I’m back! Sorry to leave you without new recipes for so long, but I have to admit that I needed a vacation. Now that I’m home and Thanksgiving is over, I have lots of plans for new recipes. Unfortunately, right now they’re just plans, so in the meantime, let me tell you a little about my cruise (and a lot about the food!)
As an early Christmas present, my parents took my sister and me along on their 7-day Norwegian Cruise Line trip to Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize. At first I was reluctant to leave D and E (they couldn’t go because of work and school), but once we were at sea, I decided to relax and leave my worries behind and enjoy my time with my parents and sister. Of course, I was rarely without my camera, so I took hundreds of photos. I’ll scatter the best shots of the scenery throughout this post, in no particular order. Hover over each photo to see where it was taken.
Most of my best photos were taken in Guatemala, which, I have to say, was my favorite stop because of its unspoiled beauty. After two days at sea and one stop in flat Costa Maya, Mexico (a place that seems to have been built solely for cruise ships) waking up to see the jungle-covered hills of Guatemala was such a wonderful surprise.
The highlight of our time in Guatemala was tour through the Hibiscus Project, a museum of Mayan garments created by Sandra Acevedo de Voelin with her husband Eric Voelin in her parents’ old home; they devoted several acres in the back of the house to planting native trees and flowers, and I took a lot of photos of plants that I have no idea what they are. As always, your help in identifying them is appreciated.
Since this is a food blog, I would be remiss in not commenting on the cruise’s food. As you may know, a big reason why many people take cruises is so that they can dine in style on delicious, gourmet fare. The problem with being a vegan on any cruise is that most people’s notion of gourmet food centers on animal products, and the cruise menus reflect this bias. NCL was careful to put one–and only one–vegetarian entree on each day’s dining room menus, but those dishes were almost never vegan.
On any other cruise line, my family and I would have been dining at the same time each night with the same waitstaff, so I could make my dietary preferences known at the outset and work with one server to make sure my meals were vegan. But NCL has come up with an idea they call “Freestyle Cruising,” which meant that we could eat whenever we wanted but with a different server each time. So at each and every meal, I had to talk to a new server about vegan options for the night and was often shown the menu for the next night so that preparations could be made. (At our first meal in the dining room, no vegan entrees were available, so I ate my tiny appetizer salad and watched as my family ate their main courses and desserts. Not fun.)
Unfortunately, NCL’s idea of preparing a vegan meal always meant removing the non-vegan ingredients from the vegetarian dish rather than creating a completely new vegan dish; in one case, when the entree was tempura vegetables with seasoned rice, I received only the vegetables because the rice was made with butter; they did not give me extra vegetables (or anything else) to fill the empty space on my plate.
Now having said all that, I was never hungry for long. If I didn’t get enough to eat in the main dining room, I could visit the buffet upstairs afterward, where there were salads, fruit, and a selection of vegetarian Indian dishes that were always delicious (though finding out if they were vegan was a time-consuming and awkward process).
Every morning, I feasted on fresh fruit and skillet potatoes from the buffet, and if I was willing to wait for a server to track it down, soymilk was available to use in my oatmeal, cereal, or coffee. Though it lacked the ambiance of the dining rooms, the buffet provided plenty of vegan options and is probably the reason I came home a couple of pounds heavier.
If you’re a vegan looking for a cruise, I think that NCL isn’t your best bet, but you certainly won’t starve. Just be prepared to repeat your request for a vegan meal every time you sit down to eat, and get used to the idea that at many times, your dining companions will be eating their appetizers and desserts while you wait, nibbling on the bread and hoping it’s vegan.
I’ll be back soon with more new recipes (I’m thinking pasta, potatoes, and Indian food, not necessarily in that order). In the meantime, why don’t you tell me what yummy vegan dishes you had for Thanksgiving? Feel free to leave links to recipes!
