Day 16, or "Eating on the Run"

The "eat and run" mentality is something I loathe about American food culture, but I think that no matter where you live, sometimes it just can't be avoided. Yesterday morning I was pressed for time, preparing for a presentation and trying to get to class by noon. Before I became vegan, Wednesdays were days when I would just grab a sandwich up at school. That no longer being an option, I made my own sandwich but had to eat it at the bus stop in about three minutes (there's a "no food" policy on the buses here, probably wise). The sandwich was delicious, but pretty ugly, so I've chosen not to feature it here. But so you have an idea: tofu, cherry tomatoes, lettuce, and sweet mustard on a whole grain English muffin. 

Dinner was also a pretty snappy affair - in fact, it involved so much chopping that I almost ran out of time to eat it! The theme was southwest: romaine lettuce, fresh sweet corn, avocado, cherry tomatoes, black olives, and pumpkin seeds. Yum. . . 

Lastly, a note on chocolate: I googled dark chocolate to find out if it's vegan, and apparently there's a mixed opinion on the subject. Thus far I have been avoiding it, because although no animal products are listed in the ingredients, most labels say "This product may contain traces of milk." Some vegans appear to be okay with this 'compromise,' while others won't go near it. Personally, I'm going to do these next two weeks as purely as possible and avoid even 'traces' of milk. However, I did make one exception: at the Biomarkt, I found a bar of dark chocolate with hazelnuts that stated quite adamantly underneath the ingredients: "This product does not contain any milk. However, it is possible that minor traces could be detected." Sounds to me like they're just covering their bases. I'll buy that.