National chains with Veg food?
Rick/Donna Garrett
Hi all,
Does anyone know of national chain resturants that have veggie food on their menu?
I'm really not looking for the run of the mill salad bar..you can find them anywhere.
Thanks for any help,
Rick and Donna
allen schubert
Check out the World Guide to Vegetarianism:
http://www.veg.org/veg/Guide/
Tucked away in there is a guide to fast food restaurants.
Julie Wolf
> Does anyone know of national chain resturants that have veggie food on their menu?
> I'm really not looking for the run of the mill salad bar..you can find them anywhere.
> Thanks for any help,
> Rick and Donna
Why Taco Bell of course. They don't put lard in their beans. I like the
bean burrito with lettuce. It is way cheap.
gardenia
jw...@fiat.gslis.utexas.edu (Julie Wolf) wrote:
>Rick/Donna Garrett (rgar...@iquest.net) wrote:
>> Hi all,
>> Does anyone know of national chain resturants that have veggie food on their menu?
>> I'm really not looking for the run of the mill salad bar..you can find them anywhere.
>Why Taco Bell of course. They don't put lard in their beans. I like the
>bean burrito with lettuce. It is way cheap.
Friday's has veggie burgers (but ovo-lacto, not vegan). I go to Olive
Garden where I have actually read the chef's recipes so I can make
sure what I wanted is vegan. They have 2-3 pasta dishes (that rotate)
that are vegan, as well as their vegan minestrone soup. I also ask
them to cook the breadsticks for me with no garlic butter on it. They
are always gracious in honoring my requests.
I am actually getting better at discussing menus and what I need from
the kitchen with either the chefs or the managers (especially when
servers look at my blankly!). I was in Bennigan's and they had
*nothing* I could eat but a salad (not even any fat free dressings
that were vegan!). I asked the server, then the manager, if I could
please have a dry baked potato with a side of stir-fried veggies. I
got it! and it was *yummy*!!
Barb
aka gardenia AND BarbWire <who always believes the customer should be
pleased cuz her mommy is a server at Disney World>
allen schubert
rgar...@iquest.net (Rick/Donna Garrett) wrote:
>Hi all,
>Does anyone know of national chain resturants that have veggie food on their menu?
>I'm really not looking for the run of the mill salad bar..you can find them anywhere.
>Thanks for any help,
>Rick and Donna
Okay...here is the entire article from World Guide to Vegetarianism
(http://www.veg.org/veg/Guide/USA/Restaurant_Chains.html):
----------------------------------
World Guide to Vegetarianism
Restaurant Chains
USA
Many thanks to the North American Vegetarian Society (NAVS) and
the Vegetarian Resource Group
(VRG) for much of the following information. Restaurant chains
marked with are ones for which
almost all information was obtained from Michael Keevican's
article 'What's In Fast Food?' from the
VRG's Vegetarian Journal.
These restaurant chains are by no means vegetarian, they are
just listed here to make you aware of
what is, or what may soon be, available to you in fast food
restaurants, and also what is to be
avoided.
Applebee's
It seems that Applebee's employees often mistakenly
represent non-vegetarian food as being
vegetarian. These are some of the non-vegetarian items
which they often say are vegetarian:
Caesar salad (anchovies), spinach triple stack (beef fat),
brunch potatoes/fries (beef fat),
soups (beef or chicken fat), rice pilaf/mexi-rice (beef or
chicken fat).
Vegetarian items: spinach triple stack without the brunch
potatoes or fries, low fat veggie
quesadillas (grilled with Pam instead of butter, can be
vegan if ordered without cheese &
sourcream), quesadillas without the bacon, the Garden
vegetable soup is the ONLY soup that
does NOT contain any animal fat, breadsticks with marinara
sauce (breadsticks contain milk
protein), vegie patch pasta without the chicken, vegetable
stir fry, nachos without chili.
Their pastas contain lactic acid, almost all desserts
contain gelatin.
Salad dressings: Oriental contains chicken fat, Fat Free
Honey Mustard Dressing contains
whey, Caesar contains anchovy paste, Reduced Calorie
Italian should be vegan, but check.
Arby's
Vegan items: Baked Potato, Potato Cakes, Apple Turnover,
Blueberry Turnover, Cherry
Turnover, Chocolate Syrup, Jamocha Syrup, Side Salad, Lite
Italian dressing, Sub Dressing,
Arby's Sauce.
They are presently testing vegetable pita pockets which
contain broccoli, carrots, cauliflower,
and celery.
