As a milspouse, I tend to travel a lot. We move (in military parlance, that's a PCS or Permanent Change of Station) every few years, and when we get to our new duty station, it's rarely within easy reach of family, friends, writing conferences, happening vacay spots, etc. As a vegan, this usually presents some difficulty. I'm vegan for religious and health reasons, so I have plenty of motivation to find convenient, sustainable, compassionate, and healthy food options when I'm on the road or (gods help me) in the air.
During my stint as a graduate student in a low-residency program, I struggled with the vegan travel bit. Everywhere I looked online, there were folks who talked about traveling on a flight with pre-packaged bars and bananas, but there weren't enough vegans chatting about the challenges of driving cross-country through (gods help me) Texas1 or staying with relatives who honest-to-gods believe that fried catfish is vegetarian. Since I try something new every time we go somewhere, and because I go somewhere a lot (!#@ military), I figured I might as well document my process on a blog. Hopefully it will help other vegans looking for ways to not starve on a 12-hour flying day or show the veg-curious that even travelers can stay healthy, well-fed, compassionate, and (hopefully) green.
I welcome your ideas, questions, and suggestions. You can contact me at klgrady on Gmail.
[1] I can say that. I spent the bulk of my teen years living in Houston. Texas is not very veg-friendly. Moo.
