Today we feature our latest interviewee Lucas Spiegel, founder of Earth and Eats and Haven Hearts which is a vegan dog treat business that donates all its profits to animal sanctuaries. Lucas is one of those people who left their jobs to travel the world. He spent 22 months circling the globe and volunteering in animal sanctuaries. In this interview, he shares his travel experiences, the vegan food scene in some of the places he visited, and some great tips and advice on traveling as a vegan.

Q: How long have you been vegan? When and why did you decide to make the switch?

I've been vegan for going on 25 years. I had been vegetarian for a few years before that and decided it would be more consistent with my values. So I decided to try it for a week, and here I am! This was before the internet as we know it existed, so my decision was based largely on a general sense of justice and compassion. I also read Peter Singer's Animal Liberation around that time, which was profoundly influential and informative. Despite the wealth of information out there today, I'd still recommend that book to everyone.

Q: What was it like to leave your architecture job and spend 22 months circling the globe?

It was terrifying! And exhilarating, exhausting, eye-opening, and life-changing! I didn't set out to "find myself," but of course it's impossible to go on a trip like that and not come back a changed person. Outwardly I made some big decisions: not to go back to architecture, and instead to pursue projects which I feel more passionately about. I'm currently starting a vegan dog treat business named Haven Hearts, that donates 100% of profits to animal sanctuaries. And inwardly it was absolutely transformational. Many of the ways in which traveling — especially solo traveling, has affected me are things I'm still processing. I'm actually working on a book in order to share my experiences and lessons (and some of the 17,000 photos I took!). The writing process has been a great way to crystallize my experiences and it has helped me to integrate many of the things I learned into my life.

Q: Where did you go first and how long did you stay there?

My first stop abroad was Australia, where I stayed for three months. In order to afford three months in such an expensive country, I spent two months with HelpX hosts — staying with local families and working in their homes/farms/businesses in exchange for room and board. This included a nudist banana farm, a permaculture "food forest," and a home business making tempeh from scratch. They were all highlights, and allowed me to spend the rest of the time touring the southeast coast in a camper van and still coming in under budget.

Q: You spent almost 2 years traveling. What was the longest time you’ve spent in one place?

The longest I stayed in one place was probably my first HelpX host in Tasmania, Australia. I was there for about five weeks. The longest time I spent in one country was six months in India, but I visited dozens of places in that time.

Q: Can you name some of the most vegan-friendly places you have visited?

I would say India is the most vegan-friendly place in the world, hands down. In six months there I think I ate at restaurants which also served meat only about three or four times. I was so spoiled! Communication and access to information can be a challenge, but the amount of veg food is mind-boggling. And although dairy is a big part of their culinary tradition, vegetable oil is cheaper than butter or ghee, so unless you're eating at fancy restaurants you often have to pay extra for the non-vegan version! Plus the food in India is some of the most delicious in the world, and each region has a different cuisine! In most of the world, the Indian food you find at restaurants is a version of Punjab State's dishes, but the country has so much more to offer! And if you're there in the summer you can just eat mangoes all day—and they're the most incredible mangoes ever to grace your lips...

Vietnam also has a huge amount of vegan food which, like India, is incredibly good and incredibly cheap. While their traditional cuisine is meat-heavy, there are Buddhist vegetarian restaurants — which are generally 90-100% vegan — almost everywhere in the country. Beyond that, Japan has more than you'd think, if you know where to look, Thailand, of course, is excellent, Italy is actually getting much better, and of course Berlin and Amsterdam. Oh, and there's more vegan food in New York than you can eat in a lifetime.

Q: What was the toughest place for you so far to be a vegan traveler?

Cambodia was one of the worst. If you're in Siem Reap there are some good options, and you'll find others sprinkled throughout the rest of the country, but the traditional cuisine is very meat-centric, and honestly not that good in my experience. Street food is 90% just meat on a stick.