Their french fries, which would otherwise be vegan, may be
deep fried in the same oil as
non-vegetarian items. Their buns contain eggs or milk
derivatives. The milkshakes contain
animal gelatin. The cheese contains animal rennet.
Au Bon Pain
Nutritional information is available at each location.
Vegan items: plain, cinnamon, onion, and sesame bagels,
large garden and the small garden
salads
Vegetarian items: vegetarian soups, muffins, and danishes.
None of the breads are vegan.
Baskin Robbins
The Ices are vegan and they're excellent. The sugar cones,
plain cones, and waffle cones
are also all vegan.
According to the VRG, the Sorbets are vegan, but counter
labels indicate otherwise.
Bob's Big Boy
Decent selection for vegetarians, but limited for vegans.
Vegetarian items: Garden Lasagna, french fries, onion
rings, baked potatoes, and coleslaw.
Bruegger's
Very good bagels, almost all of which are vegan. Also
serve a very good thick hummus and
make a garden vegetable sandwich. Have nutrition cards,
with ingredients, for some items.
Burger King
The Veggie Burger is now being marketed only in one store
in Berkley California, and in one
town in New York state. Call Burger King's "customer
comment hotline" at 1-800-YES-1-800
and ask to have it made available in your area.
At this moment all Burger Kings sell a vegetarian Whopper,
which is just a regular Whopper
with the meat pattie removed. Beware, the bun may contain
lard, so ask at the restaurant you
are at before ordering. Vegans hold the cheese and mayo.
This whopper is not on the menu,
but they have a button for it on their cash registers.
Vegan items: Mushroom topping, Barbecue Dipping sauce,
French Fries, Tater Tenders, Side
Salad, Newman's Own Olive Oil and Vinegar Dressing,
Newman's Own Reduced Calorie Light
Italian Dressing, Newman's Own French Dressing.
Onion rings contain whey. The cherry and apple pies
contain casein. The Snickers Ice Cream
Bar contains gelatin. The oat bran bun contains dairy
products. Their bagels contain egg
whites.
California Pizza Kitchen
Fantastic cheeseless pizza (non-vegan): Roasted eggplant
with sun-dried tomatos, garlic and
fresh spinach on a whole wheat crust, served with a light
honey-mustard dressing. None of
their pizza crusts are vegan, as they all contain dairy
products of some sort. Only one size:
individual. Pastas, salads. The Tuscan Bean Soup is made
without meat stock. Smoke-free.
Carl's Jr
French fries, onion rings, zucchini and other fried foods
at are cooked in vegetable oil.
Their onion rings and zucchini contain dairy.
Vegan items: breadsticks, hot dog bun, plain bun, flour
tortilla, English muffin, and kaiser bun.
Chi-Chi's
Soybean oil is used to prepare the refried beans and other
deep-fried items.
Vegan: Chips and Salsa, Vegetable Chajita.
'Vegetarian': Cheese Nachos, Guacamole, Chili Con Queso,
Vegetable and Spinach
Quesadillas, Cheese and Onion Enchiladas, Mexican Fried
Ice Cream, and Mexican Salad.
Most of their cheeses contain animal rennet, but their
Pepperjack cheese does not.
Meat products are fried in the same oil as vegetarian
products.
Chick-fil-A
French fries are fried in the same grease as their
chicken.
Chili's
"Tex-Mex. Vegans can ask for the vegetarian entrees
without the cheese. All 12 side dishes
are vegetarian and about half are vegan. The ones I've
been to in the Washington, DC Metro
area have been very obliging about answering questions
about content and making
substitutions."
Churches Fried Chicken
Vegetarian: coleslaw, french fries, okra, mashed potatoes
without gravy.
They fry their vegetable products in the same oil as their
chicken nuggets.
Cracker Barrel
Vegetarian: grits, coleslaw, french fries, onion rings,
fried okra, fried apples, corn on the cob,
baked potatoes, baked sweet potatoes, sourdough bread
(vegan).
The fried foods are not prepared in separate oil from the
meat products.
Dairy Queen/Brazier
French fries are fried in vegetable oil, and they don't
deep-fry anything else.
Garden Salad contains eggs, but the side salad is vegan.
Del Taco
Bean burritos, quesadillas, and tostadas are vegan if
requested with no cheese. Refried
beans are all sauces are vegan. One of their main
attractions, "The Works", is a vegetarian
burrito (the rice contains no chicken stock).
Denny's
Vegan: fresh fruits, garden salad (request no eggs).
French fries and onion rings are cooked in the same oil as
meat products.
'Vegetarian': grilled cheese sandwich, veggie cheese melt
sandwich.
