"Sitting in Cactus Club Café, I take another sip of water while scanning the menu. Across the table, my friends are deep in discussion of what to get – crispy chicken sandwiches, fish tacos, creole crab, bacon burgers. The options are endless. And for me? I will have the garden burger. Again."
Do not get me wrong, it is a good burger. But every time I go out, I find myself wishing for something that is not a cheese pizza, a Caesar salad, or the token Beyond Meat option tucked at the bottom of the menu.
Being vegetarian in Kelowna can feel like a paradox. It is easy until it is not. You hope for variety, but you have learned not to expect much. As an international student from India, I never struggled with being a vegetarian before coming to Canada. Back home, the options were endless: home-cooked meals, street food, and entire restaurants dedicated to vegetarian cuisine. But after moving to Canada, I realized how personal and sometimes isolating that choice could feel.
Here, most of the available “vegetarian” options are vegan, made with tofu, soy, or beans. There is nothing wrong with that, but it often feels like the space between eating meat and being fully vegan goes unnoticed. In many Western countries, veganism is widely recognized and accommodated, while vegetarianism sits in a grey area, not really understood, but there.
When I first came to university, I relied heavily on campus food – Pritchard, The Well, Fusion, and Subway. Back then, I did not know much about Kelowna’s restaurants and cafes, and it was not easy to find meals that felt satisfying. Pritchard’s options were limited, and I found myself experimenting with ingredients at the salad bar to make meals seem more interesting. During exam season, my friends could grab quick burgers or wraps from fast-food chains, while I had to scroll through apps searching for vegetarian options that were usually either unavailable, overpriced, or just another burrito.
Over time, I started exploring more places around Kelowna. I slowly built my own list of favorites: Antico’s Pizza, BarBurrito, Kinton Ramen, OEB, and a handful of Indian restaurants that remind me of home. It took time to find them, and even longer to figure out where I could grocery shop for ingredients that matched what I grew up eating.
My roommate is also a vegetarian and an international student, and when I asked her what her experience has been like, her answers reflected a lot of the same frustrations and a few differences, too.
“At first, I felt a little left out,” she admitted. “Most of my friends ate meat, and I’d be the only one ordering something different. But over time, I started to see it more as a personal choice… something rooted in respect for animals and for myself.”
For her, being a vegetarian in Kelowna is both easier and harder. Easier, because plant-based options exist in most restaurants and taste good. Harder, because they are almost always the same. “The most vegetarian dishes you’ll find are burritos, pizzas, and cauliflower-or-lettuce-something,” she laughed. “There is no real variety, especially in Western or Canadian-style places. Asian, Mexican, and Indian restaurants are, of course, better.”
Cooking, she added, is another challenge altogether. “That is the hardest part,” she said. “Back home, I had variety. Here, I don’t cook as much, so I end up eating simpler food.”
On and near campus, her go-to meals are Tim Hortons’ breakfast wraps and Quesada because of how “cheap and accessible they are.” But affordability is always on her mind. “Tofu or plant-based meats are like seven dollars a pack,” she noted. “You can find them, but the cost adds up.”
Socially, vegetarianism can feel isolating, too. “You can not really share food with your friends,” she explained. “And when we eat at fancy places, I am usually limited to a twenty-dollar burger. People are mostly accepting, but some try to convince you to just try meat once or joke that I must be surviving on salads or say things like, ‘I could never give up meat.”
I laughed when she said that, because I have experienced it too. You know those jokes about vegetarians eating grass, lettuce, or “rabbit food”? They never seem to get old. There is always someone who insists we are missing out, that life without steak or wings must somehow be dull.
What people often do not realize is that being vegetarian is not about limitation or sacrifice; it is about choice. Here in Kelowna, I have learned it is more than avoiding meat – it is about navigating a food culture that was not built for you and still finding a way to make it yours.
In the end, it teaches you a few key things: how to read a menu like a detective, how to make a decent meal out of whatever groceries you have, and how to truly appreciate the rare restaurant that gets it right. It is a lifestyle that many people enjoy and willingly partake in. What matters is how you look at it.
.png){kind=small}
