Colombian arepa with tofu scramble and avocado

Vegan South America travel – is it possible and how are we coping?

Meat, fried meat and more meat, including guinea pigs and llamas. That’s been our experience of the South American diet so far. We definitely haven’t been living the vegan dream while travelling through Colombia, Peru and Bolivia this year, so how exactly have we been coping? From renting apartments with kitchens to stuffing our faces with avocados and surviving travel days on Ritz crackers, here’s how we’re managing vegan South America travel.

Homemade vegan pancakes

Homemade vegan pancakes

Travelling as a vegan versus vegetarian

To fill you in on our vegan journey, I was vegetarian when we left the UK in 2013, so I’m used to avoiding meat products. I found travelling through Asia, the USA, Oceana and Europe as a vegetarian pretty straightforward. At the very least, it was always easy to get a plate of rice, egg and vegetables. While I found some Asian countries like the Philippines more challenging, places like Sri Lanka and Chiang Mai had incredible vegetarian options.

Vegetarian Sri Lankan feast at Diyabubula, The Barberyn Art & Jungle Hideaway

Vegetarian lunch at Diyabubula, Sri Lanka

However, since transitioning from vegetarian to vegan last summer, food and travel has become a lot more complicated and requires much more planning. We spent last autumn road-tripping through Europe while we were still figuring out our vegan diet, and it was a fairly soft landing. We rented apartments and shopped at supermarkets filled with vegan products, including Tesco, Lidl and Carrefour.

Tesco grocery haul in Prague, Czech Republic 2017

Tesco £20 vegan grocery haul in Prague

We also searched Tripadvisor as we travelled through Europe and discovered some brilliant vegan restaurants, most of the big cities we visited had multiple options. In Amsterdam, for example, we ate vegan pancakes and in Porto, Da Terra quickly became our favourite for its all-you-can-eat buffets. In Prague, we took visiting family to Vegan’s Prague for delicious vegan versions of Czech food.

Vegan goulash at Maitrea, Prague

Vegan goulash at Maitrea, Prague

There were no problems having a vegan Christmas in the UK either because the vegan scene there is really picking up pace. UK supermarkets are now full of vegan products, Tesco has a whole new range and has actually employed a ‘head of plant-based innovation’. There’s even a country pub where my parents live in Hampshire which has a heavily vegan menu. Unfortunately, things haven’t been so great since we left in January to travel in South America.

Vegan roast dinner at the Roebuck Inn, Hampshire

Vegan roast dinner at the Roebuck Inn, Hampshire

How we’re managing vegan South America travel

From our experience, the standard diet in South America revolves around fried meat, rice and empanadas with beans and the occasional dose of plantain. Take Bandeja, a traditional Colombian dish which consists of a huge platter of pork, beef, chorizo and fried egg – somewhat like a British fry-up. The street markets here are full of hunks of meat and fish and on a recent trip to some ruins in Bolivia, we were taken to a restaurant that served llama and guinea pigs. Saying that, there are a few things vegans will love about South America:

Avocado on toast at Epoca Café

Avocado on toast in Colombia

Avocados – you can get huge, tasty avocados from markets, shops and street sellers at a cheap price. Our favourites were the super-sized Colombian avocados and we practically lived on them!

Quinoa – is common in South America as it grows well here, particularly in Bolivia.

Beans – we’ve found that all types of beans, as well as chickpeas and lentils, are readily available in the South American countries we’ve visited.

Although veganism and even vegetarianism isn’t well known in this region, we’ve also found that big cities in South America do have some vegan-friendly restaurants. For instance, we found an amazing raw vegan café in Lima and there were a few vegan restaurants in El Poblado, Medellin, including a pizza place.

Delicious vegan pizza from Café Zorba, El Poblado

Delicious vegan pizza from Café Zorba, El Poblado

Tips for travelling vegan in South America

So, how have we survived travelling vegan in South America? Here are some of the tactics we’ve used:

Renting apartments – we’ve mainly stayed in apartments with kitchens so that we can cook for ourselves. Given that we also need wifi and space to work as digital nomads, this seems to be the only accommodation option that really works for us when we travel these days. We normally use Airbnb to find apartments, if you haven’t used the site before, you can get £25 off your first stay by using our sign-up link.

