I am actually an omnivore, but I eat very little meat other than fish (I require that land meat be both kosher and humanely raised, which keeps it as a special occasion food and no meat at all in restaurants). However, I eat quite a lot of fish -- I am always trying to cut down on my fish consumption for environmental reasons, but it seems like every time I switch from brown-rice-sushi to vegetarian weekday lunches, I lose control of my weight again. This cycle has been going on for YEARS. Does anyone have any good tips on low-carb, vegetarian lunch foods that can be gotten at lunchtime in Manhattan?

(At home I eat organic dairy and eggs. I'm not ruling out dairy and eggs at lunch, but I'd prefer to go vegan at lunchtime since the animal products are certain to be from "factory farms". Any cuisine is cool, or great salad ideas with no animal products, or whatever. But please don't advise me to bring food from home -- anything that further complicates my already insane schedule is just a nonstarter. I'm not trying to be stubborn, I'm just trying to set realistic goals for myself based on my experience to date.)

Any pointers on where to find good info about which fruits/vegetables are better/worse would be helpful, too -- both for making wise choices at a salad bar, and because at dinnertime, my husband cooks whatever the CSA sends, and I generally eat that whatever it is, but have little sense of when that is a great idea and when maybe not so much.

Thanks for any advice/insight.

I am not sure how low carb you want to go, but Baba ganoush can be pretty low carb depending on how much tahini is in there. it is great on salad greens and/or with raw veggies and good quality olives. most middle eastern delis sell it in 8oz containers (enough for a few days as it is very rich). Then you just get the veggies off a salad bar. Probably a lot of delis would sell both. An indian buffet may have a spinach paneer (although it is not vegan) or curried caulflower. bet you could talk a nicer Chinese carryout into stir frying tofu and spinach or green beans with some chilis and ginger (no other sauce though!)

wow, you have so many amazing restraunts with vegan menus! I googled manhattan and came up with tons!

http://www.redbamboo-nyc.com/menu.html

http://www.citidex.com/6465.htm

Goodluck finding something. All I can say is that I'm jealous of all that variety. (and I thought I lived in a veggie friendly town..)

Oh, absolutely no shortage of vegan food! The problem is the low-carb aspect. For example, today I am having Indian food delivered to my office, for purposes of eating it tonight with my family at home, and I figured that while I was at it I would have them send a dosa too and call it lunch. But I just checked and as best as I can figure out, a single serving has 88 g. carbs. Another thing I often order or pick up is Israeli salad bar items, but it turns out that hummus and chickpeas, which I feel I need to include for protein, are very high-carb. So I have decided that I am going to get the no-bread mozzerella sandwich I just discovered at Pret-a-Manger -- reasonably low carb, and made with organic cheese, but not vegan, as would be my preference.

I don't know how some of you low-carb vegan folks do it, but I tip my hat to you.

If it helps any, I found the South Beach Diet to be VERY vegetarian friendly...I use lots of Quorn products to avoid any side-effects from soy. I'd say just use left-overs from dinner...

For indian, I LOVE palak paneer (it's a cheesy spinach dish- obviosuly that is not vegan though). I just eat it with a spoon and skip the rice.... indian can be tough for low carb veggies!

For a deli, I'd go the salad bar route- you can load up on green veggies, and add soem "treats" like olives, artichoke hearts, hearts of palm, tofu, cheese or eggs if you want to go non-vegan.....

Try calorieking.com for nutr. info on just about everything!!!

If at a veggy cafe place, I love tofu scramble!!!!

A veggy burger (ditch the bun and ask for veggies on the side instead of fries) if at a casual kinda place like TGI Fridays or a bar kinda place....

I LOVE omlettes, but again that isn't vegan....

ooh- at chinese, I'd go with steamed veggies and tofu, garlic sauce on side. I also love moo shu veggies, and skip the sauce/pancakes....

Japanese- miso soup, green tea, and a side salad (bring dressing- the traditional orange one is loaded with sugar!). Edamame is great.

I LOVE middle eatern- not all vegan again, but I love:
tzatiki (ask for cucumber slices instead of pita)
greek salad
baba gnoiush and cucumber/tomato slices
that roasted egg plant appetizer....nevevr remmeber the real name!
grilled halloum (cheese)

good luck!!!!