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by Sue Bozeman (www.vegetarian-fun.com)

Oklahoma cavers were asked to present a slide show and lecture at a Speleological Karst Conference in Turkey in 2000. Speleology is the study of caves.

The majority of caves that our caving group, the Central Oklahoma Grotto (http://okcavers.netfirms.com) explores and surveys is in gypsum karst in the western half of Oklahoma. It is hardly the mega-cave capital of the United States, so we were pleasantly surprised to be invited.

After the Conference, we flew to Vienna to pick up our rental car at the airport and join a friend, Anne, who had flown over by herself to Frankfurt, Germany, and taken the train to Vienna. Anne had not wished to be included in the Convention, so she agreed to travel solo in a foreign land, knowing nothing but English! Her escapades just doing that are hilarious, but she did meet us at the pre-reserved hotel.

We had three weeks to play in the wondrous Old World countries we’d only read about or seen previously on TV. The scenery and architecture was everything we’d hoped for, and more. The truly interesting experiences that we’d not planned on revolved around ordering vegetarian meals for Anne! She had memorized a couple food-ordering phrases in the major languages of Europe. That was fine as far as it went, but as those of you for whom a second language is book-learned, you know that when it is your turn to speak, the brain goes blank and the tongue twists.

Our route went through Austria, with a side trip to the Czech Republic, Germany, France, Andorra and Italy. The languages we ’spoke’ were English, a smattering of Czech and some German. It was a hoot trying to find cognates (words that are basically the same in two languages, like “O.K.” and “auto”) in those languages for non-meat dishes in a very meat-oriented part of the world!

Anne, an actress in her early life, got very good at sign language and began every restaurant or pub inquiry with: “Vegetarian”, pointing at herself and smiling, enchantingly. She would point at a selection on the menu that was a recognizable meat dish and shake her head, saying, “No!”. Then she would point at something that we all had agreed was most probably a salad dish, smile and say, “Vegetarien?”  The change in spelling is intended to mimic the French pronunciation and hopefully would be comprehended more readily than English.

Who knows what these restaurateurs thought of us goofy Amies. They could tell when we walked in that we were American — our clothes are different, our carriage the same–it all says “American tourist”. And yet, nearly everyone came to help us. They struggled with our language; we struggled with dictionaries in their language; we all pointed to various other customers’ plates, with great laughter and shaking of heads either indicating “Yes!” or an emphatic “NO!”

Nowadays, we’d probably have some sort of phone with apps for translating our words into every European language that we encountered. Phones that could ‘talk’ for us would be in each of our hands. It would be wonderful to have access to HappyCow.net on an iPhone, too!  However, if your language skills are poor and your batteries die, don’t forget that “vegetarian” or some derivation of it is an almost international word!

Needless to say, Anne didn’t starve, but each meal was an adventure.

Herbivores will soon have no reason to “Panic in Detroit” – http://youtube.com/watch?v=Sv-6VIr8CyY

Detroit Evolution Laboratory’s owners Gregg Newsom and Angela Kasmala are opening a new vegan restaurant.

Full story here – http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080513/BIZ/805130350/1010/BIZ01

Excerpt -

Detroit Evolution Laboratory on Gratiot across from Eastern Market is a clearinghouse of sorts for various types of health and wellness services. “The Lab,” as they lovingly refer to it, is the duo’s first business venture. So far, it has been a resounding success.

The vision that Newsom alludes to is a three-tiered project that would include a full-service vegan restaurant on the ground floor, a second-floor yoga studio with additional space to holding workshops, and living quarters for the couple, along with a “sustainable lifestyle showcase” on the third floor.

Newsom and Kasmala met with angel investors about their plans and recently obtained seed money to finance a move and expansion. They are interested in three buildings, all in the 4,000-square-foot range, in the Eastern Market area. Their plan is to select one before the month is over.

“We plan to open up our living area and essentially show and teach people how we live sustainably and how, by purchasing local products and participating in things like composting, they can, too.”

A desire for a healthy, no-frills lifestyle and a yearning to make a positive impact on the community is what inspired Newsom, 38, and Kasmala, 28, to create The Lab, which offers yoga, meditation and vegan cooking classes; massage and meditation services; catering; sustainability training; and workshops on recycling, composting and debt consumption.

Visit their site for more info – http://detroitevolution.com

On a recent trip to India, I was frustrated and thrilled about my food intakes. Traveling there, most foreigners avoid dairy products and any raw foods for fear of bacteria’s and falling seriously ill. That’s the frustrating part.

The thrilling part is amazing! Most packaged food products  have little dots on them which identify the items as vegetarian or not. Some think the little green dot means VEGAN, but that’s not necessary the case. I found after careful research, (walking through the grocery store and reading ingredients) that the item marked with the green dot is actually Lacto-vegetarian – meaning it won’t have eggs but most likely has some milk. Since I’m a lacto-vegetarian, I’m cool with this labeling. One more thing – if you ask some one for vegetarian food in India, they’ll know that you mean with out eggs too. So I got to eat some pretty amazing things care free on the trip – like eggless cake on a flight (that was a standard fare)! Bakeries will also have some eggless items. McDonald’s has some great veggie options, and their fries are veggie-friendly there.  All nice splurges I can’t get in the States.

Is it easy to follow a vegetarian diet anywhere in this world? A vegetarian/vegan faces a lot of issues in the real world. In India, there is no dearth for vegetarian food, but a small doubt lingers in one’s mind if there is no mix-up back in the kitchen. What if the food cooked has not come from the same balti (wok) that was used for cooking meat dishes? This might be acceptable for few vegetarians, but not for all of them. Is it fair on the part of restaurants to serve such food to people following a strict vegetarian diet? It is an entirely different issue with western world. Foods that are considered outright vegetarian back in India might not be “suitable for vegetarians” in this half of the world. Life gets confusing, one got to think if the bread one is buying is vegetarian or not. The same goes with chocolates, yogurt, ice-cream and what not. And then the concept of looking at ingredients comes into picture. One has to be knowledgeable enough to identify whether the food has animal fats or vegetable fats, and whether the glycerides are derived from animal source or vegetable source etc. Well, things get trickier if one goes to restaurants though. One doesn’t have a list of ingredients to look at and decide if a particular dish is vegetarian or not. A harmless looking “Red Bean with Rice” could be cooked in chicken broth, and how would one make out such an intricate detail? The menu card doesn’t carry that the dish was cooked in such a broth; is there any regard for vegetarians in this world?

Wish it’s an ideal world, where in products have a “suitable for vegetarians/vegans” label and the menu cards specifically state whether the dishes being served are suitable for vegetarians/vegans, but this ideal world is still some way off. Part of the problem is alleviated because of HappyCow, which lists out 100% veggie restaurants whenever possible and where such restaurants/stores are available. And if everything fails, one can always rely on fruits and vegetables, which happens to be a healthier option too.