Our Medellin Apartment

Our Medellin Apartment

Shopping at supermarkets – the shops here obviously don’t have the huge range of vegan products available in Europe, but we’ve been able to buy a variety of ingredients from local markets and supermarkets. A typical haul includes these cheap ingredients:

  • Locally-grown vegetables, including avocados, potatoes, carrots, broccoli and greens.
  • Seasonal fruit, such as berries, mangos, bananas, oranges and passion fruit.
  • Beans, chickpeas and lentils.
  • Pasta, rice and quinoa.
  • Bread, although it costs more to buy bread without sugar.
  • Soy milk, we’ve also seen nut milk.
  • Passata.

We also buy more expensive products when we can find them such as:

  • Cereal.
  • Tofu.
  • Hummus.
  • Peanut butter.
  • Jam.
  • Nuts.
  • Dark chocolate with no milk.
  • Snack foods.
Supermarket haul in Bolivia

£25 supermarket haul in Bolivia

Stocking up on snacks – speaking of snacks, when we know that we’re going to be travelling all day or over the course of a few days, we stock up on snacks. There have been days when we’ve had to catch flights and buses and have lived off Ritz crackers, Oreos (they’re vegan!) and Lays crisps. Definitely not the healthiest diet but better than starving.

Using Tripadvisor – when we don’t have access to a kitchen because we’re staying in a hotel/hostel or are going to be out sightseeing all day, we always check Tripadvisor to find vegan-friendly restaurants. Happy Cow is also a useful resource, the site lists and rates vegan and vegetarian restaurants all over the world.

Colombian arepa with tofu scramble and avocado

Tofu scramble on vegan arepa from Cafe Stepping Stone, Cartagena

Make dietary requests – when we book tours, such as our recent trip into the Amazon rainforest, we check with the company beforehand to see if they can provide vegan meals for us. This worked out really well at Madidi Jungle Ecolodge and they cooked us some incredible vegan meals.

Marmite on Toast

We never travel without Marmite

Travelling with supplements and UK products – we stocked up on some vitamin B12 supplements before we left the UK as this is pretty much the only thing you can’t get on a vegan diet. Non-vegans actually only get B12 because the animals they eat have been supplemented with it. We also brought some Marmite and nutritional yeast with us from the UK to spice up our meals, sadly our stocks are just about gone.

Flexibility – it’s hard to be a very strict vegan in South America. Unless you’re at a dedicated vegan restaurant, you never know (without interrogating the staff) what oil your food is cooked in, for instance. The definition of vegan also varies, as we found out in Colombia, where we came across vegan meals served with honey. It’s lucky that Andrew can read Spanish ingredient lists at the supermarket well, but it’s still possible to make mistakes when shopping. You need a bit of a flexible mind-set as a vegan in South America.

Scrumptious Colombian dish in El Poblado, Medellin

Vegan Colombian stew in Medellin

Other vegan travel dilemmas

Veganism isn’t all about diet and there are other things we have to consider when we travel. Freezing cold in La Paz? We can’t just pick up a cheap sweater off the market because they’re all made of llama wool. When booking our Amazon tour, we spent hours researching to find a company that wouldn’t take us piranha fishing or exploit animals by prodding or feeding them.

A tapir who regularly visits Madidi Jungle Ecolodge in Bolivia

A rescued tapir on our eco-friendly Amazon adventure

This week we’ve been researching treks in the Sacred Valley for our upcoming trip to Peru and all tours include the use of horses to transport gear, which is something we’ve always been opposed to. For instance, we trekked to Everest Base Camp independently last year to avoid using either porters, yaks or horses. This means that we’re now looking at visiting Machu Picchu independently using a combination of train journeys and short hikes.

Yaks crossing a suspension bridge on the Everest Base Camp Trek, Nepal

Yaks carrying supplies along the Everest Base Camp Trek

Although we’ve always been conscious of avoiding animal exploitation when we travel, we’re more hyper-aware of these issues now that we’re vegan. As a result, we spend more time planning, researching and asking questions. However, given that we feel so passionately about the ethics of veganism, this small inconvenience is definitely worth it to us.

