The author says there were vegan options for adults, but only vegetarian ones for children. They opted to feed the kids tons of snacks.
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I'm raising my kids vegan, and it's a real challenge at times. While vegan options are growing everywhere, from fast food to grocery stores, the US is still an omnivore-centered country. One reason we were excited about visiting Disney World is its reputation for vegan cuisine.
In fact, Disney World offers some of the best plant-based dining options in the country — unless you're a kid.
The vegan dining for adults at Disney is exceptional. Whether you want a fast-service Impossible burger or a three-course, plant-based custom-dining experience, there really is so much wonderful vegan food at Disney World. Disney's chefs have created exemplary and delicious foods, and we were impressed that so much of it is unique. Instead of mock meats and dishes that simply try to replicate non-vegan tastes with plants, most of the vegan options are unique and wonderful. The California Grill at the Contemporary Resort offered a 50th Anniversary three-course vegan dinner that was particularly tasty.
While my wife and I were satisfied and stuffed, our kids were always left on the sidelines. At each restaurant we visited, we encountered a similar situation, the kids' menu offered vegetarian options — usually mac and cheese — but nothing for vegans. There are vegan options for kids in some restaurants, but not all of them.
This left us with two options at every place we ate. We could order adult-size vegan dishes for our kids, which meant paying twice the cost of a kid's plate, knowing the kids likely wouldn't eat much. Or we could give our kids non-vegan food.
Faced with not wanting to buy our kids adult-sized meals, our main tactic ended up being vegan snacks. Lots of popcorn, vegan ice cream, french fries, and fruit between meals. At actual sit-down restaurants, we didn't feed our kids much.
We could've gone vegetarian easily, but not vegan. We did encourage the kids to try our food, but gourmet cuisine isn't necessarily appealing to children. We tried to always order fruit cups, fries, and applesauce at every restaurant we went to as sides to our adult dishes, which the kids ate as meals.
In addition, we had packed vegan protein bars with us, and we brought them to the parks. Feeding the kids a bar a day helped ensure they received protein and something substantial. We had few other choices and we were disappointed that Disney had no true vegan main-course choices for children.
The solution to me is simple. Disney is a family destination that's trying very hard to cater to all dietary restrictions. The parks already offer Impossible-brand vegan food for adults, so putting some Impossible nuggets on the kids' menus could be a simple start. Another simple solution is to offer vegan mac and cheese for children, a dish that is already on most restaurants' menus.
As a vegan parent, I shouldn't have to worry when I go to a restaurant if it will have a kids' menu we can use.
