My wife and I recently returned from a one week cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas. We did a similar cruise last year to celebrate my mom’s 90 birthday. When we went on a cruise somewhere in the early 90s, Carnival had a separate vegetarian menu (two options each night), as did Celebrity in the late 90s. Last year, there was a vegetarian option on the regular menu every night, but almost always involved cheese.

The food situation was very different this year than last. I’m not sure if Royal Caribbean changed or if it is because this year’s ship was much larger. On the regular menu on the first night, I was pleasantly shocked to see one of the entrees was Soy Chili with Tortillas. There was always a vegetarian option (often with cheese), as well as Linguini w/ tomato sauce. Other nights the regular menu offered Soy Meatballs with Lentil Chili and Sweet and Sour Vegetarian Chicken. On the nights with the cheese, they made (just for me) a tofu stir fry, spinach and black bean chili in Tortillas, and Channa Masala. At lunch, I was able to request a veggie burger in the buffet area (not an option last year). So, it was much nicer to be able to look forward to dinner in the main dining room rather than sneaking off to the buffet for the Indian option or the veg sushi.

For information on a vegetarian student in Costa Rica, see
http://www.vrg.org/blog/2012/06/01/can-an-exchange-student-live-on-a-vegan-diet-in-costa-rica/

Sarah Alper, a VRG volunteer who is a sophomore in college and is planning to study in Latin America next year, writes:

I’m not sure that I know any vegans who’ve studied abroad in Costa Rica, especially through programs for high school students. The main program that comes to mind as being a possibility is Living Routes (http://www.livingroutes.org/), which focuses on sustainability and has semester programs in CR as well as summer programs in Brazil, Peru, and Australia. I know they accept gap year (before college) kids; I am not sure about students under 18. From their website, it sounds like they’re very amenable to vegan participants:

“Q. What is the food like on the programs?
A. Almost all meals are included in the cost of the program, and consist of healthy vegetarian fare made from local ingredients. There are vegan options and a good deal of the food is organically grown in the host communities. Homestay families make an effort to accommodate special dietary needs as well.”

The School for Field Studies (http://www.fieldstudies.org/) has a summer program in Costa Rica, but I think it’s intended for undergrads–perhaps something to keep in mind for the future. According to their website, vegan students have successfully participated in the past:

“Student Dietary Preferences, such as a vegan or vegetarian diet may be accommodated, but the variety of food may be limited due to the location of the program, travel schedules, etc. Due to the group nature of the SFS experience, the cooks are unable to prepare individual meals. Although past vegan students have found our meals to be both delicious and sufficient, please be prepared to bear any additional costs associated with veganism or any special dietary requirements.”

Based on what I know about the typical Costa Rican diet, which includes lots of rice and beans, as well as fresh fruit, as opposed to that of other countries in Latin America where meat is more central, it seems relatively easy to follow a vegan diet in Costa Rica.

How can you peacefully share a kitchen space with non-vegetarians?

Moving into a place with new people, whether they are your friends or people you’ve never met before, can be hard, especially if they are new to the concept of vegetarianism. How can you explain to them what your boundaries are, and how can you respect theirs? After a year at college, living with three people, I have some advice to offer on peaceful cohabitation:

Decide what your boundaries are, within reasonable limits:

• What are you comfortable with? If you’re sharing dishes and kitchenware, make a set of rules that everyone can follow, like, “If you use my pot to cook meat in, please clean it yourself afterwards,” or “Please mark things in the fridge that aren’t vegetarian.” If your requests seem arbitrary to them, then explain, politely, why you feel that way. One analogy that I’ve found works well is telling them to act as if you’re “allergic” to animal products.

Keep communication open, and be polite:

• If something comes up that you’re not happy with, let them know. If one of my roommates forgot to clean a dish of mine after cooking with meat on it, I gently reminded her, and no one ever made the same mistake twice.

Respect their food:

• However you personally feel about meat, what they do in the kitchen is their business. Moralizing about the ethics of eating animals is not something your roommates should have to hear every time they sit down to dinner. Telling them that the steak they’re about to enjoy might shorten their lifespan isn’t likely to do anything but annoy them. There’s a time and a place for arguments, and it’s not at the dinner table.

