5 Delicious Vegetarian Foods from Around the World

Indonesia - Nasi Campur

Traveling as a vegetarian around the world has its ups and downs – but that’s half of the fun really. There are the fun and often ridiculous conversations as you try to communicate the delicate specifications of your diet without insulting the other parties involved, their quizzical looks, and then the food you are ultimately served…sometimes meaty-tastic despite your best efforts.

Though there are challenges, it’s also possible to eat some of the tastiest food of your life traveling. Dishes you could never conceive of, others you may already love but you’ve never had it quite like this.

So travel around the world with me as we look at five delicious vegetarian dishes even the meat-eaters will love.

Indonesia: Nasi Campur

Indonesia - Nasi CampurNasi campur is a rice based dish throughout Indonesia and even into Malaysia, Singapore, and other nearby regions. This is not an inherently vegetarian dish in all of these regions – the components of nasi campur vary widely.

The Balinese version I recommend for vegetarians can be found throughout Bali and consists of a skewered tempeh, tofu, a light tomato sauce and some flash-fried greens – all served over a fluffy bed of white rice. It’s so good I ate it nearly everyday – sometimes twice in a day!

India: Thali Sampler Platter

India - ThaliThe Indian thali is as diverse and varied as India itself and every version is worth a taste! The thali is like a sample platter of the best dishes from that region; you traditionally get small ramekins filled with little tastes of a curry dish, a dahl or two, some veggies, something spicy, and coconut paste (to cut the spice!). Add in a pile of rice, a chapatti, and a lime wedge and you’re all set for a filling meal.

Filling you may ask? Oh yes, the little dishes are a decoy– after you order the thali servers patrol the room with huge vats and offer unlimited refills! India is a mostly vegetarian country and that means the thali is inherently vegetarian unless you’re in the far northern areas of India.

China: Delicious Dumplings

China - DumplingsChina is a difficult country as a vegetarian because the country really embraces a diversity of meats and thinks of some more as a seasoning than an actual animal product. That being said, it is possible to eat well in China and dumplings are the answer to your prayers.

Vegetable Chinese dumplings are stuffed with minced vegetables and garlic, steamed in wooden boxes, and served to your table piping hot – soy sauce optional since they’re normally well seasoned and tasty enough to eat without adornment! Make sure you know how to order vegetarian food, better yet, have your hotel right it down in Chinese characters, and you’ll be all set to enjoy some delicious dumplings in China.

Bosnia: Spinach Burek and Yogurt

Bosnia - BurekThe Balkans are not a particularly vegetarian-friendly region so this spinach burek is a tasty and timely option for vegetarians traveling through the region. The philo dough is light and crispy, the spinach insides seasoned and spread liberally throughout. The dish is a cousin to the Greek spanakopita but a lighter option.

Throughout Bosnia you’ll have the option of purchasing a small cup of plain yogurt to accompany the burek – do it! The tart yogurt flavor sets off the flavors inside the spinach burek and takes what could be a forgettable snack and transforms it into a tasty street eat you shouldn’t miss if you find yourself in the region.

Thailand: Pad See Ew

Thailand - Pad See EwPad see ew ranks in my top three favorite Thai dishes – and the good news is that it’s easy to make as a vegetarian staple while you travel through Thailand. The dish, which literally translates as stir-fried with soy sauce, features the wide fat Thai rice noodles and Chinese broccoli. Those are the basic ingredients and if you’re an egg-eating vegetarian they’ll add that in for a nice dose of protein and flavor.

A lot of Thai dishes can be made vegetarian as long as you can communicate that to the restaurant. If you’re traveling off the beaten path in Thailand make sure you have memorize some basic food words!

Traveling as a Vegetarian

These five dishes comprise some of my favorite memories from my foodie travels around the world. Being vegetarian is one of those things I have embraced as a way to enhance my travels – I often try out some dishes meat-eaters overlook and in a pinch I use my phrase-book to have the cook create something special out of his imagination – always something new and different.

Sometimes clear communication is simply impossible though, and if you’re hitting the road I recommend flexibility and a smile as your traveling companions as you sample these and the many other tasty vegetarian dishes the world has to offer.

12 Hours in Paris – What to do on a long layover?

What should you do if you’re stuck in an airport for half a day? Well, firstly, let’s dispel the myth about whether you can or can’t leave an airport during a layover. The rules are that unless you’re jumping from one plane straight onto another, all airports will allow you to leave their premises between flights.

With this in mind, so long as you’ve got enough time to play with, there’s nothing to stop you heading out and enjoying some sights and sounds that don’t involve duty free shops and ‘last calls’.

Visitors with a long layover in Paris (the city has two international airports – Charles de Gaulle and Paris Orly) have an added incentive to get out of the terminal and explore. On your doorstep is one of the world’s most visually stunning and culturally captivating urban metropolises.