Ironically, with all the amazing vegan food, Vietnam was also probably the hardest place for me to travel. For a number of reasons, the meat trade (including dogs) is on full display there, even more so than other Asian countries I visited. There is so much that I loved about the country, including the food, the people, and the landscape, but in most parts of the country, it's hard to go a day without seeing a poor animal caged, being killed, being transported to their death, or dead and on display. This was much harder to deal with than any hunger pangs I felt while searching for vegan food.

Q: What are some of the best vegan dishes you’ve had and where did you find them?

There is a vegan family in rural western Japan I stayed with, and eating the food they prepared three times a day was an enormous privilege (one I wrote about on my blog). The care and intention they put into everything they do is just incredible, and cooking is no exception. In Thailand, there is a street food called "khanom krok," which are basically fried coconut cream pudding balls. I ate an absurd amount of them. India provided too many food highlights to count. I'm a total sucker for jalebi; they pipe dough straight into the deep fryer, making little curlicues, then transfer them straight into a bath of citrus and cardamom infused sugar syrup. When they're fresh they are hot, crispy, and exploding with syrupy sweetness. (They are vegan most of the time, especially when made by street vendors.) And I can't get enough of the south Indian "dosa," a huge savory crepe made from dal and rice, which is crispy, chewy, and fluffy, stuffed with seasoned potatoes and served with spicy lentil/veggie soup and coconut chutney. In fact, I might even open my own dosa truck someday, as they're almost impossible to find in the US! I also have to mention the homemade pizza they made in a wood-fired oven every week at the Ippoasi farm animal sanctuary I volunteered at in Pisa, Italy—what a treat! They also took me to a fancy, all-vegan restaurant in neighboring Livorno, which blew my socks off! Fancy is not usually my style, but at 23 Euros for four mind-blowing courses, plus wine, it was a steal.

Q: What inspired you to create your website Earth and Eats?

My original plan was to collect vegan recipes around the world and write a cookbook upon my return. That's basically how my blog started out, but as my trip evolved it became much more about my time volunteering at animal sanctuaries, various other experiences which affected me profoundly, and my internal process through it all. As it evolved it became a project that was much more meaningful to me personally. I had thought about trying to make money from it but decided I'd rather just write once/month, and about things I felt were really worth sharing (not just hotel reviews and the like). In the end, it became something I'm really proud of.

Q: Are you originally from Oregon? Tell us about the vegan food scene there.

Oregon has an incredible vegan scene, particularly in Portland and Eugene. When in Portland there is no shortage of options, your only limitations are your budget and the size of your stomach! There are also around eight farm animal sanctuaries in the Oregon/Portland area, and a big community of vegans and animal rights activists. Not to encourage people to move here—remember it rains for about 9 months out of the year! But please, do visit!

Q: What would be your advice to vegan travelers?

I would say do your research and be prepared, but it's not as hard as you might think. I'd say don't be an entitled ass about it (good advice for traveling in general), but don't be afraid of sticking to your values. People will be understanding if you're gracious and communicative about it.

And one random tip: especially in developing countries where options can be sparse at times, bring a small rice cooker! I got that idea from a vegan I met in Hanoi, and brought one with me for the month I spent driving a motorbike through Vietnam. It was a lifesaver! No matter how small a village I was staying in, I could always find rice, dal, fresh veggies, and often fresh tofu, at the local market. Throw it in the rice cooker with some ginger, coconut, and soy sauce, and I had a delicious meal in 30 minutes! Make that sticky rice, and sweet coconut, topped with a fresh mango, and now you've got a mouth-watering breakfast.

And this isn't vegan-specific, but as long as I'm giving advice... Bring a Steripen, or other water purification system! I used my Steripen to purify water every day I was in a country without clean tap water (nearly a year!). That's like 700 plastic bottles I didn't have to buy and throw away. In many places, they don't have recycling, or even garbage collection, so bottles end up on the ground, in nature, or burned in piles. It's a huge problem that you don't have to contribute to with a little planning.

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