Share!

• Nothing breeds converts like showing people how tasty animal-free food can be. If you have time, bake some vegan cookies and put them out for the people you’re living with. You can find lots of recipes online here: http://www.vrg.org/journal/index.htm#Recipes

As long as you and your roommates are willing to respect each other and open about how you’d like to keep the kitchen, living together isn’t really that difficult. It may take a few weeks for them to remember your system, but above all, be patient. A little positivity can go a long way!

Written by Rebecca Kaplan while interning with VRG

During the summer of 2011 I was going to live in Ushuaia, Argentina, the closest city to Antarctica for about 6 weeks. I would stay with a host family of four and volunteer every day at a pre-school called Dailan Kifki. Although Ushuaia was going to be my final destination, there were no direct flights to the area from the United States. So I first flew into Buenos Aires and stayed there for a couple days before departing once more for my home-to-be.

In Buenos Aires I stayed with a friend of my host’s in Ushaia. A lot about Buenos Aires reminded me of New York; drivers’ disregard for pedestrians, the subway, old museums, streets and sidewalks crowded with people waking at fast pace, and most importantly the hundreds of restaurants. In Buenos Aires I had no trouble finding food to eat. There were vegan and vegetarian restaurants aplenty where I could find meals I was used to as well as vegan versions of traditional Argentine cuisine. Two restaurants that I especially liked were called “Noble y Natural” and “Kensho” and they served all vegan food. Buenos Aires was only a stopping point, however. The big capital city would not be anything at all like the small, remote town of Ushuaia.

In Ushuaia, the food situation was a lot different than in Buenos Aires. Because Ushuaia is located in such an isolated area and the temperature is always so cold, there isn’t much produce that is grown anywhere nearby. Argentina is one of the highest meat-consuming countries in the world and, in Ushuaia especially, it was very difficult to find vegan food. But it was still possible. One of the reasons it was so hard for me to find food for myself at the beginning was because, for the first couple of weeks at least, I wasn’t looking for any. The family I was living with made me food when they ate their meals. There was always food I was able to eat, but the meals did not have much nutritional value. Most nights I would have polenta or some type of white pasta for dinner. Although the family was respectful of my wishes to not consume any animal products, it was difficult to get all of my nourishment from the food I was eating at practically every meal. I gained weight consuming empty carbs every day and I found it was hard for me to stay healthy eating only the food they made for me.

The food (even more than the language) was the toughest aspect to get used to. And not just the food itself, but the timing of the meals as well. The members of my host family didn’t eat breakfast, and if they did it was something very light. I, however, could not make it through the day without something to eat in the morning. I had to have food in my stomach before I set off for work at the pre-school. I usually had whole-wheat bread with jam. Most people I met would go about their days having eaten little or no breakfast and then around noon they’d have a light snack. The family I stayed with would come home after school/work and have a pretty heavy snack between 3 and 5pm. This is when mate, a beverage made from dried leaves of the yerba mate plant, is drunk. It’s usually consumed with crackers, cookies, pastries etc. I was usually hungry by the time I was done working, so I would have crackers with the mate. Dinner was eaten late, usually around 9 or 10pm. It was an interesting contrast to my normal eating habits in the US. I enjoyed the challenge of the new experience, but it was still extremely difficult to adjust to.

Eventually I began going shoppping by myself at the local grocery store. I’d buy almonds, bananas, apples, and other snack foods that I could bring with me to the school. But the food was not very fresh. I often could not find good quality fruits and vegetables. Almost all the fruits were badly bruised or rotten. However, in my last couple of weeks in Argentina I discovered a natural foods store called Iacasi only a few blocks away from where I lived. I was so happy I had found it. It had EVERYTHING. Dried fruits, nuts, lentils, vegan cookies, whole wheat and buckwheat pasta, candies, I even found some dulce de soja (the vegan version of dulce de leche) which tasted just as good as the real thing. I was finally able to find healthy food. The only problem was that it was expensive so I could only get a few items at a time with the money I had. The health food store became my haven for a while. I regret not having found it sooner. I probably could have stayed healthier in Argentina had I been able to chose my own food from the start. My experience in Ushuaia, though challenging, gave me a lot more courage to advocate for myself when it comes to food. I realized that I shouldn’t rely too heavily on others and that I should be the one taking control of my diet. Though there were not too many good options for me, I still gained a lot of knowledge
about Argentine culture and its foods (even the kinds I didn’t get to eat).