Many of their cheeses contain animal rennet.
Domino's Pizza
Domino's has 4 pizza crust recipes which individual stores
can choose from. Only one of
them is vegan. The rest contain whey, and may contain egg,
butter, buttermilk, cheese, and
other dairy derivatives.
The pizza sauce is vegan.
Dunkin' Donuts
All of their doughnuts contain egg whites and whey. Oddly
enough, the bavarian cream filling
IS vegan.
El Pollo Loco
Have a vegetarian bean burrito which is vegan if ordered
without cheese. The corn and flour
tortillas are both vegan.
Other vegetarian items: corn, potato salad, coleslaw, side
salad, churros.
Fresh Choice
All-you-can-eat salad bar, pasta bar, breads, fresh fruit,
desserts, etc. Unfortunately the
vegan items seem to be disappearing. All their pasta
contains eggs and the marinara sauce
surprisingly is not vegan. Their nutritional information
pamphlet lists all menu items and
indicates which are vegan.
Hardee's
Vegan items: French fries, Side Salad.
Jack In The Box
Have a pamphlet which lists the ingredients for all their
products.
The shortening on their griddle is vegetable oil based but
contains natural butter flavor. The
shortening for the deep fryers contains no animal
products. As a rule they fry French fries
and onion rings separately from the meats, but this is not
strictly enforced.
Vegan items: hashbrowns, french fries, guacamole, side
salad, English muffins, hamburger
bun, sesame breadsticks, tortilla bowl, pita bread, gyro
bread.
Vegetarian items: seasoned curly fries (dairy), onion
rings (whey and egg), croissants
(dairy), sourdough bread (dairy), cinnamon churritos
(dairy), reduced-calorie French dressing
(yogurt).
Not vegetarian: apple turnover, cheesecake, secret sauce.
Unknown: low-calorie Italian dressing.
KFC
Vegan items: Corn on the cob (order without butter),
French fries.
Some stores carry a garden salad which is vegan.
The breads all contain egg products. Mashed potatoes
contain butter and milk. The garden
rice, green beans, mean greens, red beans and rice, and
BBQ baked beans all contain meat
or meat flavorings.
Little Caesars
Has a food guide for vegetarians which includes
information on ingredients and lists menu
items which vegetarians and vegans can choose.
Vegan items: Pizza crust & sauce, Crazy Bread (order
without butter/margarine and cheese),
Crazy Sauce, Veggie Sandwich (order without cheese),
Tossed Salad, Greek Salad (order
without cheese), Italian dressing, Greek dressing, Lite
Italian dressing.
Presently most Little Caesars use microbial or vegetable
rennet in their cheese, but the Dallas,
Greensboro, Atlanta, and Chicago area Little Caesars use
animal rennet.
Long John Silver's
Vegan items: Con Cobbette (order without butter) Salad,
Lite Italian Dressing.
The fries and hush puppies are prepared in the same oil as
the meats.
McDonald's
They are testing two "non-meat" entrees, including pasta
with a meatless marinara sauce.
The french fries are pre-soaked in beef-tallow. This is
listed in the ingredients as "natural
flavoring".
Vegan items: Barbeque Sauce, Sweet and Sour Sauce, Side
Salad, Lite Vinaigrette, Hash
Browns, Grape Jam, Strawberry Jam, Hotcake Syrup,
Cheerios, Wheaties, Strawberry
Topping, Chocolate Flavored Syrup, Strawberry Flavored
Syrup, Vanilla Flavored Syrup,
McDonaldland cookies.
Their Red French Reduced Calorie Dressing contains
anchovies.
Their vegetarian pizza contains a derivative of hair and
the sauce contains cheese.
All three Danishes available contain gelatin.
Many McDonald's will prepare a Big Mac without meat if
requested. (The buns are vegan;
however, the special sauce contains egg yolk.)
McDonald's appears to be very interested in informing
consumers as to what is in their food
and provides information on ingredients, calories, fat,
cholesterol, and sodium. Upon request,
any of this information can be sent to you by calling
1-800-524-5900.
Pizza Hut
** Unconfirmed, but supposedly their sauces are now vegan.
Vegan items: Thin N Crispy Crust, Hand Tossed Crust. The
only vegan option: Thin N Crispy or
Hand-Tossed Crust with vegetables, no sauce or cheese.
Pan Crust and Breadsticks contain whey, Pizza sauce
contains cheese flavor and parmesan.
Their cheese is made with synthetic rennet.
If it is at all possible for them to modify items on their
menu to make them vegetarian, they will.
Ponderosa
Salad bar contains vegetables and fruits.