KathyF
December 1, 2009 at 1:55 pmWe actually had two Thanksgiving dinners, one at a friend's house Thursday night, and she made vegan green bean casserole and other dishes for me. I was so impressed! I brought along stuffed cabbage rolls, stuffed with cornbread stuffing and a mushroom brandy sauce. (From Still Life w/ Menu)
For the next one on Saturday I went with tried and true–Bryanna's tofu/seitan "turkey" roulade. It was superb, and I've decided it's the best seitan recipe out there, probably because it also uses soy. And I made roasted garlic gravy.
It's ironic…living in a country that doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving, I managed to have not one but two celebrations!
Shannon
December 1, 2009 at 2:14 pmI feel your pain! We went on a RC cruise earlier this year, but at least they gave 2 vegetarian options at each meal rather than only one. I got really excited when I read the headline because I thought you were going to announce a Vegan cruise. Ha ha, that would be too good to be true, I guess!
erica
December 1, 2009 at 2:15 pmI'm looking forward to your Indian food recipes. We have fresh tamarind (still in the pod) and fresh turmeric in stores right now. Any ideas?
Thanks!
MG
December 1, 2009 at 2:17 pmThe red flower on top is belongs to the heliconia family.
I just had to use google to find the name – have seen the flower hundreds of times (recently moved back to Europe after living in Costa Rica for four years), but now I finally know what it's called!
I am assuming that you know the plant below the second red flower (which I am not familiar with) is a type of bamboo…
I am not American, so I made no special food for Thanksgiving. But, I plan to make your celebration pot pie later this week because it looks so, so yummy! I have had a real hard time finding seitan here in London though as apparently it's not very popular here. I will probably start making my own, but so far I have also been unable to find wheat gluten. Of course, I can make it with wheat flour (rather than wheat gluten), but that involves a lot more work!
Looking forward to your recipes!
Shannon
December 1, 2009 at 2:18 pmAs far as Thanksgiving, we also had 2 celebrations. One vegan celebration on Sunday before. I got lazy and used Field Roast Celebration Roast (enjoyed by all even non-vegans), steamed green beans, mashed potatoes (margarine and soymilk) with gravy made from vegetable broth, dijon brussel sprouts, roasted sweet potatoes, and homemade dressing. The second celebration on Thanksgiving day was at family's house and was going to be decidely non-vegan, so we merely froze leftovers from Sundays dinner and brought it with us to eat. Last year I made Bryanna's soy and seitan turkey and it was great! I will definitely make that anytime we actually host Thanksgiving at our house, but I didn't bother this year since we were going out of town.
pulltaffy
December 1, 2009 at 2:25 pmWelcome home, Susan! Thank you for sharing your experiences on the cruise. It is unfortunate that Americans' idea of "good food" is inextricably tied up with meat and cheese. I can imagine the process of finding something to eat at each meal was a pain! It's too bad they couldn't have made some sort of arrangement ahead of time so you could relax and enjoy the meal with your family!
My husband wants to go on a cruise, and I've been worried about the food. I wonder if there are any cruise lines that are more accommodating of vegans?
KP
December 1, 2009 at 2:31 pmVegan cruising is rough. I did a Princess cruise as a vegetarian and I ate a lot of french fries. No fun.
If you feel like doing a great family vacation check out the Beaches all inclusive resorts. We did a trip to a Sandals (couples version) and the head chef met with me and made me amazing vegan food every day. He seemed very happy to do it (probably a nice culinary change and a challenge).
In St. Lucia there is a pink flower that looks exactly like the red one. It was called a ginger flower and they said if you touched it, it was so delicate that it would leave a fingerprint (which kills the petal so we never tried).
Very happy you are back and blogging!
Anonymous
December 1, 2009 at 2:32 pmI feel for the trials and tribulations you went through on your cruise as a vegan- Luckily vegetables are vegan and most places will make a nice plate of steamed or roasted veggies if you ask nicely… 🙂
All that aside, your photos are gorgeous! I'm impressed with your composition and love the colors! Please do share more!!
