Eating out with SAD friends?

[Lauxa]

Hi I am in Houston area (Clear Lake, so a long ways from the actual city) and have some relatives coming in town and they want to eat at a restaurant. This is only Day 17 of raw for me and I have no idea what to do! There are no raw restaurants nearby (not even a Whole Foods!), so it would have to be a chain of some sort. Should I go to Black Eye Pea and order a salad? Go to Souper Salad for the salad bar (not being able to eat the cheese, meat, and dressing, and with no raw nuts or avo)?

Any tips for surviving a trip to a non-raw restaurant or a chain restaurant that is suitable for raw dining would be much appreciated! I hate to think that I will never again be able to eat out with friends and family if I follow this diet.

[bananafana]

You should check out Morn's blog. She goes out to eat all the time with her family and has since she started raw.

When I go out to eat I order a fruit plate or salad and request lots of raw veggies and bring my own raw dressing. One time I even ordered veggie stir-fry sans rice and asked them not to cook it. The waiter gave me a strange look and I'm sure he thought I was a weirdo, but who cares. I think it's weird that people cook all the goodness out of their food so we were even. There are raw choices at lots of restaurants if you look hard enough.

[aliciamatheson]

Lauxa,

I think you can get a basic salad at most restaurants. I always have a stash of nuts and dried fruit (and when organized some salad dressing) in my bag.

Restaurants are so used to people with allergies and such, I've never had anyone ever question me.

I have also been known to order two salads - both for me!

Alicia

[KatK]

I like going to salad bars - usually they have lemon that I use for dressing and I just skip all the cooked stuff.

LOL, I've ordered two little dinner salads at some places too :)

[agumble]

I go out to restaurants all the time with my friends. Some places I'm lucky enough to find a fruit platter. At the rest, I just order a salad without any cooked items on it and bring my own dressing. It works out well :)

[shashibala]

I bring my own dressing for salad or on vegies. Some places have their menus on line. You could look and see. I choose places that serve guacamole if I can.
Enjoy yourself!

[yamiam]

Eat before you go
have a salad out with your relatives
and enjoy their company.
Food is optional then.

[evegan]

Follow this link, click on Texas:

http://sweettomatoes.com/locations/fm/

You'll see that there are 4 Sweet Tomatoes restaurants in Houston. They've got a huge salad bar. I've eaten in one of their Florida locations and it was very good. I can't guarantee the veggies are organic, but there's plenty to choose from and your relatives will have a large choice of foods, some of it SAD but they might accidentally eat something healthy

Otherwise, I agree with what others have said. Go ahead and order a salad; sometimes I ask them to SuperSize it, and rarely do they charge me a lot extra. I can eat at any restaurant except a deli; delis put egg in everything, and the only lettuce they carry is iceberg which is really just another form of water.

[kaybee]

plan ahead of time to find a mexican restaurant that you could take them to where you can get guacamole, salad and salsa. bring your own flax crackers...?

[debilana]

I find the nicer the restuarant, the easier to get what you want- last time we splurged for a nice meal, I called ahead (The Stumbling Goat) and told them my situation- and they made me a very nice entree salad=)

side note- I actually went to breakfast last Sunday in Ballard to a place that had no fresh fruit whatsoever- they even admitted they were out of oranges!- so I let my DH and DD eat while I read the paper. Hell there was a huge farmers market right across the street, I bought breakfast there after=)After awhile these things get easier- its the social interaction, not the food- I like the idea of eating before, ordering something light and having a good time=)

[kaybee]

hey debilana--

not to hijack the thread but you should come to the seattle raw meetups (if you want). next one is the 8th at chaco canyon. also, if youre near the southside, looks like theres going to be a once-a-month potluck in burien and your husband and daughter would be welcome there too. the first one was last month and the host wants to do them once a month if people are interested. i live in burien

kaybee