Elephants at the Elephant Nature Park, Thailand

An ethical way to see elephants at the ENP, Thailand

We’re super-excited to be visiting some great vegan cities later this year such as LA, Portland, Oregon and Glasgow in the UK, which will make up for the meagre vegan options in South America!

Vegan South America Travel Pinterest Pin

Pin Me For Later!

Are you a vegan traveller or considering vegan South America travel? Do you have other dietary needs to negotiate while travelling? We’d be really interested to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

12 Comments
  • Gilda Baxter
    Posted at 07:58h, 06 April Reply

    I was worried you would find it very hard to eat vegan in SA, but sounds like your determination has paid off. Great post with lots of excellent tips. Brian and I have cut down on our meat consumption and we are eating vegetarian more often now. I am looking forward to your posts on Peru since we will be there in June?

    • Amy
      Posted at 14:54h, 06 April Reply

      Thanks Gilda 🙂 Your trip is getting close now, exciting! We’ll have lots to fill you in on when we return to Peru after this Bolivia trip. We just spent around 10 days in Peru so far in Lima and Paracas, but we were so impressed. The people are great, Lima was really pretty and much more developed than we expected and the wildlife in Paracas was awesome. The raw vegan cafe in lima was amazing, we can’t wait to go back there when we return to Lima next month.

  • Louisa Klimentos
    Posted at 05:36h, 17 April Reply

    The food looked yummy ,enjoy!

    • Amy
      Posted at 01:53h, 23 April Reply

      Thanks Louisa, it was delicious!

  • Patti
    Posted at 22:50h, 19 April Reply

    Oreo cookies are vegan?! 🙂 Who knew?

    • Amy
      Posted at 01:55h, 23 April Reply

      I know, crazy right! Most Oreo varieties are vegan, I think there are a couple with milk powder in. Still a win though!

  • Dorene
    Posted at 23:20h, 19 April Reply

    I totally commend you guys on trying to make your diet work in South America – in the small towns of Colombia its impossible and when friends (who are locals and have no concept of even vegetarianism) invite you to dinner. I hate being ‘that guy’ that has to change up everyone’s menu. You’ve got some great tips here, thanks for the inspiration!

    • Amy
      Posted at 02:01h, 23 April Reply

      Hi Dorene, yes, I can really see how it would be hard to dine with local people, meat is such a big part of the food culture in South America. We just came back from a Salt Flats tour where we were the annoying, picky vegans but we totally get that it’s a privilege to be able to choose your diet and we try to be understanding when people are cooking for us (and just pass the non-vegan parts on to other people!).

  • Marcelo
    Posted at 15:20h, 12 August Reply

    I’m actually planning to do a solo backpacking trip through South America. I’m a vegan, but I’m not thatstrict. I often make exceptions (mostly when there’s eggs in a dish). But I am lactose-intolerant, So veganism makes sense for me since I don’t like the taste of meat, the environmental effects its production has and the way animals in the dairy, meat and egg insutry are treated. My brother has already traveled a lot through SA and he says it is probably gonna be really hard to come across vegan options (especially in less densly populated areas ;).. But I can cook for myself in the hostels I’m staying, so I’ll probably be okay. And in the bigger cities there are often a lot of vegan restaurants to chosse from!

    So I’m looking forward to my trip!

    • Amy
      Posted at 17:55h, 12 August Reply

      Yes, it isn’t easy being vegan in South Africa, but if you can cook for yourself it should be fine and be sure to check out some of the restaurants we mentioned if you’re nearby. I hope you have a great trip!

  • Melissa S
    Posted at 04:54h, 27 August Reply

    Thank you for sharing your experience! I have been vegan 8 yrs and live in America, where it’s easy. However, I’m moving to Argentina. I know it’s going to be a challenge, but I found a group of local vegans who share food and recipes and are ready to help me get acclimated to being vegan in Patagonia. That’s going to save me!

    • Amy
      Posted at 19:47h, 25 October Reply

      Good news Melissa, hope you love Argentina, we’d love to visit some day 🙂

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