Trifter

Whether you’re a full fledged vegetarian or just love the taste the vegetarian fare, it can be a challenge to find vegetarian friendly restaurants when you’re traveling or you’ve recently moved to a new location. Many vegetarian and vegetarian friendly restaurants are small, independent establishments that may not be listed on the internet or widely advertised. This can make it a real challenge to find them. Here are some tips on finding the best vegetarian restaurants and vegetarian friendly restaurants when you’re in a new area:

Get guidance from a health food store or natural food market

If the area you’re in has a natural food market such as Whole Foods or a health food store, ask the people who work there if they can recommend a vegetarian friendly restaurant. These types of businesses often employ people who are vegetarians or enjoy eating in vegetarian restaurants and can give you the inside scoop. They can be an excellent resource for pointing out small, lesser known vegetarian eateries and cafes.

Look for throw-away, college oriented newspapers with advertising

If you’re in an area that has a large college of university, there’s probably a throw away newspaper oriented towards the college crowd. Small vegetarian friendly restaurants often advertise in these publications since there are so many vegetarian students in colleges and universities. See if you can get a copy of one of these publications at a local bookstore or from a distribution box on a street corner. When you get it, look carefully through the restaurant ads for vegetarian friendly restaurants. Another option is to ask a college student for a recommendation.

The yellow pages

Just because a vegetarian restaurant isn’t listed in the yellow pages doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Many of the best vegetarian restaurants are small and are only known by word of mouth. Plus, it can sometimes be hard to tell if a restaurant is vegetarian friendly from an ad. Check to see if there are any obvious vegetarian restaurants by looking for a vegetarian subheading under the restaurant section. But don’t assume that just because there are no listings the area doesn’t have vegetarian restaurants.

Go to Vegdining.com

This site has over 1,000 vegetarian friendly restaurants and food stores around the world listed by location. Another similar site is vegeats.com. If you’ll be traveling to a new area and want to find the best vegetarian restaurants, visit these sites for guidance.

Look for ethnic restaurants

Many ethnic restaurants are vegetarian friendly, particularly Thai, Chinese, Indian, Middle Eastern, and Ethiopian restaurants. If you can’t find a vegetarian restaurant, give some of the ethnic restaurants a call and see if they can accommodate your needs.

Sometimes finding the best vegetarian restaurants is just a question of knowing where to look. Why not give these resources a try next time you’re looking for vegetarian food?