trip to mexico

[Guest guest]

My name is Merrie and I am joining this list group to learn more to help my daughter who is vegan. She is to go on a mission trip with our church youth group to Mexico. Has anyone gone to Mexico and if so are there plenty of food choices that do not have animal products in them ? She is going to a fairly rural area. Also are soy products readily available ?

 

Her youth pastor is concerned that my daughter would offend the host if she does not eat what is placed in front of her. I am trying to get him to fully scope out the situation first before jumping to conclusions. He wanted her to start eat meat and animal products here in the US such that it would not be an issue there. This is not going to happen and personally I feel is an unreasonable request as clearly he is not educated.

 

Does anyone have any good alternatives or suggestions that are doable ? The situation is that they are staying at a mission and there will be a group of nuns cooking. I thought of having her volunteer in the kitchen such that she could also prepare food that she could eat and also making a donation such that more fruits and vegetables could be added to the meal. Also to find out if there is a local open air market.

 

Does anyone know if you can take packaged foods across the border ? I know you can't take fresh foods.

 

Any help would be appreciated. My daughter really wants to go on this mission trip and if we can't come up with reasonable accommodations she may not be allowed to go ( youth pastor said this). Needless to say we are quite upset about this and need to be able to present some reasonable accommodation plan. My feeling too is that before jumping to hasty conclusions on his part if he could check out the situation more that would give us a better idea of what conditions we are dealing with.

 

He seems to think basically everything is cooked in lard and meat is virtually in everything. Also he is concerned about offending anyone and gave an example of he was given eggs which was hard to come by on one of the areas he went to on a mission trip and he had to eat it or risk offending the host. I also told him that in my own instance I am very allergic to eggs and would not have been able to eat them in that situation and I would have had to politely explain that to my host.

 

I am not interested in bashing the youth pastor. I do disagree with how he is handling the situation. I am just looking for concrete doable suggestions and questions he could pose to our host to further check out the situation.

 

Thanks for any help that can be given. I would especially appreciate hearing from anyone who is vegan and has gone to Mexico.

 

Thanks again.

 

 

Merrie BooneSilver Dream ArabiansProgram based on our cherished broodmare PR Silver Dream (* Silver Vanity x Landi) 99.57 % ECAHS certifiedWe miss her greatly....Visit our beautiful crabbet Arabians on our websitehttp://mywebpages.comcast.net/merriesheik

[Guest guest]

depends

how long is she going for, and where?

i am doubtful soy is going to be plentiful...

While it is true that lard is used to cook tons of things, there are loopholes.

I've actually had some of the tastiest vegan dishes while in mexico. The key is communication, as in most things in life.

If you/she are afraid of dishonoring someone, i guess since it is a church group u can't use the "its against my religion to eat fleash", but begging out because you are allergic is an easy way to save face for both parties.

Again, communication...

since she is going to a rural region, the food is going to be prepared right then, right now..so, she can give her input, and will see exactly wot is going into the meal

wish her well

here are some links

http://www.ivu.org/latin-america.html

http://www.vegetarian-restaurants.net/NorthAmer/Mexico.htm

http://www.happycow.net/north_america/mexico/index.html-----Original Message----- Merrie Boone Feb 14, 2005 4:25 AM vegan chat trip to mexico

 

My name is Merrie and I am joining this list group to learn more to help my daughter who is vegan. She is to go on a mission trip with our church youth group to Mexico. Has anyone gone to Mexico and if so are there plenty of food choices that do not have animal products in them ? She is going to a fairly rural area. Also are soy products readily available ?

 

Her youth pastor is concerned that my daughter would offend the host if she does not eat what is placed in front of her. I am trying to get him to fully scope out the situation first before jumping to conclusions. He wanted her to start eat meat and animal products here in the US such that it would not be an issue there. This is not going to happen and personally I feel is an unreasonable request as clearly he is not educated.

 

Does anyone have any good alternatives or suggestions that are doable ? The situation is that they are staying at a mission and there will be a group of nuns cooking. I thought of having her volunteer in the kitchen such that she could also prepare food that she could eat and also making a donation such that more fruits and vegetables could be added to the meal. Also to find out if there is a local open air market.

 

Does anyone know if you can take packaged foods across the border ? I know you can't take fresh foods.

 

Any help would be appreciated. My daughter really wants to go on this mission trip and if we can't come up with reasonable accommodations she may not be allowed to go ( youth pastor said this). Needless to say we are quite upset about this and need to be able to present some reasonable accommodation plan. My feeling too is that before jumping to hasty conclusions on his part if he could check out the situation more that would give us a better idea of what conditions we are dealing with.