MG
December 1, 2009 at 2:32 pmOkay, after some more googling…. the second red flower actually is a ginger flower! I wasn't familiar with this variant (zingiberaceae nicolaia), but only with another (zingiber spectabile), which is sometimes known as "shampoo ginger" in Costa Rica as people use the rain water collected in the flowers to wash their hair.
cookingforaveganlover
December 1, 2009 at 2:36 pmGood to know about NCL! Our cruise on Carnival was really good food wise. We only ate at the buffet but it was great nad we had tons of salad, fruits, and roasted potatoes which was great for us. At the ports we were also able to snack on some items. And more than one time we ended up getting PB&J room service just because it was yummy and fun haha.
Pulltaffy: from what I have researched Carnival is the most accomodating. Although our last cruise my husband and I only ate the buffet I have cruised before with them and they are great in the dining room. If you let the Maitre'd know on the first night they are good about making you things for the remainder of your time. The first night usually you end up with steamed veggies, salad and dry baked potato …sometimes there is an appetizer.
KP
December 1, 2009 at 2:47 pmOh yeah – the hanging flower is called a crab claw because…well it looks like one. They have those in St. Lucia too!
Mary
December 1, 2009 at 3:06 pmGorgeous photos! They warmed me right up.
Anonymous
December 1, 2009 at 3:28 pmThanks for the heads' up. I'm actually going to be cruising NCL in February so it's good to know these things, I"ll be sure to order 2 salads and maybe a regular entree but without the meat. Usually the sides are great. I agree it would be frustrating to sit there while everyone else enjoys the meal. I've cruised RC as a veggie and didn't have any issues, but it definitely wasn't all vegan either.
SusanV
December 1, 2009 at 3:38 pmGood luck with that, Anonymous. They wouldn't adapt any of the meat dishes for me (such as give me the noodles from a dish without the meat) nor would they, as someone else suggested, steam or roast any vegetables or give me a baked potato (as I've had on Carnival). They were amazingly inflexible, though at all meals I did wind up with something. Usually at least one of the salads or appetizers was vegan or easily veganized, but the portions were tiny.
dryxi
December 1, 2009 at 3:53 pmWhile your cruise sure looks beautiful, that food sounds miserable! Those things aren't cheap, and it makes me so angry that they couldn't put anything together for you.
I work on a trayline in a hospital – we have specific menus each day and for each diet, and we are on an extremely tight schedule. We are STILL able to accommodate vegans!
I can't imagine why the cruise line would be incapable of giving you extra vegetables or just the noodles – its not like they cooked the meat and the noodles at the same time! I've been wary of cruises in the past, but now I know to avoid NCL.
Tanya
December 1, 2009 at 3:54 pmSorry to hear it was such a pain to get vegan fare on the cruise. We were looking for some sort of holiday/vacation that was all vegetarian at least….I did see an ad in VegTimes magazine for something called "Holistic Holiday at Sea VII". It's all vegetarian at least. Lists the website as: http://www.atasteofhealth.org That one seems a bit overboard for me (lectures, etc…) but at least it's all veg. Might be easier to get vegan food that way.
Tanya
December 1, 2009 at 3:56 pmPS-it does say vegetarian/vegan natural foods!
SusanV
December 1, 2009 at 4:05 pmThanks, MG! I suspected that the red flower was some type of ginger–we saw several different varieties there and I lost track of which flowers were ginger.
mysticxian
December 1, 2009 at 4:05 pmi'm going on a cruise next summer with carnival. It seems everywhere I've researched to people I've talked to pretty much have the same experiences when it comes to vegan food. It's not very fair. I did find online somewhere though about a cruiseship company that is totally vegetarian. Maybe your family could do that as a family trip at some point?
The pictures look great. I'm glad you had a good time.
Stuart
December 1, 2009 at 4:16 pmI'm the only vegan at home, but my brave mother jumped out on a huge limb and buy a Tofurkey for Thanksgiving. I warned her it may not be what she expected, but she was adamant to try it. And wasn't I surprised when it came out great! I've heard nasty things about tofurkey, but it was by far my favorite dish this year. Along with the sweet potatoes and gravy, not to mention your pumpkin pie bite recipe, this was the best vegan Thanksgiving yet.
