Travel days can be a little bit more challenging. Airports still have pretty limited options, although we can always find something, even if it's a fruit cup from Starbucks. It's a good idea to bring our own snacks, but when that just doesn't happen, check out the VeganXpress app. I consider it $1.99 well spent. When you click on the Menu Guide, you get a long list of common fast food and chain restaurants. Click on whatever happens to be near you in the airport, and you'll get a list of all the vegan options at that place.
Example: At the Auntie Annes's Pretzels in our terminal yesterday, we could have gotten five different varieties of pretzels. We didn't, but we could have. Burger King offers vegan fries, some vegan breads, vegetables, apple fries, Oreo cookie crumbles, and a garden salad without cheese or croutons. Again, not terribly tempting, but in a pinch we wouldn't have starved. We settled on green smoothies from Jamba Juice, and a bag of popped corn chips. It was a short flight.
The drive home from the Albuquerque "Sunport" was longer than the flight, so we stopped at the Whole Foods in Santa Fe for provisions. Whole Foods is way more amazing than I've given it credit for. We don't have one in Taos, so I rarely get to wander the aisles, exploring a bigger world of vegan delights than I'm used to at home. For me, this was almost as much fun as our time in Vegas...
We kept this Whole Foods visit short, just picking up a few things to get us through one dinner and breakfast, and we needed a snack. We found everything we wanted, plus smart, friendly, helpful people. We got some hot soup and bread from the cafe section, and some fruit and veggies. Easy enough. For the last part of the drive home, I spotted the Earth Balance Cheese Puffs I've been seeing ads for in magazines. Yes, vegan cheese puffs! And no, they do not taste like Cheetos - or look like them either. No scary orange color. Yuck. They do taste very, very good, and cheesy. I would like them to be just a little bit saltier, but that's probably just me.
The other snack we got was a ready made BBQ Chick'n Wrap, made with Beyond Meat Chick'n. I've been hearing some buzz about Beyond Meat, but this was my first sampling of it. It was really good, and also kind of scary. The Chick'n looked, tasted, and felt so real I almost couldn't eat it. After one bite I re-checked the label to make sure I'd picked up the right thing. Once I was convinced, I dug in and enjoyed it. I don't know how they make soy and pea protein into a faux meat that I'm positive could fool the most devoted animal-eater, but they do. Go get some and let me know what you think.
Back in Taos today, I'm unpacking and all that, and also planning for our next trip. We leave for the VidaVeganCon in Portland in just about four weeks. I can't wait! And even though I know we'll be well fed there, I'm still going to take along a few snacks for the trip. I'll also find a Whole Foods when we get there, because well, it's all about the food. And the fun. And the food...