Which World Cuisines Feature Great Vegan Food?



Are you an avid food lover on a vegan diet?

Food is delicious and being vegan doesn’t mean that you need to sacrifice flavor to maintain your diet. This is particularly relevant for traveling because fine dining is often a highlight of any vacation.

As a vegan, you likely understand the frustration of trying to find good food that you can eat wherever you go. It’s often a process of researching beforehand or sticking to restaurants that you know are safe.

With this in mind, there’s a simple way of ensuring that you have plenty of choices. You need to carefully choose the location that you’re visiting and consider their local cuisine.

Some cultures are naturally vegan-friendly, meaning that you’re sure to have good eats your entire trip if you visit them. To give you an idea of what to expect, we’ll give you four great choices for vegan traveling below!

Indian
Arguably your best choice is Indian food.

Indian cuisine is filled with spices and features rice, flatbreads, vegetables, sauces, and legumes. Some dishes do contain meat, particularly chicken, but many are made entirely of vegetables.

In some dishes, meat is substituted for other fillers like potatoes and chickpeas. With the addition of spices, many dishes are complete as they are and don’t need meat.

Some of the most popular Indian foods include naan (flatbread), samosas (fried, spiced, and potato-stuffed triangles), tikka masala (tomato-based spicy chicken, can sub for chickpeas), chana masala (spicy chickpea curry), and vegetable biryani (spiced rice medley).

The flavor of Indian food is quite distinct and deep. There’s no place better than India to eat authentic Indian food like it’s meant to be enjoyed. If you’re a fan of spice and chickpeas, then India may be the destination for you!
Mediterranean
Several countries belong to the Mediterranean region, but many have a unique style of food. The cuisine of European countries is far different than it is in the African and Middle Eastern countries.
The Middle East is particularly a good choice for vegans because much of their food is vegetable-based. Israelian food is a perfect example of this, incorporating fresh produce into just about every dish consumed there.
Many dishes are light and fresh, often having a hint of tang to them. Herbs are used amply and nothing ever tastes bland.
Some of the tastiest Mediterranean foods include falafel (fried chickpea balls), pita (flatbread), hummus (ground chickpea dip), tahini (sesame seed paste) and baklava (layered, crispy, and sweet pastries).
If you enjoy meals that taste crisp and won’t weigh you down, then you can’t go wrong with Mediterranean food.

Ethiopian
Another excellent choice is Ethiopian cuisine.

While Ethiopian food is often associated with lots of meat dishes, there is also a great assortment of vegan alternatives.

The key characteristic of Ethiopian cuisine is the spice (berbere), which is a unique blend that tastes unlike anything else. When foods are prepared with berbere, they give excellent flavor to ordinarily basic ingredients.

Another important thing to keep in mind is that most food is eaten by hand. Just about any meal will be paired with injera, a stretchy flatbread that tastes like sourdough. You will dip your injera into the variety of dishes that you decide to eat.

A few good choices to pair with your injera include wat (red onion-based vegetable stew), beyainatu (injera topped with an assortment of dishes), fuul (stewed fava beans), shiro (spicy chickpea stew), and plenty of flavorful coffees.
If you enjoy eating food with your hands and an assortment of hearty spices, then Ethiopia is an excellent choice.
Italian The last cuisine on this list you might not expect to be a vegan favorite, but it’s Italian food.
Italian cuisine consists of a variety of food, but some common ingredients include pasta, herbs, and fresh vegetables (particularly tomato).
While there are a wide variety of choices for vegans, most dishes consist of some form of pasta. This is then topped with a warming sauce; tomato is the most common.
Choices like spaghetti (tomato sauce pasta), lasagna (layered pasta, sauce, and cheese - vegan options available), manicotti (stuffed pasta rolls), and linguine (wider pasta noodles, often paired with white or light sauces) are all great.
Alternatively, a few non-pasta options include focaccia (fluffy herb bread), risotto (creamy rice), polenta (cornmeal porridge), and of course, pizza (fluffy or crispy bread topped with sauce and ingredients).
Of all the cultures listed above, you’re likely most familiar with Italian food. This will make it a safe choice should you want vegan eats on your travels.
Closing Thoughts All cultures from around the globe have a passion for food. Each country makes its food a little differently, providing a unique flavor that characterizes that country’s cuisine.
A few cultures are particularly great at providing vegan-friendly options because most of their dishes contain vegetarian ingredients. The four we mentioned above include Indian, Mediterranean, Ethiopian, and Italian.
Figure out what type of food sounds best to you and pick a destination with that in mind! Amazing vegan food is waiting to be found, you just have to go out there and experience it yourself.

Shredded Chicken Tacos

Shredded Chicken Tacos are our favorite easy meal. Toss 3 ingredients in the slow cooker and when you come home you will have an awesome family meal waiting on you.



