetables with hummus, local fruit, raisins or dried fruit.

Dinner

Large salad with produce bought from the market, steamed vegetables, tempeh or tofu.


Chantae Reden

Vegetarian, Chantae Was Here

Breakfast

A boiled egg and a piece of bread with avocado, tomato and cheese on top.

Coffee

I love trying different types of coffee while travelling and seeing all of the unique methods of brewing it.

Lunch

A whole wheat tortilla stuffed to the brim with whatever local veggies and hummus.

Snacks

A handful of almonds, chopped veggies, and a few pieces of fruit: I love buying interesting fruits at local markets and sampling them from my backpack throughout the day.

Dinner

Rice, pasta, or Asian noodles with vegetables: dinner meals always depend on where I’m travelling through.

Cutting veggies hostel cooking - Charlie on Travel


Amelia Easten

Vegan, Plant Powered Nomad

This is my diet when backpacking, so it’s harder to cook because I usually don’t have access to a kitchen. I always travel with these emergency foods in my bag: rye bread, peanut butter, vegetable spreads, bananas, apples, trail-mix and/or nuts.

Breakfast

Fruit, usually bananas, soy milk and museli.

Lunch

Vegetable soup or noodles; salads; more fruit and some bread.

Dinner

Stir fried potato, onion, mushroom and tofu with spices which I can easily make (without oil), or I pick something up from a market.

P1020352


Sam Wood

Vegan, Indefinite Adventure

I eat something every three hours or so, and I usually have access to a kitchen, as my husband and I often rent apartments or house sit when we travel.

Breakfast

I try to drink a cup of warm lemon water right after waking up. I find this cleanses my palate, making food taste better afterwards, and helps my digestion.

Porridge cooked in water, or soy/oat/almond milk with sliced banana, nuts and dried fruit. Sometimes I also have a slice or two of wholemeal bread with a vegan spread and slices of cucumber or pepper and a few cherry tomatoes. I often drink a soluble multivitamin drink along with that.

Brunch

A piece of fruit and some more nuts or sometimes a pre-made vegan cookie.

Lunch

Falafels and hummus with salad.

Afternoon Snack

Soy chai latte and a big slab of vegan cake, ideally something creamy and decadent!

Dinner

Homemade vegetable curry with brown rice.

falafel vegetarian travel - charlie on travel


Me

Ethically-Sourced Vegetarian, Charlie on Travel

Luke and I are usually house sitting when travelling, and having a good kitchen with a blender and oven is luxury for us after a few weeks of backpacking. We only buy dairy products when we can buy local and organic.

Breakfast

Homemade granola: rolled oats, almonds, coconut, cinnamon, olive oil, local honey. With blended frozen bananas and a dollop of homemade peanut butter. A black coffee too, of course.

Brunch

Chopped pineapple or melon.

Lunch

Hummus with baked yuca chips, chopped raw veggies and salad.

Afternoon Snack

Handful of plain nuts and a few squares of dark chocolate. A mug of green tea.

Dinner

Vegetarian chilli with black beans, served with half an avocado and brown rice.

Homemade coconut granola

Header image thanks to: Catherine Forest of Road It Up