 

He seems to think basically everything is cooked in lard and meat is virtually in everything. Also he is concerned about offending anyone and gave an example of he was given eggs which was hard to come by on one of the areas he went to on a mission trip and he had to eat it or risk offending the host. I also told him that in my own instance I am very allergic to eggs and would not have been able to eat them in that situation and I would have had to politely explain that to my host.

 

I am not interested in bashing the youth pastor. I do disagree with how he is handling the situation. I am just looking for concrete doable suggestions and questions he could pose to our host to further check out the situation.

 

Thanks for any help that can be given. I would especially appreciate hearing from anyone who is vegan and has gone to Mexico.

 

Thanks again.

 

 

Merrie BooneSilver Dream ArabiansProgram based on our cherished broodmare PR Silver Dream (* Silver Vanity x Landi) 99.57 % ECAHS certifiedWe miss her greatly....Visit our beautiful crabbet Arabians on our websitehttp://mywebpages.comcast.net/merriesheik

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[Guest guest]

Merrie,

 

It's been years since I was in Mexico and I wasn't a vegetarian at the time, but I have visited other Latin American countries and have found that meat is considered a luxury item and is not readily available to the poor. Tell your daughter to expect lots (and lots) of beans.

 

I'm sure other people on this list can be more helpful than me.

 

Good luck!

 

Love,

Anna

 

 

 

 

-

Merrie Boone

vegan chat

2/14/2005 5:58:00 AM

trip to mexico

 

My name is Merrie and I am joining this list group to learn more to help my daughter who is vegan. She is to go on a mission trip with our church youth group to Mexico. Has anyone gone to Mexico and if so are there plenty of food choices that do not have animal products in them ? She is going to a fairly rural area. Also are soy products readily available ?

 

Her youth pastor is concerned that my daughter would offend the host if she does not eat what is placed in front of her. I am trying to get him to fully scope out the situation first before jumping to conclusions. He wanted her to start eat meat and animal products here in the US such that it would not be an issue there. This is not going to happen and personally I feel is an unreasonable request as clearly he is not educated.

 

Does anyone have any good alternatives or suggestions that are doable ? The situation is that they are staying at a mission and there will be a group of nuns cooking. I thought of having her volunteer in the kitchen such that she could also prepare food that she could eat and also making a donation such that more fruits and vegetables could be added to the meal. Also to find out if there is a local open air market.

 

Does anyone know if you can take packaged foods across the border ? I know you can't take fresh foods.

 

Any help would be appreciated. My daughter really wants to go on this mission trip and if we can't come up with reasonable accommodations she may not be allowed to go ( youth pastor said this). Needless to say we are quite upset about this and need to be able to present some reasonable accommodation plan. My feeling too is that before jumping to hasty conclusions on his part if he could check out the situation more that would give us a better idea of what conditions we are dealing with.

 

He seems to think basically everything is cooked in lard and meat is virtually in everything. Also he is concerned about offending anyone and gave an example of he was given eggs which was hard to come by on one of the areas he went to on a mission trip and he had to eat it or risk offending the host. I also told him that in my own instance I am very allergic to eggs and would not have been able to eat them in that situation and I would have had to politely explain that to my host.

 

I am not interested in bashing the youth pastor. I do disagree with how he is handling the situation. I am just looking for concrete doable suggestions and questions he could pose to our host to further check out the situation.

 

Thanks for any help that can be given. I would especially appreciate hearing from anyone who is vegan and has gone to Mexico.

 

Thanks again.

 

 

Merrie BooneSilver Dream ArabiansProgram based on our cherished broodmare PR Silver Dream (* Silver Vanity x Landi) 99.57 % ECAHS certifiedWe miss her greatly....Visit our beautiful crabbet Arabians on our websitehttp://mywebpages.comcast.net/merriesheikTo send an email to -

[Guest guest]

Err.. at the risk of causing offence, I think your "youth pastor" is being....a little bit silly.

 

I know it was a while ago that I went to Mexico, and attitudes and culture do change over time, but on the whole the Mexicans were some of the most hospitable people you could wish to meet. Can't speak highly enough of them (second only to Hungarians, but that's another story).

 

As Fraggle suggests, communication is the key. And in a country dominated by corn and maize as a food staple, I would assume most things were cooked in corn oil.

 

Check with the nearest Mexican embassy or consulate to see if you can take packaged food, if you think you'll need it. However, when I was there people bent over backwards to make veggie food for me, and fresh fruit was always plentiful.

 

I would suggest that your problem isn't with Mexican culture, but with the youth pastor. He obviously doesn't understand veganism and doesn't want to.

 

Good luck, and I hope your daughter gets to enjoy Mexico as much as I did.

 

Cheers

 

Adrian

 

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