Vegan Eats on the Winter Wonderland Megavaction

Matt and I have been plant-based for about fifteen years and we have done a lot of traveling in that time.  As a result, we're pretty savvy about eating well on the road.  Often we still cook for ourselves because we enjoy cooking and it is so cheap and easy to DIY.  Vegan options on restaurant menus are increasingly easy to find when we don't feel like cooking though and that's really cool.  I mean, shoot, I had an impossible burger at a diner in the middle of rural Wyoming on the way back from Roger Waters!  My go-to on the road is to find an Asian restaurant, especially a Thai one*. In more urban areas Matt often checks to see if they have any vegan restaurants since that is still quite a novelty for us.  That's how we found Watercourse Foods, say, and how I learned about breakfast pizza.  

Matt, me, and the first blush of sunset at the north entrance to YNP.  

Cooking is not allowed in the rooms at the Old Faithful Snow Lodge so that was out as a way to feed ourselves--though there is a mini fridge in each room so that gave us some more flexibility.  During the winter season, there are two restaurant options at Old Faithful:  the Geyser Grill and the Obsidian Dining Room.  The former is casual and the latter more upscale.  They both have vegan options, but we didn't want to rely on them for every meal for four days.  That seemed repetitive and expensive. 

I quite enjoyed the view from our window at the snow lodge.  We were on the third floor.  It allowed a nice perspective of the steamy geyser basin and mountains in the distance with the skating rink and Visitor's Center in the foreground.  It was grand.

So, Matt and I pondered food that fulfilled some rather specific criteria in preparation for the trip.  What vegan menu could we plan that required no cooking and was:

• delicious and satisfying
• nutrient-dense and balanced
• able to travel through a variety of temperatures, including extreme cold because the luggage truck is unheated
• able to survive in a suitcase that would get stacked with/under a bunch of other suitcases in the luggage truck
• varied so it's not the exact same thing every time
• suitable for any meal of the day--breakfast, lunch, or dinner
• easy to prepare and clean up

The answer we came up with was twofold: vegan charcuterie boards and tortilla wraps.  And it was genius if I do say so myself.  ...which I do!

Gazing at geysers across the Firehole River.

Full credit to Matt for putting it all together.  100%.  He made several spectacular types of seitan--turkey, pepperoni, and chorizo styles.  He made cashew cheeses and bought a block of Daiya's gouda.  There were three kinds of nuts-- salted mixed nuts, chili-lime cashews, and Kind bars.  He rounded that all off with wheat crackers, flour tortillas, and Honeycrisp apples.  We brought along some sweet treats, too-- fig bars and chocolate-covered peanut butter cookies from Winco (which are accidentally vegan and absurdly cheap, by the way).  The seitan and cheese were securely stored in aluminum foil and zip-top plastic bags before getting packed into our luggage.

A full array for brunch complete with a pair of mimosas is in the Yellowstone cups at the back.  We brought some champagne in a can plus one itty-bitty can of orange juice to make the mimosas. I kept them in my personal bag on the snowcoach so they didn't freeze and/or explode on the unheated luggage truck.  That was a nice treat to come "home" to after our morning being dazzled by the spectacular hoar frost, rime ice, and steam.

We ate a mixed spread of charcuterie every single day of vacation from day one in Gardiner to day seven when we returned home.  Not only was it delicious, it was incredibly filling and satisfying, too.  We'd return from tromping through the snow on the boardwalks and be having brunch less than ten minutes later.  It was easy-peasy.  Oh, it was yummy, too.  The pepperoni seitan and cashew cheese were particularly incredible.  The apples were so fresh and juicy--and not even bruised from their time in the suitcase.

We also ate at least one tortilla wrap meal each day.  This was a particularly easy and packable lunch.  We could mix and match the different cheeses and types of seitan to keep it interesting.  Matt prepared the wraps before we left the room for the day, stowing them in a plastic bag in our daypack until needed.  This was perfect for the days of exploring the upper geyser basin, traveling in the snowcoach, or the morning we spent skiing out to Lone Star Geyser. 

A brunch spread and the first of the Christmas puzzles we completed on the trip.  The first one was 500 pieces.  The second was 1,000.  The desk in our room was barely big enough.

We ate dinner in the Obsidian Dining Room twice.  We never went for breakfast or lunch.  We got food from the Geyser Grill twice, too.  We enjoyed the vegan options provided at both restaurants.  These were the options at the time of our visit.  As always, menus and ingredients change so take all this information below with a grain of salt.

