My family has a running joke these days about how I will only eat at the Garden Grille. Not true! I recently had one of the most delicious heirloom tomato salads ever and a great grilled pizza @ Bacaro.

But it can be a real challenge eating out at restaurants when you’re a vegetarian. Here are 2 of (what I say are) the biggest restaurant related issues facing any veggie-t today:

1. Going to restaurants where they make it nearly impossible to order anything without meat. These are the places that love to put bacon in everything, including their soups and salads. It really gets interesting when you ask if they can leave out the bacon (or ham or whatever) and they tell you it’s pre-made and therefore impossible. Yeah, thanks. 

2. The only thing worse than going to a restaurant with few to no vegetarian options on their menu? Breaking bread with someone who asks you WHY you don’t eat chicken (or red meat or pork or turkey for that matter) and then, gets upset when you tell them why. This is partially my fault though. Before I smartened up, I used to launch into a whole spiel about documentaries I’d watched and the abc’s of corporate farming. Yada yada yada. Eventually, I realized that doing that only made people feel weird about ordering and then, eating their chicken, burger or BLT in front of me, so I stopped. Now, I just say ‘it’s a personal choice’. Lame? You bet, but it keeps the peace. It also keeps people inviting me out. 

So, if you have a vegetarian in your life, be kind to them because they are fighting a battle that you may not have been aware of. Until now. 😉