Question/Concern about Vegan Food Onboard

[°O°Joe]

LOL. Not packed yet, but the DCL is only HALF of my vacation. On the 21st I am headed down to WDW for a week and THEN a week on the boat. Trying to pack for a two week trip (both casual for the first week, and with more formal stuff for the second) is way too daunting for me to even deal with right now.

I'll probably start packing at 11pm the night before. LOL

Holy cow! I'd be packing like 3 or 4 outfits and utilizing the laundry service!!

 

[gottaluvdisney]

I recently sailed and one of my table mates was vegetarian. He did well at dinner, but didn't realize that he could combine all the side veggies/potatoes from the entrees. The server brought that to his attention and he was very happy.

I am curious, I understand what vegans don't eat---could you please explain what you do eat - could you list a sample menu of what you eat each day at home. Just curious.

 

[crisi]

I recently sailed and one of my table mates was vegetarian. He did well at dinner, but didn't realize that he could combine all the side veggies/potatoes from the entrees. The server brought that to his attention and he was very happy.

I am curious, I understand what vegans don't eat---could you please explain what you do eat - could you list a sample menu of what you eat each day at home. Just curious.

I've never been vegan myself, but have fed enough of them.

Lots of fruits and vegetables. Protein from beans and tofu and seitan (wheat protein). Lots of rice. Vegan breads and pasta, salads. Baked goods made with soy or rice milk and egg substitute (I baked a vegan cake once - it was really disgusting for the non-vegan folks). No honey or refined sugar usually either - but you can use the "sugar in the raw" stuff. Soy cheeses. Some vegans do meat substitutes (like Boca Burgers or the Quorn line), some avoid anything vaguely "meat like." As long as you aren't adding to the vegan with something like a wheat allergy (met a few of those), it isn't a horrible diet, but you aren't finding much going through the McDonalds drive through.

For breakfast, cereal with rice milk
Lunch might be a soup and salad
Dinner might be a pasta dish with tofu and asparagus (one of my favorites)

Stir fry is pretty easy to do vegan - Asian in general isn't big on meat or dairy - Indian food is really good (though there is lots of yogurt) - as are lots of Italian dishes if you sub soy cheese. There are about 50 different combinations of beans and rice - from Cuban to Indian to Mexican.

My former sister in law ate a lot of potato chips and drank a lot of tequila - it doesn't have to be a healthy diet.

 

[atinkerbellmom]

Now we stay away from a lot of Asian as many of the dishes down to many fortune cookies have eggs or cross cont. of eggs. Most of the noodles are real noodles and many of the dishes are brushed with egg whites.

 

[°O°Joe]

I recently sailed and one of my table mates was vegetarian. He did well at dinner, but didn't realize that he could combine all the side veggies/potatoes from the entrees. The server brought that to his attention and he was very happy.

I am curious, I understand what vegans don't eat---could you please explain what you do eat - could you list a sample menu of what you eat each day at home. Just curious.

That's the reaction most people have when they learn that vegans don't consume animal products... But think about how many different types of fruits, vegetables and grains are available for you to eat. Really, the possibilities are endless.

There is a website (one of many) called vegweb.com that has all sorts of vegan recipes. That's where I got the recipe for vegan pizza crust and it is AWESOME...

The only time when it really becomes even remotely difficult is when I go out to eat or travel. And even going out to eat - you can get a big healthy salad just about anywhere. Sometimes dressings can be a problem, but just about every place I've been to has oil and vinegar or vinaigrette… so usually not too big a problem with me. I’m a very healthy eater, so a big ol’ salad with lots of veggies is about the most fulfilling thing I can eat.

Also, I’m not allergic to anything, so I can eat whatever I want. The thing is I don’t want to eat any animal products because I feel in my heart it’s the right thing for me to do. So it kind of (not really but a little bit) annoys me when people go “oh sorry, I forgot, you can’t eat that…” Well yes I can, I just choose not to - no need to be sorry...