Two of the eight entrees on the dinner menu in the dining room were vegan.  I was quite impressed.  That's a full 25% of the dinner options!.  Not "just" vegetarian either, but vegan as is on the menu!  Since there were two vegan entrees Matt and I could order different things and share a bite here or there.  All too often we "have to" order the same thing because it's the only vegan option on the menu.  So, that was nice.  Variety and choice, even if it was just between two things.  They were both very yummy choices!

I didn't take any photos in the dining room.  I didn't even bring my phone.  It seemed too classy for that, also too dark.  I wanted to focus on Matt and the dining experience.

Matt ordered the smoked tofu served in barbeque sauce with roasted vegetables and ancient grains.  I ordered the fire-roasted mushroom stew and a demi-baguette (which was vegan if you didn't get butter).   The first time in the dining room my soup was a bit too salty.  Though it is worth nothing that we used the baguette to sop up every last drop of the broth ...so it couldn't have been too bad, right?  The second time I ordered it the stew was simply incredible.  Savory, umami heaven in a bowl.  The roast Brussels sprouts in Matt's dish were fabulous, as were the root vegetables.  The tofu was smoky and well-cooked.  Both dishes were very tasty and enjoyable.

In the Geyser Grill, the food and dining experience are both a little more casual.  It was more like a fast food joint with a self-serve soda fountain, booths, and bright lighting.  They had a veggie burger and fries on the menu though so that did the job for us.  Matt brought us each a slice of his cashew cheese for a DIY upgrade from burgers to cheeseburgers!  He's so clever.  The bean burgers were fine, but the fries were truly excellent.  Both times the staff insisted on dropping a fresh basket of fries for us.  As such the very generous portion was always piping hot and crisp and perfect.

The name tag on this inflatable in the Geyser Grill made me smile...and get that song stuck in my head.  The staff there seemed to be having a pretty good time at work.

The walls and ceiling of the Geyser Grill were painted like the landscape outside.  Clouds, blue sky, and the billowing steam of erupting geysers were on the ceiling overhead. Critters, geysers, and the forested mountains in the distance decorated the walls.  I am really surprised I didn't take any pictures of this because I thought it was really well done.  Depending on where a person sat it was possible to watch Old Faithful erupt while munching fries.  That was cool.

Once again I didn't take any photos in the dining room.  This time it was mostly because I was famished and didn't even think of it until I was halfway through with my sandwich.

After being dropped off by the snowcoach in Mammoth on the return trip we decided to grab lunch before heading off to Chico.  The lunch menu is smaller than the dinner menu so there was just one vegan entree available in the dining room at the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel for lunch.  So we both got the tofu bahn mi sandwich.  It really hit the spot.  We ate a late lunch/early dinner from the bar menu at Chico.  They have these special house garlic fries that you could buy by the pound!  I can't believe I managed to stop at one order.  At the cabin in Gardiner kicking off the trip we really only needed dinner and breakfast.  There was both a mini fridge and microwave so Matt made tofu quiche at home which suited both purposes when reheated.  Gall dang that quiche was delish.  Unbeknownst to me, Matt packed a slice for each of us in a silicon storage bag in his backpack on the snowcoach ride down to Old Faithful.  It was a keen cold lunch at the Madison Warming Hut pit stop.

Quiche, coffee, and candy candy.  The candy canes we picked up from the hotel office--ho, ho, ho!  They were very strange, unexpected flavors though.  One was butterscotch.  The other was anise.  Weird, right?

Good food can be one of the many facets of a good vacation.  The Winter in Wonderland certainly had a lot of that alongside all the epic natural beauty and tranquility.  The options for filling, balanced, yummy vegan food from beginning to end were very satisfying.  It sure beats the plain salads or endless hummus cups of yore.  Matt and his vegan charcuterie board were brilliant.  It is a great time to be a plant-based person.  It just keeps getting better and better as the years go by.  

*I adore Thai food and find it to be a pretty veg-friendly option when eating out.  I usually order a vegetable and/or tofu stir-fry dish and ask for it to be prepared "without fish or oyster sauce, please."  Thai curries often have shrimp paste that can't be omitted because it is part of the pre-made curry paste.  As such, I just steer clear of curries by default, but a person can always ask.  In my experience, servers are very knowledgeable and helpful.