Lauren: Things I Miss.

In a word: Trader Joe's. I miss their strange quirky food, meatless sausages, nut selection, hummus, cheeses, prepackaged falafels with tabbouleh, weird prepackaged Indian food -- basically everything.

I miss family and friends, but I want them here. I drink a good beer and think "So-and-so would love this" or go to a museum, walk down the streets, check out an antique bazaar and think of family and friends who would love this more than I am loving it. The architecture, events, outdoorsy things, vineyards -- each one has a corresponding person who I want to share these memories with.

But I don't want to go back to Los Angeles for family and friends. I want them to come here so I can share these interesting new things with them.

But I miss LA for the food. Being vegetarian there is, I would say, almost easier than being an omnivore. There is never not a vegetarian option. To only have two or three is even uncommon. There are vegan restaurants and raw places, not serving food cooked above 180 degrees (F).

Here there was recently the vegan animal festival where vegetarian food was sold, but other than that there's only one restaurant that sells high quality, vegetarian food and you can just eat there everyday. The only other place to buy vegetarian food is from the kids on the street, selling veggie burgers. Last time I ate one of those I ended up in the hospital (again) so that's a no go.

Here faux meat smells, tastes, and looks like dog food. To ask for something vegetarian is to say "Just chicken" or "pork." Your meatless dish will come out of the kitchen peppered with pieces of ham, beginning a long "should-I-or-shouldn't-I" conversation with yourself. Things that are normally assumed to be meatless in the states, like yogurt, come with gelatin or other weird animal by product.

It's just hard. I've taken to limiting what dishes I can order, and have been doing a lot of cooking at home. The first few weeks I was just starving, because salads for every meal arn't satisfying, but I am slowly learning to cook with different products, cut certain things out of my diet that now contain animal products (like yogurt).

Hopefully, Trader Joe's will open an international branch on the South American continent, preferably in Santiago. Until then, I'm eating a lot of nut products, and doing a lot of adjusting.

-- Lauren