For three weeks of the summer of 2010 I stayed in Heredia, Costa Rica. Through a program called CPI (Centro Panamericano de Idiomas), I lived with a family and attended classes at a school for five hours a day. Before I started, I filled out a questionnaire with information about medications, allergies, living habits, etc. to determine which family to live with would be the best fit for me. There was also a section about food allergies and restrictions which included the option to select “vegetarian.” I called the school ahead of time to check to see if it was possible to put “vegan” on the sheet. I talked to the people in charge of the school. They said there had been other vegans who had come to the program before and that they would let the family know about my diet. They assured me that it would be more than possible to have them cook vegan meals for me. It seemed like it would all work out perfectly.

The first day I arrived, the family I was going to be living with presented me with lots of food as a way of welcoming me. Unfortunately, none of the food I was offered was vegan. I felt rude refusing their offers, but I was also nervous that the school had not actually informed them of my dietary restrictions. My Spanish skills at the time were not very strong and I had very little confidence in my abilities, so it was a bit of a challenge to communicate with them. Eventually, I was able to make clear that I did not eat anything that came from animals. They asked me if I was a vegetarian. I told them I was, but that I also did not eat dairy or eggs. They understood. They thought it was weird, but they respected it.

The grandmother was the one who made the meals for everyone in the house. She was very kind and always assured me that the dishes were vegetarian. The meals I had while I was there were always delicious. The food was simple. I had black beans and rice just about every day. I ate some type of fruit (usually mango, papaya or pineapple) with every meal. There were lots of vegetables, great coffee, and most of the bread in their house was vegan. There were almost always tortillas and pico de gallo to go with the black beans and rice, so I often just made myself mini burritos.

When I wanted a snack after school there were mini convenience stores nearby that had nuts, chips, dried fruits, or other snack-type foods to munch on. I never got too hungry and I liked to save my appetite for when I got home because there was always a nice meal waiting for me. Sometimes I went out to eat with the friends I made from the school. I could always find something to eat at restaurants. Most had French fries, beans, rice, vegetables, chips, salsa and soups that I could eat, but I still always checked and double-checked with the waiters about the ingredients. Usually I just said I was a vegetarian, but that I was also allergic to dairy and eggs which made things a lot easier.

I think that even if I hadn’t been in an organized program, I still would have been able to find and make myself a variety of meals in Costa Rica. The food seemed really simple to me. Of course, since I didn’t prepare my own food, there’s no way I can be completely sure that the food the family made for me was completely vegan or if they added anything extra for flavor. I don’t know for certain that they understood the extent of the strictness of my diet. I’ll never know. I can just be content in their efforts to make me feel comfortable in their home. That’s really all I care about. I’d like to believe and I DO believe that my diet remained completely vegan throughout that entire stay.

Tips on remaining vegan in a foreign country

• Be optimistic. You’ve probably heard countless stories about people who have been “unable” to remain vegan or vegetarian in certain situations abroad. Dont get discouraged before you even try. Go into it with an open mind. It may be difficult, but it is possible.
• Speak up! Ask about ingredients. Don’t be afraid to tell people what you can and can’t eat. If you are going somewhere English is not spoken, learn (or write down) the words for eggs, milk, butter, cheese, dairy, meat, animal fat, chicken, beef, pork, gelatin, etc. in the language of your destination.
• Bring along some of your own food. You probably want to pack foods that travel well, such as granola bars, crackers, or nuts. It’s always good to have extra snacks in case it becomes difficult to find food you want.
• Use the internet. Search for vegan/vegetarian friendly restaurants and grocery stores near the area in which you will be staying. Plan out ahead of time how you are going to get there and pay for your food.