It seems possible to come up with a decent vegan meal at
Ponderosa.
Popeye's
Vegetarian items include: corn on the cob, coleslaw, onion
rings, apple pie.
Rax
Their beans are pre-cooked with lard, their crackers and
croutons may contain animal
shortening.
Vegan: spaghetti noodles, three bean salad (occasionally
available).
Vegetarian: rainbow rotini (egg), pasta sauce (Parmesan
cheese), buns (milk).
Red Lobster
Fries _do_ contain lard.
Round Table Pizza
Vegan: pizza dough, tomato sauce.
Their cheese is made with microbial enzymes, and not
animal rennet.
Sbarro
Vegetarian: stuffed vegetable pizza (cheese), marinara
sauce (cheese), baked ziti (egg
pasta), mostaccioli (egg pasta).
Shakey's
Vegetarian items that are deep fried are sometimes cooked
in the same oil as meats.
Skipper's
Vegan: crackers.
Vegetarian: bread and breadsticks (dairy), baked potatoes,
zucchini slices, coleslaw
(mayonnaise), onion rings (beer-based batter).
They seem very open to suggestions for new items.
Subway
All Subway franchises have available to them a no-fat
vegan burger, however they do not all
sell them. If they don't, then please ask the manager to
start selling them. Many (all?) Subway
stores in south Florida now sell them.
Vegan items: foot long sub roll (white and whole wheat),
salad.
The 4 inch buns contain egg whites.
The cheese Subway uses is made with vegetable rennet.
They will definitely try to accommodate vegetarians.
Taco Bell
Note: Many Taco Bells will now refuse to serve Bean Tacos
claiming that they are dangerous,
"the beans will ooze out and burn our hands".
An item that is currently (**July 1995) being tested, at
least in the Sacramento/Chico, California
area is the "Double Decker Taco." It's a normal taco
wrapped inside a flour tortilla, with beans
spread between them. Ordered without meat they can be
quite delicious (if the store steams
the flour tortillas long enough, otherwise they are dry
and pasty).
Vegan items: Bean Taco (order without cheese, lettuce and
tomato can be added as an
option), Nachos (order without cheese), Pintos 'n Cheese
with Red Sauce (order without
cheese), Cinamon Twists.
Also vegan?: Tostadas minus the cheese.
The soft burrito tortillas are not vegan, they contain
non-fat dry milk. The hard corn tortillas
however are vegan, as are their refried beans.
They have a "no meat" button on their cash registers which
can be applied to any menu item.
Their '7 Layer Burrito' is not vegetarian, it contains
sour cream made with gelatin, and
guacamole made with sour cream (and thus gelatin). The
rice in the 7 Layer Burrito is now
vegetarian, they have stopped making it with dehydrated
chicken meat.
Their cheese may or may not contain rennet.
They don't use lard, tropical oils, MSG, sulfites, yellow
dye #3 in any products.
Their phone number is 1-800-TACO-BELL. (Works in Canada
too.)
Taco John's
Vegan: guacamole
Vegetarian: bean burritos, nachos, Potato Ole's, tortillas
(dairy).
No lard or tropical oils are used in any products or food
preparation, but the deep-fried items
are fried in the same oil as the meat products.
Any item on the menu can be made vegetarian by
substituting beans for meat. If you are
vegan, request no cheese or sour cream.
Their cheese does not contain animal rennet.
Taco Time
Has always had a company policy of using vegetarian
refried beans, but some franchisees
go against company policy and use beans with lard, so you
still need to ask at each outlet (but
don't ask the policy breaking manager).
Vegan items: tortillas.
TGI Friday's
Vegan items: Vegetable Medley (steamed vegetables and a
roll), with no cheese, and a baked
potato instead of rice (which contains chicken base).
Have a lacto-vegetarian Garden Burger.
The rice and the cream of broccoli soup is made with
chicken stock.
They are very interested in expanding their vegetarian
selections.
Wendy's
Apparently Wendy's is test marketing a 'Veggie Burger'. It
is available at least at one location in
Wisconsin, but it's not listed on the menu, so you'll have
to ask for it and see if they have it. If
anyone gets any more info on this, please let me know.
If the 'Veggie Burger' is not available, you may be able
to order a burger without the meat.
Regular items: Vegan: french fries, baked potato, Country
Crock margarine (the small packets
do not contain whey). Vegetarian: some baked potato
toppings, vegetarian sandwich (bun
with a choice of toppings, bun contains whey), deluxe
garden salad, side salad.
