Pros and cons of eating in non-vegan restaurants

How do our dining-out choices impact the vegan movement and our local communities?

Remember the days of not being able to eat anything at a family dinner or friendly get-together because there was actually nothing on the menu for vegans?

If you are looking to dine out in a nonvegan restaurant chain in 2022, you are absolutely swamped by choice. Take your pick from pizza, fast food burgers, quick-grab savoury pastries, ready-made sandwiches, sushi, soup, and pretty much any other type of cuisine you can imagine. It is becoming uncommon for a mainstream restaurant NOT to offer a plant-based menu in addition to the nonvegan food.

Of course, this overwhelming choice for vegan consumers has been an incredible development these past few years, but are we also acknowledging the downside of so much plant-based food being at our fingertips? Let's start this discussion by looking at the pros of the vegan revolution of mainstream restaurant menus.

It has never been easier to eat vegan and this is definitely a good thing. When it is not an enormous struggle to find food, remaining committed to veganism and convincing other people to give it a go becomes simpler. We no longer have to get up an extra half hour early before a long train journey in order to make sandwiches for the trip! We can grab a takeaway sandwich and snack at the train station. We no longer have to feel like social outcasts and can fit in with other people's plans. Remember the days of not being able to eat anything at a family dinner or friendly get-together because there was actually nothing on the menu for vegans? I used to meet up with friends for drinks after they had all eaten because the constant comments about me not eating were too much to handle. Now, we have a mountain of places to suggest when we get asked where we should all go for a meal. It can be more affordable to dine out as a vegan these days. Now that budget and moderately priced food chains have vegan options, us plant eaters don't have to solely rely on independent eateries where prices are often a little bit higher. This is good news if you are feeding a family on not a lot of money.

But how about the cons of vegan food being everywhere and more affordable? Is there a downside? There is always a risk of being served non-vegan food in error when you dine in an establishment that isn't completely plant-based. It has probably happened to a lot of us and is understandably upsetting if it gets to the point of eating the food before you realise the mistake. The way restaurant workers

are forced to serve huge quantities of food under stressful conditions means we will often see cases of vegan/non-vegan mix ups with orders. Another downside of spending our hard-earned cash in non-vegan restaurants is the fact we are financially supporting businesses that still do contribute to animal suffering. The only sure-fire way to break that cycle is to dine with independently owned vegan restaurants.

Getting excited about cheap vegan food in massive chain restaurants is understandable but we need to remember that large corporations often have bad track records when it comes to looking after employees. If your vegan nuggets seem like a good price, you can be certain that someone somewhere is not making a lot of money to be involved in their production. Fast food workers all over the planet have been struggling for decades to get wages raised to an acceptable level. Another downside of spending money with multinational eateries is the money you spend leaves your community forever. When we dine with independent local businesses our money stays in the community and is spent by the owners to pay local wages, shop for ingredients locally and hire local tradespeople. A meal-deal from a huge chain means your money takes a trip out of town and never comes back, leaving your community that little bit poorer. So, while eating at Burger King or Papa Johns because it is a much easier and often more affordable option, we can also ask ourselves if it is always the best choice we can make as compassionate consumers.

We do have to think of the bigger picture and how our choices impact the world around us. For the animals, the planet, and the people in our communities.

“Another downside of spending money with multinational eateries is the money you spend leaves your community forever”