If it were up to me, we would eat tacos all of the time. They are easy, versatile and so tasty, no matter how you make them. My husband has to reign me in sometimes with my enthusiasm for tacos, but he never complains about these easy Shredded Chicken Tacos for dinner.

I love these because they are effortless and they taste just as good as the ones from the little local restaurant down the street from my house and they are one of those dump and go dinners. Let the crock pot do all of the work for you.

This recipe starts with frozen chicken breasts and end with fresh and flavorful tender chicken. I like to make this with the 3 pound bags of frozen chicken breast, for a good amount of chicken tacos for meal prepping and leftovers.



Ingredients:
3 pounds of frozen chicken breast
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1 16 oz jar of salsa
2 cups of water

Directions:
Place 2 cups of water in the slow cooker
Add 3 pounds of chicken breast
Pour a jar of salsa into the slow cooker.
Add a can of cream of chicken soup.
Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.
Before serving give it all a good stir to shred the chicken.
Serve with toppings of your choice. I like panella cheese crumbles, avocado, fresh cilantro and a little lime.
Store leftovers for up to 5 days in the fridge.
This shredded chicken meat is awesome in quesadillas and on nachos too!

You can find all of my recipes here
Reader favorites include:
12 Delicious Lo Mein Recipes

Play Doh Lollipop Counting

Give early math lessons a sweet spin with this play dough lollipop counting activity. It  combines counting, fine motor skills and a touch of creativity to provide lots of hands on educational fun.



Play doh is my go to tool for hands on learning fun. There are so many ways to use it to learn. This play doh lollipop counting activity is fantastic because it uses basic supplies like craft sticks and play doh to create a math lesson little kids will love!



Supplies:
Assorted colors of play doh
Craft Sticks
Numbers or dice


Directions:
Invite your child to form the lollipops with a small bit of play doh and the craft sticks.
Encourage your child to pick a number from the pile or roll a dice.
Whichever number they come up with, encourage them to roll out that many itty bitty tiny balls of play doh in a different color.
Decorate the lollipops with the small balls of doh.
Repeat with more numbers for a hands on math lesson that works in fine motor skill work too!





You can find all of my play doh ideas here
Reader favorites include:
Play Doh Pie Counting
Play Doh Pre-writing
Play Doh Stamping

Rainbow Disc Sensory Bag

Give kids a fun way to sort colors while getting a little sensory play in with this rainbow disc sensory bag.


We love sensory play. From bins to bags, and even bottles; anyway you present sensory play we are in!
With the kids being out of school for so long I have been really busy coming up with activities to engage them, challenge them, and keep them entertained. We made this easy sensory bag to practice our color sorting and pattern making skills. It is perfect for adding some color to the day.

Supplies:

Hand Sanitizer or Hair Gel
Zipper Seal Bag


Directions:

Draw a rainbow on a zipper seal sandwich bag with Sharpies.




Add several squirts of hand sanitizer or hair gel (about a tablespoon or two of gel is ideal).


Drop transparent colored counting chips (or bingo markers) in the colors of the rainbow into the bag.



Seal well. If your child has 'rough hands' you might want to reinforce the sides with tape to prevent the sides from busting. (This is a good idea for toddlers, but can be skipped for older kids!)



If your child has 'gentle hands' you can skip the reinforcement with tape.
Invite your child to glide the discs thru the gel and place them on the color they match.
When finished, check the seal to be sure it is closed and store for another day when a quiet activity is needed.


You can find all of my sensory play ideas here:

Reader favorites include:

Homeschool Labs - COVID-19

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Greg Landry's Homeschool Labs.

Students in Greg Landry’s online science classes have had a lot of questions about COVID-19 (by the way, this is not the name of the virus), and your children may also have questions. Greg has created a PDF to address the common questions and to give students an understanding of viruses in general, and this virus in particular...in a way that's fun for students.

Home School Science Freebies


For example, Greg Landry believes that in science, it's very important for students to have what he calls "magnitude perspective". We all know that viruses and bacteria are very small but few people really have a perspective on how small they are and how they compare with each other and to the width of a human hair. He does this not only with numbers but also with graphics they can easily understand.

Free Homeschool Student COVID-19 Printable Lesson and Worksheet (and a free bonus lesson and worksheet on the muscular system).

Greg Landry’s FREE PDF also covers:
- Are viruses alive?
- How do they affect humans
- What's the actual name of the current virus? (few people know this).
- What is "coronavirus"?
- What do they look like?
- Where do viruses come from?
- What are some common diseases caused by viruses?

This PDF includes a printable student worksheet with graphics to label and color plus a virus quiz.
Click here to get a free COVID-19 Student Printable Lesson + Bonus! When you submit your email to receive this freebie you will also have access to a free "muscular system" lesson and worksheet!