Garden Spot salad bar (at all Wendy's) items: Vegan:
fruit, vegetables, French dressing,
Sweet Red French dressing, Golden Italian dressing, and
Reduced Calorie Italian dressing,
chow mein noodles. Vegetarian: fat-free French dressing
(honey), croutons (whey), Pasta
Salad (cheese, egg whites), breadsticks, cheddar chips,
coleslaw, cottage cheese, potato
salad, pudding.
SuperBar (some locations only) items: Vegan: spaghetti
sauce, rotini, pasta medley, rotini
three bean salad, three bean salad. Vegetarian: alfredo
sauce, macaroni and cheese.
Mexican Fiesta bar (some locations only) items: Vegan:
refried beans, taco chips, taco sauce,
taco shells. Vegetarian: flour tortillas (whey).
All their cheeses are made with microbial enzymes.
Megen Duffy
In article <4q2g18$l...@news0-alterdial.uu.net>, ba...@nebula.ispace.com
(gardenia) wrote:
> jw...@fiat.gslis.utexas.edu (Julie Wolf) wrote:
> >Rick/Donna Garrett (rgar...@iquest.net) wrote:
> >> Hi all,
> >> Does anyone know of national chain resturants that have veggie food
on their menu?
> >> I'm really not looking for the run of the mill salad bar..you can
find them anywhere.
>
> >Why Taco Bell of course. They don't put lard in their beans. I like the
> >bean burrito with lettuce. It is way cheap.
For us vegans, the flour shells contain whey at Taco Bell, just by the
way. Also Little Caesar's has vegan sauce and crust, so you can get
breadsticks minus cheese and butter or pizza without cheese; their veggie
veggie comes with a satisfying amount of vegetables and is pretty good.
I'm still mad that Pizza Hut is not vegan or even vegetarian...
Megen
mon...@sna.com
>> Does anyone know of national chain resturants that have veggie food
>> on their menu?
> For us vegans, the flour shells contain whey at Taco Bell, just by the
> way. Also Little Caesar's has vegan sauce and crust, so you can get
> breadsticks minus cheese and butter or pizza without cheese; their veggie
> veggie comes with a satisfying amount of vegetables and is pretty good.
> I'm still mad that Pizza Hut is not vegan or even vegetarian...
Anyone who is seriously interested in maintaining a certain level of
purity and quality should not be eating commercially prepared food in ANY
restaurant.
The ONLY way to uphold vegan or other dietary disciplines is to prepare
your own food from ingredients that you personally grow or select.
**********************************************************
Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times...keep swinging!
Megen Duffy
> Anyone who is seriously interested in maintaining a certain level of
> purity and quality should not be eating commercially prepared food in ANY
> restaurant.
>
> The ONLY way to uphold vegan or other dietary disciplines is to prepare
> your own food from ingredients that you personally grow or select.
This is, unfortunately, the truth. I wish I were lucky enough to be able
to cook at home for every meal. I doubt many people can. I think it's
still a good idea to find out where I'm more likely to get truly vegan
food, but I'm not under any delusions that the food I think is vegan
always IS vegan. One does what one can. :)
Megen
Robin Spencer
Hi Megen,
What do you mean Piza Hut is not veggie??
Try Olive Garden, they have lots of vegan/veggie stuff on thier menu.
You just have to watch the cheese they have a habbit of putting it on
everything.
Try Mr. Sub or any sub shop. Wendys usually has a decent salad bar.
...Robin spe...@netcom.ca
Dr. Mark
bas...@lark.cc.ukans.edu (Megen Duffy) wrote:
What is a "certain level?" This is the 90's, and sometimes I'm out
with my family, getting hungry, and have NOT brought anything with us.
What to do? Has anyone done rating of restaurant chains in terms of
RELATIVE levels of purity and quality? Without such a rating, for
example, our last resort is often the salad bar at Sizzler. Hey, at
least I'm honest about it.
Mark in Cherry Valley, CA
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gardenia
spe...@netcom.ca(Robin Spencer) wrote:
>Try Olive Garden, they have lots of vegan/veggie stuff on thier menu.
>You just have to watch the cheese they have a habbit of putting it on
>everything.
I et at Olive Garden quite a bit because they cater to my whims of
vegan eats. I have discovered, through trial and error, that even
their fat free dressings are ot vegan. The Honey Dijon (as I
mentioned before) has anchovies and the Italian has buttermilk
something-or-others in it. I have decided to use lemon or bring my
own. But yes, there are more selections here, than anywhere.
Barb
aka gardenia AND BarbWire <who also asks for her bread baked dry, not
wanting the garlic butter slathered on>