Traveling Vegetarian

East Coast Trip Part 6

From Pittsburgh we drove across the state to York, PA, where we had a cook-out with Larry's brothers and their wives.

Randy barbecued chicken, and I was happy to see that he did not grill vegetables too. That is not a slur on Randy's barbecuing ability, but there is an art to vegetarian barbecue. I have appeased too many meat-eaters by choking down the charred yet half-raw vegetables they threw on the grill especially for me. If you invite a vegetarian to a barbecue, do what Randy and Lorraine did and serve lots of great side dishes.

I enjoyed fresh corn on the cob, black beans, creamy noodles, green salad - a great vegetarian meal.

The next morning we drove south to Maryland's western shore to visit Susan and Rich. Susan sang at our wedding in Montreal in 1998, and we'd only seen her once since. This was the first time I had visited her stables and riding arena, and met the horses.

For dinner we went to Solomons Island and ate on the pier watching the sunset.

When my mother and I drove from Montreal to South Carolina in 1986, traveling as a vegetarian was a real challenge. Everyone served seafood and french fries. Salads were iceberg lettuce with a wedge of tomato if you were lucky. Even fancy restaurants had limited options. Further inland, vegetable soup had beef in it.

I'm happy to report that times have changed for the better. We ate at a place called Solomons Pier. Larry had crab cakes - his favorite - and I had a great salad (although a litttle too heavy on the dried cranberries) with feta and pecans for protein. We all shared an order of hush puppies - gotta have something fried - which were really good.

I was sorry we only had one night to spend on the Maryland shore, but we were on a schedule. Next stop Baltimore.