AJP
December 1, 2009 at 4:25 pmMy family went on a Caribbean cruise in the summer of 2008, I think on Carnival line. I had the same experience, except my server was always the same. However, even though she wrote a list down (with my help) of the foods I didn't eat, I still wound up with eggs in my rice or cheese on my pasta.
There were always copious amounts of food available on the ship, but they were never labeled with ingredients or allergy information, so it was almost impossible to tell what foods were vegan or not. The whole experience was so miserable that I will probably never go on a cruise ever again. There's nothing like being trapped on a boat, watching your family eat gourmet food, while you eat plain rice and steamed veggies.
Also, the night when they had tofu I was so excited because I figured I was going to eat 5 star tofu. Nope, it was spongy. I think I made tofu better on my first try as a young vegetarian!
Michal
December 1, 2009 at 4:45 pmGlad your back! Your photography is so gorgeous, it looks like you had a wonderful time over your thanksgiving. For thanksgiving I made stuffed pumpkin, cauliflower mash, a huge salad and ani phyos raw oatmeal raisin cookies yum!
Sara L
December 1, 2009 at 4:49 pmI did a Princess cruise last winter and found them very accommodating. I did the traditional seating, which was a big help. I suggest calling the maitre'd as soon as you board to avoid having to eat just steamed veggies the first night.
I had to explain vegan for the first couple of days (I stressed the no meat, egg or dairy), but once they had it, the head waiter went out of his way to make sure I had enough to eat. I looked at the menu the night before and worked with him to modify courses. They often insisted on bringing me extra courses because they did not think vegetables could be filling.
It's a bummer to hear other people did not have similar experiences. I had to work every night with the head waiter, but it was worth it-I got some great food!
merathon
December 1, 2009 at 4:50 pmsince you said you'll be posting some Indian recipes. . .have you ever made a vegan tikka masala? i loved this dish at Indian restaurants before i became vegan but have never tried making it vegan myself! would love to know if you've got a great recipe!
Erin
December 1, 2009 at 4:50 pmCall me crazy, but if a company is going to ask you to pay premium prices for premium food… you should get premium food. My husband, who is omni, and I have figured out the best way to tell the quality of a restaurant (the food and skill of the chef/prep staff in back) is to ask for a vegan dinner.
Services that are as inflexible as Susan describes are probably relying on cheap help to reheat frozen, pre-packaged food (which is probably why dishes can't be prepared differently.) What a disappointment, and certainly not what you pay for on a cruise.
I don't mean to sound negative – it just makes me mad when hospitality businesses cut corners like this. I'm so happy that the scenery and the experience made up for the abysmal culinary experience, Susan!
Tiffany C.
December 1, 2009 at 4:56 pmSorry to hear about the food issue on board 🙁 but it's nice that you were able to get a vacation and spend time with your parents and sister. Your photos are absolutely beautiful!
Kristen
December 1, 2009 at 5:05 pmOne word: Celebrity!
We've been on two cruises with Celebrity, the second time as vegetarians. It is an older crowd for sure, with assigned sit-down dinners, but they have great food.
On our last cruise, they had three vegetarian options for dinner, one of which was always vegan (not just a main dish either…appetizer, main dish, and dessert). And it was GOOD! The chefs were creative and the food was just delicous!
Jelli Bean
December 1, 2009 at 5:16 pmGlad you{re back! Is your Guatemala photo of Lago Atitlan? It looks similar, if it is not. I agree that Guate is a beautiful country. Climate isnt too shabby either. For what it´s worth to any non-vegan readers, NCL does have a wonderful menu for those with less-strict dietary conditions. A few years ago my family went to Hawaii with them and loved every minute of it…including one night´s special chocolate buffet!
Kristen
December 1, 2009 at 5:31 pmI've only cruised once as a vegan but I can't say enough great things about how well Carnival accommodated me. I didn't get to meet my waiter until the second night but from then on I saw the next night's menu in advance and was able to make arrangements for the following night. They made me tasty, filling meals using the night's vegetarian meal as a guide and I even got dessert!
