Friday, April 12, 2013

HEALTHY DINING: San Francisco Airport



I'm going to begin with our trip to England in the Summer 2012. We left from San Francisco Airport and here is my journal entry from that day:

June 10, 2012
San Francisco Airport
International Terminal
United Airlines

Wow! How disappointing SFO was this trip for veggie food options and healthy choices. I thought San Francisco was the utmost in healthy eating /healthy living places, so I had high hopes for healthy food choices at the airport. Our flight to England was on United Airlines and unfortunately  we were at the United Airlines International Terminal 5 hours early (turned out to be over 7 hours since the plane was VERY late). Strolling down the row of food choices next to the gates there were only about 6 choices. There was an Il Forniaio, Italian of course, which served only panini sandwiches, none of which were vegan and I did not even see a "just cheese" sandwich for vegetarians. They offered no hot dishes such as pizza or pasta. Very disappointing .Next was a Japanese restaurant that did not have any vegetarian dishes except a small bowl of edamame. Hard to believe. Finally, we ventured down the row near Gate 94 to a Mexican Restaurant called Andale, which actually offered a tiny Vegetarian menu of 4 items (see photo) but we were thrilled to see it. The prices were expensive (around $10 per entree) and portions were small, but we did find a tofu burrito and taco. Since we had 7 hours to wait before our flight left (see story under United Airlines) I sadly decided to visit the bar at Andele before we ordered food. Big mistake. Not only were the margueritas more expensive than the meal ($13 each for Marguerita rocks, I stupidly didn't ask the price before I ordered) but they were VERY strong. Too strong for someone getting on an 11 hour flight. Alcohol is the enemy on an airplane flight (http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/features/airport-germs-healthy-travel?page=2) causing added dehydration and a general feeling of being unwell. It was unusual for me to drink at all, but I was feeling in "happy travel" mood and we did have several hours to go before we boarded. In the end,  I chose not to finish my drink (good bye $6.00!). We all ordered some veggie tacos, which were fine but bland and were a very meager portion. I think a burrito would have been a better choice. They also had a salsa bar which we did not see until we were leaving. That might of helped with the bland-ness of the meal.

All in all I would rate this place 7 out of 10. Normally probably 5 out of 10, but we were so happy to find a vegetarian/vegan option, it gets a few more points.

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