But to answer your question here is a sample of what I eat on a daily basis:

Breakfast – 3 bananas and a handful of homemade trail mix

9:30 Snack – some sort of fruit

Lunch – Varies, today - steamed veggies (LOTS of veggies) with quinoa, sesame oil and soy sauce

2:00 Snack – some sort of fruit, or maybe carrots, celery or cucumber

4:00 Snack – same as above

Dinner – varies greatly, but tonight we’re having vegan pizza. Start with dough (crust), add pizza sauce, bell pepper, tomatoes, onions, artichoke hearts and olives…

I put an emphasis on lots of raw fruits and veggies, although I eat my fair share of cooked food as well. I try to eat a very large serving of greens everyday (spinach, kale, chard, collar greens, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, etc…).

Some of my favorite things to eat are: Potato chips (don’t eat ‘em often), homemade hummus, guacamole sandwiches, chili (no meat, extra beans), potato soup, black bean soup, pineapple and I’ve never met a fruit I don’t like, chips and salsa, stir fry with noodles, bean tacos and burritos (I LOVE beans, especially refried...).

I have a cookbook I ordered thats coming that deals with a lot of south / southwest asian dishes so I’m excited about that…

Hope this helps!

 

[nicholas]

I'm comin over to your house for dinner!

 

[°O°Joe]

I'm comin over to your house for dinner!

LOL yeah Bridget, my wife, hates it though - I'm always cooking something. I love to cook... she's coming around though, and even eating some vegan dishes herself. Bridget and the kids are practically vegetarian, although they can't seem to get over chicken - which is fine. In my eyes every little bit anyone can do to make a difference will have an impact. Kind of like helping the environment, we all try to do the little things to help this issue we have with global warming. The cool thing about eating vegan or vegetarian is that you are not only helping animals, but you are also helping the environment. Livestock farming contributes more to global warming than all forms of transportation combined!

Sorry I got a little [steps off the soapbox]

Back to the regularly scheduled programming, any other vegans out there that have been on the boats??

 

[gottaluvdisney]

Interesting - thank you for sheding some light on your options.

 

[crisi]

We have a big party every year where we are feeding a whole bunch of people with a variety of dietary restrictions - we do the chili thing. One big kettle of meat chili (my husband uses filet to make his chili) on vegetarian - we use three kinds of beans and fried tofu (I love fried tofu in chili). I'm gluten intolerant myself, I have friends who are vegan, vegetarian and lactose intolerant. Mexican also works well (although you need to watch refried beans, many of them are made with lard), since it can be assembled individually and between beans, meat, cheese, soycheese, corn shells or tortillas, flour tortillas we can feed everyone.

Note that none of this is true allergies. For someone choosing to be vegetarian or vegan, cross contamination is certainly annoying, but it isn't really health impacting - if the vegan chili spoon gets dipped in the meat chili, we live. Even with the gluten intolerance/lactose intolerance - small amounts of cross containmination is tolerated by the group I hang with. With true allergies, its more important not to cross contaminate.

 

[°O°Joe]

We have a big party every year where we are feeding a whole bunch of people with a variety of dietary restrictions - we do the chili thing. One big kettle of meat chili (my husband uses filet to make his chili) on vegetarian - we use three kinds of beans and fried tofu (I love fried tofu in chili). I'm gluten intolerant myself, I have friends who are vegan, vegetarian and lactose intolerant. Mexican also works well (although you need to watch refried beans, many of them are made with lard), since it can be assembled individually and between beans, meat, cheese, soycheese, corn shells or tortillas, flour tortillas we can feed everyone.

Note that none of this is true allergies. For someone choosing to be vegetarian or vegan, cross contamination is certainly annoying, but it isn't really health impacting - if the vegan chili spoon gets dipped in the meat chili, we live. Even with the gluten intolerance/lactose intolerance - small amounts of cross containmination is tolerated by the group I hang with. With true allergies, its more important not to cross contaminate.

Yeah, I don't worry too much about the cross contamination thing... It is kind of annoying when you're trying not to eat that stuff. Perfect example - last night as I was cutting up the pizza - I told Bridget that I wanted to cut up my portion first so as not to get any cheese on the pizza cutter. I used to be a cheese lover, but anymore, the thought of cheese litteraly makes me cringe...

(I know that probably sounds rediculous to most of you...)

