People frequently ask me how I manage to eat vegan food while traveling. It isn’t always easy to find vegan street food and it can be disappointing to not have an opportunity to try a traditional meal. The easiest part of vegan travel is the flight, 1. because the food is delicious and 2. special meals get served first!
Any flight that includes a meal will accommodate to the passengers needs. In the past year and a half of being vegan, we’ve been on dozens of flights and where there was food, there were vegan options! All it takes was a quick phone call a few days in advance and they will provide you with the food you request free of charge.
Obviously, different airlines have different standards. On our Chinese flights, there was a little less creativity in the meal. There was no vegan butter and the dessert was a simple fruit salad. On our more recent Singapore Airlines flight, on the other hand, there was not one but two meals with a different fancy dessert each time.
Earlier, I mentioned that airlines would accommodate your dietary needs which is only slightly misleading. The vegan meal is often also the same one that is served to vegetarians, people with a gluten allergy and sometimes also halal/kosher. On fancier flights, each category will have a different meal but you pay for what you get.
So once you make the call and book your meal, all you need to do is get on the plane and wait for the flight attended to come by before take-off to double check with you about the meal. If you want to be extra sure, you can ask at check in if it is in their system. Sometimes, mistakes happen but if you let them know two hours in advance it can still be salvageable!
Last tip: don’t expect your vegan meal to be particularly healthy. Sometimes you will get fancy steamed veggies but you may also get fried rice, saucy pasta or a perfectly roasted eggplant smothered in oil – which was one of my favorite and most fattening flight meal ever!
Don’t forget, when you get a special meal, they bring it to you first – with the exception of first class. No more waiting hungrily in row 50 after hours of travel with delicious food smells filling the stuffy plane! Prepare for angry stares by hungry meat-eating passengers. But as a vegan, you’re probably already used to it 😉