PS — Beautiful photos, and I love this blog!
Anonymous
December 1, 2009 at 5:31 pmWe were originally going on Celebrity and then switched to NCL.
I just had a thought – maybe I could raid the buffet for a bunch of fruit and then bring it to the dining room, ROFL.
SusanV
December 1, 2009 at 5:32 pmJelli Bean, I would love to go to Lago Atitlan one day. These photos were taken just outside Santo Tomas De Castilla, where we docked. And I saw the chocolate buffet–it was amazing with beautiful ice sculptures and chocolate sculptures. They were setting it up as we finished dinner one night, and the line to get into the dining room was forming even an hour before it started. I looked from a distance; no sense torturing myself with something I wasn't going to eat.
Erika
December 1, 2009 at 5:55 pmWe had a very FatFree Vegan Thanksgiving! We made your Green Bean Casserole as well as 3 of your Double-Layer Pumpkin Cheesecakes! Besides that we had cornbread stuffing, Tofurkey (it was great!), cranberries, and roasted asparagus. And lots more dessert. It was fantastic! We had a 100% vegan meal and even the omnis were impressed. =)
MeeshOne.Love
December 1, 2009 at 6:13 pmI adore your blog! I also went on a cruise semi recently and found eating vegan to be pretty tough. I mostly ate from the buffet as well…since eating mostly raw for a week didn't bother me I wasn't so disappointed in the lack of food options…what got to me more was the overwhelming saltiness of the cooked options I did have…tempeh and stir fried veggies with rice…cooked in fresh sea water? I stuck to fruits and veggies and the occasional cereal or oatmeal with that specially requested soy milk (even ordering a soy chai latte from the cafe required some foot work…and thats not even a strictly vegan issue). Oh and for some reason peanut butter was a specialty item as well. So strange…I'll be waiting on that Vegan Cruise line too. 😉
Anonymous
December 1, 2009 at 8:32 pmI have to say that I went on a Holland America Cruise last February, and even though they had the free choice dining, they were incredibly wonderfully unbelievably accommodating to my vegan diet. They would make me ANYTHING I requested, asking me how I would like it prepared. The Chef even came out one night and talked to me. He was the happiest man alive. And told me to request anything, and they would happily make it for me. If I wanted Thai style, they made it, if I wanted Indian, they made it… Lunches and breakfasts were not so easy, but there were plenty of salads and fruits for those meals. As long as I get protein at dinner, I felt I had enough for the day.
Vivacious Vegan
December 1, 2009 at 9:45 pmMy husband and I were going to cruise on NCL last December but when I called them to inquire about vegan food options they were so unaccommodating and inflexible we decided against that cruise.
Instead we cruised with Royal Caribbean and had the most wonderful experience. We mostly ate at the buffet for breakfast and lunch. When we inquired as to the whether or not an item was vegan they would bring out the head chef to answer any questions. They didn't have vegan veggie burgers at the buffet but they were always willing to run down to Johnny Rockets (at the other end of the ship) to pick up vegan ones for us (so long as we didn't mind waiting an extra 5 minutes).
In the dining room our server and the maitre'd went out of their way to provide us with plenty of vegan options. They would show us the next day's menu and we would work with them to create something out of the vegetarian selections (just because we didn't want to be complete PITA's) but if we wanted something not on the menu they were happy to make if for us. We mostly feasted on Indian cuisine since this is our favorite and not one I'm inclined to make at home. The waiter made sure only to bring out the vegan bread rolls and they always had special appetizers and dessert for us. One night they really went out of their way and baked us a 3-layer vegan cake. I was so touched I actually cried.
I would recommend RC in a heartbeat. We're cruising with them again in January and I can't wait.
We also have a cruise coming up in 2 weeks with Princess and, while they did tell us they would happily accommodate our dietary needs, I feel a lot better after reading some of the positive comments on here about them.
Elyssa
December 2, 2009 at 12:10 amHi Susan!