P.S. I'll have to try fried tofu in my chili... I never thought of that. Usually I add a can of organic refried beans to the pot to thicken it up a little...

 

[atinkerbellmom]

Just doing a little bump as Nick should be back soon and wanted him to find it easy, just in case he doesn't know how to use the CP.

 

[CRSNDSNY]

In my eyes every little bit anyone can do to make a difference will have an impact.

ITA!

My husband made a very yummy vegan soup last night. We sat down to eat it and he started dumping parmesan cheese on it. I just . He's not vegetarian or vegan (still a seafood lover and I can't break him of it really).

 

[°O°Joe]

So I faxed a letter to the number nicholas said to over three weeks ago, and no one has called me or replied. I sail in three days.

Anybody have any other suggestions?

 

[°O°Joe]

ITA!

My husband made a very yummy vegan soup last night. We sat down to eat it and he started dumping parmesan cheese on it. I just . He's not vegetarian or vegan (still a seafood lover and I can't break him of it really).

I hear ya. I hate it when my wife dumps parmesan cheese all over the otherwise vegan spaghetti and ruins it. I try to explain to her that cheese is horrible for you, but she is litteraly addicted to cheese...

 

[atinkerbellmom]

Hey Nick, you have to be back by now. Where are you?

 

[nicholas]

Yes, I just returned a couple of days ago and am still recovering from a two week Disney vacation. A week at the parks and then a week on the Magic.

I am afraid I completely dropped the ball and failed in my goal to document my meals, but I just never remembered to bring my camera to dinner to take pictures as I was having too much fun just enjoying the trip.

But the Vegan diet was not a problem at all on the ship. On every menu (except for two) there was already a Vegan dish or something that was easily made Vegan for me by omitting cheese or something along those lines.

Most evenings I was able to view the following evening's menu and make my selections in order to give the chefs enough time to make any adjustments to my meals that needed to be done. A few times we either forgot to do that or I left dinner too quickly (so as not to miss the Pirates party) to do that.

The two meals where I had problems were the Captain's Gala Dinner and the Til We Meet Again Dinner. For the former, I ended up with the veggies and rice that came as a side dish for one of the other main courses. And for the latter, there really wasn't much of an option anywhere on the menu, so I got plain ole steamed veggies and rice....again.

So, those two meals were a bit of a disappointment, but overall, it wasn't too difficult to stick to the necessary dietary needs, which, when it comes down to it, is far more important to me.

 

[dragonflydreaming]

Yes, I just returned a couple of days ago and am still recovering from a two week Disney vacation. A week at the parks and then a week on the Magic.

I am afraid I completely dropped the ball and failed in my goal to document my meals, but I just never remembered to bring my camera to dinner to take pictures as I was having too much fun just enjoying the trip.

But the Vegan diet was not a problem at all on the ship. On every menu (except for two) there was already a Vegan dish or something that was easily made Vegan for me by omitting cheese or something along those lines.

Most evenings I was able to view the following evening's menu and make my selections in order to give the chefs enough time to make any adjustments to my meals that needed to be done. A few times we either forgot to do that or I left dinner too quickly (so as not to miss the Pirates party) to do that.

The two meals where I had problems were the Captain's Gala Dinner and the Til We Meet Again Dinner. For the former, I ended up with the veggies and rice that came as a side dish for one of the other main courses. And for the latter, there really wasn't much of an option anywhere on the menu, so I got plain ole steamed veggies and rice....again.

So, those two meals were a bit of a disappointment, but overall, it wasn't too difficult to stick to the necessary dietary needs, which, when it comes down to it, is far more important to me.

Were you able to eat at Palo at all? What was available on Castaway Cay?

Thanks!

 

[nicholas]

I didn't even attempt reservations for Palo, so no, I didn't eat there.

And Castaway Cay got cancelled due to Hurricane Noel. So, I didn't get a chance to eat there either.

Bummer.

 

[dragonflydreaming]

I didn't even attempt reservations for Palo, so no, I didn't eat there.

And Castaway Cay got cancelled due to Hurricane Noel. So, I didn't get a chance to eat there either.

Bummer.

Where did they take you instead of Castaway Cay?

 

[nicholas]

Nassau