I have a love hate relationship with chain restaurants.

On one hand, they are killing independent eateries and making our culture and palates boring, on the other, they make it easy to know exactly what you’re getting.

This makes it especially convenient for those of us that are Vegan or have food allergies. You can do a little bit of homework and go to any chain with a group of meat eaters and not have it be drama and start the whole, “Why are you vegan?” and “I sure couldn’t do it!” conversation, every time you go out.

You find out your family or friends want to go to Chili’s. Do a quick, quiet web search on your phone and you’re set to order as if it’s no big deal.
Here is a listing of what’s vegan at some chain restaurants:
http://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2008issue2/veggieRestaurantChains.htm

If it’s not a chain, I sometimes call in advance and if I can’t do that I may step away from the group to talk to a server alone for a sec. I just don’t want to play 20 Questions with the server with the whole group listening and thinking I’m so difficult to go out with.

The longer you’re vegan the better you’ll get at knowing what to mention.
Here are some important ones- Is the rice made with chicken stock? Please don’t put cheese on top. Is there fish sauce?
And- Say this word with me- Manteca. It means Lard and it’s the most important word you’ll ever learn if you wanna order Mexican food.
Here’s a conversation I have a lot-
“Is this made with Lard?”
“No.”
“Manteca?”
“Yes, made with Manteca.”

Oh, and if you go to a place like Buca Di Beppo and it’s family style, make sure you don’t get stuck splitting the bill for everyone else’s plates you couldn’t eat.

Photo by- http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaeltflickrpics/