In the not-too-distant past, asking for a vegan or vegetarian option on a cruise might have been greeted with a choice of a plate of steamed vegetables or a green salad. But increasingly, cruise lines are rolling out daily vegetarian menus and many are including vegan options for each course.
On the Scenic Eclipse yachts, for instance, chefs can choose from 500 vegan recipes available for use in restaurants. SeaDream Yacht Club now offers vegan dishes at every meal on every menu. And Windstar Cruises has partnered with the National Health Association to create a new vegan menu in addition to vegetarian choices for meals on all six of the small ship line’s yachts.
And it’s not just small ships, the big ships of Carnival Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean are now referring to their menus as vegan friendly.
The cruise lines are responding to the reality that there’s been a sea change in the demand for plant-based foods and a growing interest in vegan diets. (A bit of explanation for omnivores: All animal products like meat, poultry, fish, seafood, dairy and eggs are off-limits in the vegan diet, as are animal-produced foods including honey or cheese). The shift is coming from factors including health reasons, ecological sustainability and animal rights concerns.
A 2022 YouGov survey found 6 per cent of Americans identify themselves as dedicated vegetarians, and 3 per cent as vegans. But 63 per cent said they would enjoy a vegetarian meal if offered, while 29 per cent said they sometimes or often eat vegan meals. While Millennials represent the highest percentage of confirmed vegans, Gen X and Baby Boomers were just as likely to say they would choose vegan if available.
Market research is also projecting the demand could grow by 10 per cent over the next five years. And that’s grabbed cruise lines’ attention.
Here’s a look at some cruise fleets that have embraced vegan and vegetarian cuisine:
Scenic
Scenic is proud of offering plant-based entrees and vegan dishes in all its dining venues. And the Lumiere gourmet French restaurants on the yachts feature separate vegan and vegetarian menus.
A typical vegan dinner might begin with cream of local slow-cooked cauliflower, black truffles, roasted florets and flowers. Then a salad of leaf of oak lettuce, roasted walnuts and peanuts, with cherry tomato and vinaigrette or an artichoke with shallots, parsley and vegan mayo, followed by a lavender sorbet. The entrée might be an eight-grains vegan steak, with a dessert of fresh strawberries and Sicilian pistachio sorbet.
Among dishes Scenic calls its menu Rock Stars in the main Elements dining rooms is a mushroom ceviche of oyster mushroom, enoki and chili. “A great wake-up call that you don’t need fish for a great ceviche,” the line says.
Other crowd pleasers include the vegan protein Sisig, based on the taste and look of a common Filipino dish that includes plant proteins, white onion, red chili, bell pepper ginger and “vegannaise” Other globally inspired dishes are Korean Seitan Bulgogi with seitan, pear, gochujang and sesame seeds that’s described as ”the perfect example of not missing any proteins; its just a unique example for the great Korean cuisine.” And when it comes to soups, a standout is a vegan pho based on Vietnamese vegetables, rice noodles bean sprouts, fried tofu strips and herbs and spices. “Its so easy to rework around proteins, no one will miss them and your health will appreciate it,” a Scenic chef explains.
SeaDream Yacht Club
The luxury small ship line has been a pioneer in plant-based cuisine, offering the first raw foods menu at sea and introducing vegan dinner options in 2013. SeaDream’s two ships now offer vegan dishes on every menu–including “vegan eggs, vegan bacon, vegan prawns, and vegan chicken.”
In addition to vegan dining, SeaDream offers a range of other dietary options, including vegetarian, gluten-free, high-protein and pescatarian. “Other special dietary requests, including keto-friendly selections, ensure that all guests can enjoy their dining experience on board,” the company says.
Windstar Cruises
The small ship line’s culinary teams have received training on new plant-based menus that are scheduled to launch fleet-wide in June 2023. Some of the new vegan offerings include breakfast smoothies and main courses like veggie enchiladas with black bean and cilantro sauce, as well as penne rigate pasta, with crisp vegetables and Espelette pepper sauce. Dessert temptations include tahini brownies with fresh strawberries. More details are here.
AmaWaterways
On Europe’s rivers, AmaWaterways offers a vegetarian menu and while it’s not strictly vegan, any of the vegetarian options can easily be made vegan upon request, the company says.
A typical vegetarian dinner might start with a tropical booster of garden greens, marinated pineapple carpaccio, carrots julienne, sprouts, pomegranate and mango dressing, followed by a soup of sweet potatoes cream, with croutons and foam. Then comes a goat cheese vegetable strudel with tomato concassé, garden vegetable and mushroom sauce, followed with a “coffee Cappuccino ice cream with apricot brandy.”
Holland America Line
Holland America Line has an exclusive vegan/vegetarian menu available in the main dining rooms of its ships upon request. The menu each night features a choice of 20 vegetarian hot and cold starters, soups. salads, mains and desserts and 19 of them are vegan, HAL says. Among the choices are grilled Beyond Meat tacos with pimentos, grilled onion, tomatoes, cilantro, avocado and vegan cheese. Mushroom crostini features forest mushrooms, whole-wheat crostini and dried cherries.
The specialty Tamarind restaurants feature vegetarian and vegan options as well, including dan dan noodles, stir-fried tofu, celery, mushrooms, choy sum, sesame chili sauce and sweet and sour vegetable tempura scallion pancake with tamarind glaze.
The HAL buffets include multiple action stations where everything is prepared individually to order, so it’s. simple to customize salads, sushi, a stir fry and pasta dishes to keep them plant-based. Staff members are schooled in what is vegan. Even the Dive-In burger bar has a range of vegan options, including a portabella mushroom burger, a brown rice burger and Beyond Meat burgers.
Silversea Cruises
Silversea offers vegan, kosher, Ayurvedic, raw and gluten-free options on every menu. The vegan menus are prepared in a Western style which include a wide variety of vegetables and fruit, nuts, grains, plant based proteins and dairy alternatives such as tofu, soy milk, soy butter, vegetable drinks, seitan, Silversea says. “Plant based recipes carefully balance nutrients and do not contain any type of meat, fish, or animal products or by-products such as eggs, dairy products.”
Guests who want specific dietary menu items, are encouraged to contact the cruise line two months before sailing to make special requests.
Oceania Cruises
Oceania’s newest vessel, Vista is debuting new plant-based menu options, notably in the Aquamar Kitchen which specializes in fresh, wellness inspired dishes.
At breakfast, there are smoothies, cold-pressed juices and energy bowls, while at lunch the avocado toast selections and globally inspired salads and wraps promise to be “incredibly flavorful and satisfying,” Oceania says. Heartier options include an Impossible™ burger and vegetarian tacos. To reflect the wellness-inspired dishes, the beverage menu will feature a selection of premium, award-winning non-alcoholic wines, Pierre Zero, from France as well as a collection of mocktails crafted with Lyre’s non-alcoholic spirits.
Seabourn
Several vegan dishes are on offer at restaurants onboard. In the main dining room there are daily specials that are marked VG for vegan. The Collonnade buffet includes daily vegan choices as well as pasta with vegan Bolognaise. Vegan burgers are available from the grill and on the 24-hour room service menu. And breakfasts include vegan super bowls and granolas.
Princess Cruises
Princess offers a vegetarian menu on its main dining room menu every night of every sailing and can adapt to vegan on request. On a recent voyage on Sky Princess, one of the serving lines in the Marketplace buffet was dedicated to clearly labelled vegetarian and vegan dishes from appetizers to desserts. The Indian veggie curries were remarkable and a pineapple upside down cake became a go-to option for dessert.
Celebrity Cruises
On Celebrity, vegetarian menu options are noted with a leaf logo, and lactose-free choices are marked with a small blue cow with a line through it. If a menu item is designated with both a leaf and a blue cow, it’s most likely vegan. However, you should always check with your server to make sure there are no egg-based products in the meal, the line advises.
You can also use the identifiers as reference points to see what small modifications can be made to make a vegetarian or lactose-free option vegan, Celebrity adds. “For example, if you’re interested in a salad tossed with lemon yogurt vinaigrette, you could ask your server what other dressing options are available. Or ask for an entree-sized portion of a vegan starter, like soup. It’s also possible to create your own meal entirely out of vegan-friendly sides or by incorporating a meat-free, cheese-free starter.”
Regent Seven Seas Cruises
Regent prides itself on having more than 200 gourmet plant-based selections for breakfast, lunch and dinner on a 14-day menu cycle on its ships. The dishes, many of them vegan, were first introduced in 2019 reflect cuisines including Italian, Greek, Middle Eastern, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese and Mexican. Other categories include power bowls, hearty pastas and noodles, light salads and soups.
And even the biggest ships of the most mainstream cruise lines are cooking into the trends
Carnival Cruise Line describes its ships as vegan friendly and several of the restaurants and cafes but also the buffets offer a range of choices that will please vegans, the company boasts. Vegan plant-based burgers ae now on the menu at Guy’s Burger Joint venues fleetwide. While Carnival doesn’t offer soy milk as a beverage option, they do offer other non-dairy milk options, including almond milk and coconut milk.
Royal Caribbean announced it was including vegan appetizers, entrees and desserts in a revamp of its cuisine offerings that was being tested onboard Symphony of the Seas and is planned to roll out fleetwide in 2023. Royal Caribbean offers vegan options in its Windjammer Marketplace buffets at all meals–although they may not always be clearly identified as vegan–and the stir fry and Indian food stations can make vegan-friendly dishes to order. Plant-based milks are also available on request for cereal and coffee.
Whether you follow a vegan diet, a gluten-free diet, a low-sugar diet, or if you have any allergies or food restrictions, letting the cruise staff know ahead of time will assure the best food experience, all the cruise lines advise.
Story by Wallace Immen, The Cruisington Times
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