Simple travel cooking

Welcome to Wanganui! Not a lot of people come here. Well there is not much to do, but Wanganui is the starting point for the Wanganui national park and that is why I’m here;) At the hostel (Bramer house) I was really welcomed by the owner and also by the kitchen. I travel quite a lot, but I have rarely seen such good equipped kitchens as I do here in New Zealand. Check by yourself in the picture;) Well, having at your disposal such facilities there are no difficulties traveling although you are vegetarian or vegan. New Zealand declares itself as a meat eating country, but you can find many vegetables in the supermarkets. They also have special shelves for organic and gluten free food. I found also organic fresh (!!!) low fat soy milk. In my country I have never seen fresh soy milk. And it’s good indeed!

An important part of my traveling is visiting vegetarian restaurants and sometimes also shops. Usually I check the restaurants on the webpage www.happycow.com and then decide where to go. Well this time I’m traveling on budget and moreover the prices in NZ’s restaurants are quite high. Thus I have to limit this sort of activities, especially dinning out. However, in Wanganui I found an organic shop with no fresh food, but a lot of legumes, teas, cosmetics etc. I was quite surprised as there were a lot of products, which I can buy also in my country, for example products of Weleda, Dr. Hauschka etc. On the other hand I have not been able to find fruit bars. Well, I saw some candy bar, but not fruit bars (made just out of dried fruit). Thus I asked at the organic shop if they have some. Surprisingly he didn’t have any. He offered me some bar made of nuts and honey. I bought one just for curiosity. And I bought also a golden kiwi tea (tried later and it’s good). Another thing I can’t find here are the powders or tablets of isotonic drinks, like Isostar or Gatorade. You can buy already prepared drinks in the supermarkets, but powder or tablets no.

Dinner time! Today just simple pasta with small pumpkins. I just want to show you that it is very easy to travel as a vegetarian or/and to cook for yourself. As we have limited time when we are travelling it is normal that we don’t want to spend the whole day in kitchen (although it is fun;), but we have to eat. So, chop half red onion and sauté it in olive oil. Slice the pumpkin and add it after some minutes. Cook the pasta. Grade the cheese. Add the pumpkin to the pasta, season to taste and garnish with the cheese. Everything is ready in 20 minutes max! ;)