One of the main questions that pretty much everyone has asked me about the trip to Japan was “what did you eat?”, and it was something I was a bit apprehensive about before going there. I did a lot of research beforehand, watching lots of You Tube and following various accounts on Instagram, so I did have an idea of what to expect. When I was at Futakotamagawa parkrun, one of the runners I was chatting to noticed my Vegan Runners visor and asked me about it, and said he was vegan but was not going to be vegan for the trip as he didn’t think it was possible. (I know everyone has different reasons for being vegan, so I am not judging at all, but the thought of accidentally eating meat/fish/dairy makes me feel sick so that was not an option for me. It did make me feel sad that he thought that though, and I think it does put some people off travelling there). Anyway, I thought I’d put a couple of posts together about it as I found the things I had read very useful.
First up, Disney! We were in Tokyo for a few days before heading to Tokyo Disney, but I’ll keep it separate as otherwise it will be a super long post!
The Insta account Vegan TDR was the most useful resource, as they have listed all the vegan options in both parks.
Tokyo Disneyland
There were no vegan breakfast options in the park (I knew about this in advance- there used to be a bone shaped bread filled with sweet bean paste but that had stopped being sold before we travelled there), so I had brought with me some cereal bars and vegan croissants.
The vegan stew, the mixed green salad, the Baymax stew again and the Korean rice bowl with the Mickey carrot!
We booked one table service place, the Center Street Coffee House, to have the BayMax curry. I had to ask for the low allergen stew (not curry) and the cast member brought out an i-pad and I ticked all the allergens I wouldn’t eat (including abalone which I had to google as I had no idea what it was- it’s fish) and once I had ticked them all they confirmed that it would be suitable. They were so lovely, and the food was tasty as well as looking amazing. It’s not often that the food on the plate looks as amazing as the food on the menu!
One of our favourite dishes was a quick service meal at Plazma Ray’s Diner- a Korean rice bowl with veggies, rice, soy meat and even a Mickey shaped carrot! They do like their Mickey shaped food in Tokyo!
I had the mixed green salad from La Taverne De Gaston a few times. I like a salad and this one was full of different ingredients- seasoned beans, quinoa, sundried tomatoes, squash- it was really tasty and didn’t feel like an afterthought (looking at you Disneyland California with your lettuce and lemon juice as a “dessert”…).
Mickey and Minnie ice pops were the best! Especially when it was high 30’s the entire time!
Snacks wise the caramel popcorn was vegan so I had that a few times (so was the salt and the black pepper but I didn’t fancy trying those), as were the Mickey and Minnie ice pops. Some places did one flavour and some did both so I got to sample several over the holiday! Mickey was tropical fruit and Minnie was peach and raspberry, and they tasted like frozen fruit puree, really refreshing in the heat. A few places did fresh fruit, but we had bought some bananas from a convenience store before going there, and there were some vegan packaged snacks like potato chips and dried fruit but I didn’t get any of those.
Tokyo Disney Sea
Our first day we had a bit of a shocker as I liked the look of the tortilla sandwich, but by the time we wandered back to the restaurant, it had closed- we had failed to check the opening times! We didn’t make that mistake again- it was more like DLP rather than WDW in that respect in that food places were not open as long or as late. Although unlike DLP they did publish the times on the boards outside, we just failed to notice! So I ended up going to Cafe Portofino and having “Plant-Based Dish with Orzo, Involtini Style”- soy meat and orzo wrapped in rice paper, covered in tomato sauce and oven baked, then topped with salad. It was actually pretty good when I am not a fan of alt meats usually.
The tortilla sandwich in the Duffy packaging and also a special cup holder so your hands don’t get cold when drinking icy drinks (a Lina Bell one)– for the Duffy and friends theming of Disney Sea!
After that first day we tended to go to Miguel’s El Dorado Cantina and having the tortilla sandwich for a late lunch (a tortilla wrap filled with chilli beans, salad, tortilla chips, guacamole and crunchy cabbage)- it was spicy but good! One day I got the chips and guac but it was the teeniest amount of guac so not really worth it. Also, this came in Duffy and Friends packaging so that makes it even better!
The Casbah Food Court did a vegetable curry with naan (which was vegan) and we had that once and it was really good- not too spicy but really flavourful. The bread was so fluffy too, definitely a good option.
Sadly the plant based burger in the Snuggly Duckling was not actually vegan as the bun contained milk, so Andy had that while I just had fries plus a cereal bar (I had to eat something in the Rapunzel restaurant!). It is not easy to modify dishes and I am not sure I would have trusted that there was not milk in the sauce or burger too, so I was happy to go without (plus – see below, I had eaten a huge breakfast on that day!).
There were loads of cute snacks that were not vegan, eg the Mike melon bread, but at least there were Mickey ice pops and Baymax curry!
Tokyo Disney hotels
Due to buying a vacation package (check out TDR Explorer for info on that) we ended up in a few different Disney hotels- the Toy Story one, MiraCosta and the Disneyland hotel. MiraCosta was the only one that included breakfast, and it was a buffet and nothing was marked. So, before we went I emailed them and requested if it was possible to have a vegan breakfast. They confirmed that I would have a separate plate given to me, and when I got there they checked the allergens with me, and then I ended up with a huge amount of food- salad with olive oil, lemon and balsamic, vegetable soup, chargrilled veggies, fresh fruit and then one day vegetable pasta, and another day mushrooms in tomato sauce. They also gave me the allergen guide of the food in the buffet (but basically only more fresh fruit was suitable), so I was glad I had emailed ahead of time as it was included in our stay.
My breakfasts over the two mornings- so many delicious veggies and all freshly prepared.
Clearly there were not as many options as WDW, Disneyland or even Paris, but they were clearly marked on the menu. The menus were in English as well as Japanese, and you could order via the app which we did most of the time. I do not mind having the same thing each day (eg I had the mixed greens salad for dinner each time we were in the main park) but there was variety and a few different options. It definitely is doable and the food I had was really tasty, so if that is the one thing holding you back then I’d say go for it!
How do you manage with food when travelling if you have restrictions?