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How to Easily Pack Clothes in Your Backpack

Packing your clothes in your backpack may not sound like the most challenging thing in the world to do, but ask anyone who’s done it and undoubtedly they’ll admit it’s one of those things that’s harder than you would think.

For the last couple of years I followed the methods on the OneBag site which worked OK, but not perfectly. The bundle method promoted over there is certainly effective, but I found that in a backpack, your bundle of clothes shifted around and made a mess of things.

I’m getting ready for another trip to Morocco and during a trip to my local REI I came across the Eagle Creek Pack-It Folder.  I had walked by them before and passed them as nothing more than a gimmick, but after one too many trips with my clothes stretching out because I packed them too tight, I decided to give it a shot.  It had great reviews online and was on sale for about $20. Score an REI coupon code for further savings on this pack and other great finds.

I’m hooked.

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Big Bad Quito

“You’ll get robbed” they said.
“Quito is a hell hole full of mugs, low life’s and degenerates.”
“You’ll be lucky to leave with both kidneys intact, let alone your laptop.”

Everyone seems to have an opinion about Quito, and it’s generally not pleasant. ‘The most dangerous place in South America’ had been bandied about while I was in Ecuador, and based on what I had heard, I was pleasantly surprised to get out alive.

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Digital Nomad Lifestyle – Can you work & travel?

It’s 7:30am and the town of Boquete, Panama is just starting to wake up. But there I am, first up in the hostel, sitting with my MacBook Pro on my lap in the open-air dining area. I’m enjoying the refreshing breeze coming through the walkway, but more importantly I’m writing a client back in the states who has no idea I’m in Central America on a what I call a semi-holiday.

I had been wanting to visit Panama for a while but this trip was designed to be equal parts enjoyment and work. A test, of sorts.

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Your Path to Earning Serious Airline Miles & Free Travel

Frequent Flyer MasterHopefully you’re familiar with super-traveler & blogger extraordinaire Chris Guillebeau but if not, now’s the time to start.

But this post isn’t just to kiss his butt, it’s to share his great eBook titled Frequent Flyer Master.

I don’t buy many eBooks because I’m one of those stubborn fools who would rather spend 30 hours researching things myself than pay somebody $5 to teach me them in one hour.  Silly, I know but I’m starting to open up to the idea and have purchased a few products like this over the past few months.

Despite thinking I knew all there was to know about mileage programs and reward travel I went ahead and ordered Frequent Flyer Master after reading Chris’ 25,000 mile (one domestic round-trip airline ticket) guarantee.  Earn an extra 25,000 miles after reading it or he’ll gladly refund your money.  That’s a good enough guarantee to me and 25,000 miles is well worth the cost of the program.

Within two months of purchasing it I’m due to receive about 90,000 frequent miles and have only taken one flight (which I ironically didn’t earn any miles on due to my poor attention to booking details).
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Melbourne as a Backpacker

This post is supposed to be about doing Melbourne, Australia (my home town) as a backpacker. I wanted to write something on how those of us with itchy feet who want to be travelling but can’t (work commitments, saving money etc) can still do the little things to get that ‘on the road’ feeling back, by seeing our cities through new eyes. I wanted to do all the things I would do as a backpacker, but never do as a resident. So I did the research, got the maps, charged the camera and was ready to hit the town when I realised that Melbourne, while a spectacular city to live in, just isn’t that great as a backpacker.

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Difficulties Traveling as a Vegetarian

Last year I was visiting Beijing. For my last dinner before an early train trip to Mongolia in the morning I went out to small restaurant around the corner from my hotel. Chinese food is amazing, in no small part because of the creative titles given to their dishes. There was pimple soup, wonderous pork belly and explosion of tofu & spices to name a few. As a vegetarian, I opted for the later.

“I’ll just have the ‘explosion of tofu & spices’, there’s no meat in that dish is there?”

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Traveling Without a Guidebook

I‘m writing this post in Northern Thailand, the city of Pai to be exact.  I find myself quite inspired by this trip I’m taking along with resident guest poster Shane Brown.  See we showed up to Thailand with only one thing planned, to rent motorbikes and ride through the northern mountains from Chiang Mai to Pai, along the Mae Hong Son loop.  Other than that, we didn’t care much about what we did, where we stayed, what we ate, or how we would manage any of it.

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Some Destinations Aren’t as Glorious as Advertised

I’m so sick of the travel section of most mainstream newspapers. The Saturday ‘Traveller’ section of my local paper is pretty much pages and pages of advertisements thinly disguised as destination reviews. I’ve noticed that it’s pretty rare to find a less than flattering review written journalists that travel as ‘guests’ of the tour groups, government tourism departments or airlines that they are writing about. They might point out one or two minor niggles but I’d say 95% of the content in those articles are absolutely glowing reviews of the service or company in question.

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