Our family loves what our vegan eating does for our health, the animals, and the planet. But it is a huge extra challenge, trying to “keep it vegan” when you’re living on the road! Language barriers, lack of options, and not knowing the local food scene are all difficult at times.

We started eating a plant-based diet in the late fall of 2015.

I didn’t fully commit until after our second daughter was born, as I found it difficult to make such a big change during pregnancy, and was pre-anemic as it was.

But I was already off dairy (been lactose-intolerant my whole life) and never been a huge fan of meat.

Over the past 2+ years, we have had a wonderful experience shifting our habits and lifestyle to be vegan – but I use that word carefully and lightly.

I know there is debate in the vegan community about who can use that word, and I do not wish to engage in that. This blog is meant to be real, but positive and full of light and good intentions.

When at home (including all the places we make our home while traveling), we are conscious about trying to be 100% plant-based, but will allow some treats for our kids (the chocolate fingers called Papitos in Belize are so addictive!).

It’s almost impossible to constantly source vegan chocolate while on the road, given my chocoholic kids!

Also, while traveling, there is a certain amount of eating out that happens, and it’s hard to keep that 100% vegan, especially for the kids.

Eating out for breakfast or brunch usually means pancakes or waffles for the kids, and we know we’re cheating there (you can’t see it, but we know there’s probably eggs and milk in there).

We don’t check absolutely every menu item for hidden ingredients – if it sounds and looks vegan, we go with it. For example, our Red Curries in Thailand may have had fish sauce in them, but with the language barrier and the accommodations they were already making for us – no meat, but tofu or cashews instead, etc. – we don’t press the issue.

“There’s nothing productive about beating ourselves up for the occasional choice to feed our hungry girls instead of staying 100% strictly vegan.”

I wish we lived in a world where we didn’t have to make the choice to occasionally compromise our values, and vegan food was plentiful and available in all restaurants in all areas of the world for all food choices.

However, I also believe in moderation and keeping a healthy perspective, and think that we’re doing a great thing for our health, our environment, and the animals by being as plant-based as possible, and there’s nothing productive about beating ourselves up for the occasional choice to feed our hungry girls instead of staying 100% strictly vegan. 

You may disagree (with many things: us not being absolutely perfect 100% vegans all the time… us raising our kids to BE vegan… or something else in between…), and that is your prerogative! But let’s not get into a debate about it – that’s not what this blog is for.

Okay, now onto the delicious vegan recipes (and carnivores, I bet you anything you’ll like them, too! Well, maybe except for you, Dad…), meal planning and shopping tips for traveling, and amazing restaurants we discovered along the road!