I am curious if any of you know of any vegetarians or vegans that have hiked the A.T. and have also posted a journal. I would like to learn about how the diet impacted their hiking and how available vegetarian/vegan foods are in the various towns along the way. Thanks!
AIucci
I have read several journals (the names elude me at the moment) who have hiked the AT. They did not seem to have any problems but required a little more care in mail drops. Things like TVP are hard to find in trail towns. I also read a few journals where the vegetarian life style was suspended during the hike. These hikers felt that they were hungry all the time and not getting enough fat and protien that their bodies craved. I am not a vegetarian but think that these people were not eating the correct mix of vegetarian fare as other vegetarians are able to complete the hike with no problems. If you do a search of the Forum this subject has been talked about before.
Big B
I hiked last year for a while with Chef Vegan, a young man from Michigan I believe who had pre-packaged all of his vegan fare and had it maildropped to him. Although I’m not a strict veggie, I had TVP and olive oil in each mail drop that I added to my noodles, ate a protein bar daily (with soy), and drank a soy protein drink (warm or cold) each evening that I think helped a lot. If you’re young and male, be careful that you’re carrying LOTS of calories. Good luck.
Rainbow
The only person I specifically remember, although there must have been more, in 2001 that was vegan started smoking cigars on the trail. How odd, I thought.
Read the first part of Tom Brown’s Wild Medicinal Guide.
Tha Wookie
I am a vegetarian and remained a vegetarian on my hike of the AT. I found myself carrying fresh fruits and vegetables when I could afford the weight, as well as relying on nuts and seeds for proteins. Remember that, when combined, beans and rice create a complete protein which is good for the vegetarian hiker. (See Zatarain’s New Orleans Red Beans and Rice). I also relied heavily on maildrops.
A good friend of my mine who hiked the AT in 2003 was both vegan as well as allergic to wheat and she made it to Katahdin.
Nightfever
I became a vegetarian at the age of 13 (I’m 23 now) and I decided to take a “vegetarian vacation” for 1 year including the time that I’m on the trail, the trail being a major deciding factor.
There are a lot of reasons why I decided to do this, vegetarianism is a very personal choice, and I don’t think anyone should be given flack for being, or not being a veg, but here are my reasons. Sustaining non-vegetarian food will be much easier to acquire on the trail (think fast food). Non-vegetarian food is cheaper (in general) than veg food, and I won’t be working for 6 months. I don’t want to turn down trail magic. I had honestly forgotten what a lot of meat had tasted like after so long and needed a reminder of what I was missing and why I was missing it. And finally being veg 9 out of every 10 years is healthier for me and my environment than not at all.
I did make sure to set a firm date for returning to vegetarianism after I get back from the trail, and as odd as it sounds, I have trouble remembering that I’m not vegetarian anymore a lot of the time. When I read a menu at a restaurant my mind instanly filters out the non-veg items.
I can’t stress enough that vegetarianism is a personal choice, and these were MY reasons and MY decision, it’s very possible to do the trail as a vegetarian and one should make his/her decision based on his/herself.
Wyatt (as yet trailnameless)
I am going to be hiking the trail this year as a vegan. I have made a trailjournal. I spoke with Chef Vegan’s girlfriend a few times, and she answered a lot of questions.
Blake
VeganBlake
My wife is meat free, except for seafood. We through hiked with no ned to adjust our normal diets. Although we did have a pack of tuna once in a while. If you are vegetarian, it is not a problem at all. Good planning gives you better food in general. As mentioned above, things like tvp, dehydrated/freeze dried veggies are nice to have on-hand.
Veganism might be harder to pull off, although I am willing to bet that most of our dinners were vegan. Things like gelatin and chocolate would be harder to get around for me.
Presto
If you plan to do maildrops, or a combo of maildrops and buying in town, you may want to check out:
They specialize in lightweight, organic foods in environmentally-friendly packaging that you only need to boil water to enjoy. Many of their items are vegetarian, some are vegan. They sell lunch-size portions and backpacking-size portions (the owner is a backpacker).
More expensive than Lipton’s, less expensive than Mountain House–and better for you. Supplemented with other items you can buy in a supermarket or health food store, IMO a Mary Jane’s Farm-rich trail diet will be sufficient and tasty.
Skyline
Try Pack Lite Foods WWW.Packlitefoods.com.They carry a variety of prepackaged vegetarian dinners.Just add hot water,designed to be cooked in a single pot.I’am not vegan but like them because are very low in salt,no MSG or sulfites and they taste good 
old&in the way
I dehydrated most all my food in 2004. Check it out: http://www.traildawg.com/. Feel free to ask me any questions.
Traildawg
traildawg
Thanks for the feedback! I have a lot of info to sort through.
After posting my original question I found the search area on the bottom of the page. I found a lot of additional info. This newsgroup is a great resource.
Thanks again
aiucci
Vegetarians may not have as much body fat as meat eaters. I became a vegetarian during and after one of my hikes and it helped in weight management. Regardless of meat/no meat diets, most hikers lack enough protein intake. Real important is vitamin supplementing as the days along the trail add up, your immune system changes and your resistance is lowered. Perfect absorption means at max 6-9% of amino acids/vitamins are absorbed into your system. I think that you can really create a healthly exper. with some research and thought. Making your own pasta with protein added can help keep the actual cost low while maintaining good health. Ramen noodles are basically chemicals and macaroni and cheese is synthetic too. Have a great hike,Mike
mike