I've been following your blog for some time now but this is the first time commenting. I've gotten lots of great ideas from here and I say idea's because I rarely ever follow a recipe to the T!(except one absolutely yummy, easy "butter" recipe that doesn't have oil unless you want to count coconut milk as oil)
Anyhow, I just wanted to say that I've really enjoyed your website! All the food looks so good and sometimes I want to try a whole bunch of recipes all at once. I'm vegan although not a fatfree vegan.. I don't see that fat is unhealthful but good for our bodies – the good kind I'm talking about.
We had mashed potatoes, nut roast, gravy, salad, peas, pumpkin pie with coconut whipped cream and.. I can't remember what else we had for thanksgiving. But thanksgiving was great! So many things to be thankful for!
K
December 2, 2009 at 12:14 amUgh, I'm sorry to hear that the food situation wasn't really up to par. I think that people should be able to expect to have their needs met when they are paying the kind of fees you do on a cruise. Someday I am going to go on the vegetarian cruise, sounds fantastic!
I have a similar tale-of woe about pathetic vegetarian service. I shall share since misery loves company, no? For my high school graduation, we had a catered dinner in a fancy hotel that came with quite a hefty price tag (I think around $60/ person) and you could notify yourself as a vegetarian when ordering your tickets so they would know in advance how many dishes to prepare. (This was in my pre-vegan days) So the day comes, and our food arrives: first up, Italian wedding soup. When me and my friend (my blog-partner Eve, incidently) mentioned to the server that we had ordered the vegetarian meal, so she took our bowls off to the side, scooped out the meatballs and returned them (and later was miffed when she had to take them away, untouched) The entree wasn't much better, there was a clear hole on the plate where the meat had just been removed. They couldn't have even moved over some of the veggies?
Anyways, sorry for the novel here. Looking forward to the sound of your recipe ideas!
-K
deborakerr
December 2, 2009 at 7:04 amHi Susan:
For several months I´ve been surfing your blog and found the most precious vegan recipes.
But I´m from Argentina and it´s kind of difficult to reech the goal an a pure meet eater country, as you may know.
That is why I´m asking you the reciepe (if it´s not too much asking) for making tofu or some other kind of "meat", since we cannot find it in here. Any would be very appreciate!!!
Congrats for your trip! You certainly picked some of the best we have in LatinAmerica. Only next time be sure to reech some other places also as good as those… 😉
I also want to congratulate you for those shootings! All of them are AWESOME!!!
Well, thanks a lot and sorry for my english!
Merry Christmas for all of you!
From far…
Debbie
Amber Rubenfeld
December 2, 2009 at 8:51 amWe did a very non traditional thanksgiving. I am newly married and i offered to my mom to have thanksgiving at my place and we could bring our own respected meals & share on the veg options. (my husband is also the pickiest eater on the planet) and so she decided to go to old country buffet. They had some vegan options, many steamed veggies, a salad bar, and they had plenty of vegetarian options. Overall it was a good time, but very strange.
TW
December 2, 2009 at 10:05 amWelcome back, Susan! We missed you, but it's great that you were able to enjoy some much-deserved R&R! Your photos are just beautiful!
Our vegan Thanksgiving dinner was centered around your very own Quinoa and Red Lentil Cutlets, as it has been for the past several years. They're delicious, and with the traditional trimmings make a perfect Thanksgiving meal. Thank you for once again being the founder of our feast! 🙂
It's a real shame that the dining portion of your vacation was so abysmal. Vegans and vegetarians wishing for a more accommodating cruise might want to check out (as Tanya mentioned) The Holistic Holiday at Sea cruise, or, for something on a much smaller scale, a voyage on Maine's Wanderbird. Also, the vegan travel agency Green Earth Travel can help with cruises and other types of vacations. And anyone planning to cruise with one of the main corporate cuiselines and who cares about their environmental impact might want to first check Friends of the Earth's recent Cruise Ship Environmental Report Card.
Thank you for sharing your vacation with us, I'm looking forward to your new recipes!