Karen Lim states that it is almost impossible to find low fat food in
the Far East, and that she has had to carry her own food. We recently
made an extremely tiring, long drive from Southern Florida to Seattle
(Interminable!). Nearly all of the food on the road is typical American
fast food, Wendys, McD's Subway, etc.
Actually we were surprised at what you can get at Subway. They have some
fat in their breads, but it is significantly less than most other fast
foods. They also have veggie burgers that seem fairly low in fat. I have
not been able to get their fat content by contacting them. Perhaps
someone else can. In any case, they prepare them in the microwave, and
so are not fried--at least in front of us. I would really like to learn
their fat content. But at least they don't "feel" greasy.
Wendys has baked potatoes that you can order without the fatty cheese
sauce, with vegetables on them. Forget any of their burgers, they are
all very fatty and all contain meat. If you take the cheese off of the
vegetarian subways, it is not too high in fat. But you must avoid adding
their oily dressings to them of course.
We looked for Yves products in the supermarkets back east, but had a
hard time finding them. They are available widely in Seattle, Oregon and
California. Most supermarkets had no idea what they were. Yves makes
vegetarian "sausages" and cold cuts. Many are a bit high in sodium, but
contain virtually no fat. They are all soy derived. I don't understand
why I couldn't get them back East. Perhaps I went to the wrong
supermarkets.
Most supermarkets had Gardenburgers, but I had no method of cooking them
on the road. I should have purchased a toaster or small toaster oven to
take with me in the car. I did purchase a cheap cooler and stocked that
with hotel crushed ice. That worked out fairly well.
For those who must depend on restaurants (in any country--except for
California!) it is VERY difficult to be VLF vegetarian. I can only guess
how many arguments occur on long trips! On the plus side I did lose
about 5 lbs.
Mike Rosenblatt
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