The other weekend I attended my first San Francisco Giants baseball game at AT&T Park. I had heard they had vegan hot dogs. Not that I eat hot dogs all that much but it’s pretty cool to be able to have one sitting at the ballpark just like everyone else.
To my dismay, when I asked to confirm that it’s vegan, the counter person said it’s not. Knowing I was going to the game, I had done my homework on vegan options there. I even made a note of the closest vegan food to my seating section. So I asked what makes it not vegan – does it have egg?
They brought out the ingredients list for me to look at and it’s a Field Roast Frankfurter, of course that’s vegan. It’s a good hot dog – I haven’t tried it before even though it’s available at Whole Foods for awhile now. It’s made from vital wheat gluten which I prefer over the soy based ones. The texture seems better.
I also got garlic fries because you really can’t go to AT&T Park and not get the fries. They’re not the super crispy kind. They’re pretty soft but still delicious and garlicky. The food came out quick but it was probably because it was on the early side and there wasn’t a line yet. It’s captive audience pricing though, with the five dollar bottle of water, my hot dog and fries lunch ended up being just under 20 bucks.
I didn’t look for any other vegan options, I’m sure there’s other items. From my seat, this is the view of the players warming up before the game. It’s way more interesting experiencing the game in person than watching it on tv; I didn’t want to miss any of the action wandering around looking for something else to eat. Although there’s a handy interactive map of the park amenities on the Giants website that show locations of food/drink by level and section.
A helpful site for finding veggie options at various ballparks:
Veggie Happy MLB Venue Vegetarian Guide
Oh no! It sounds like the staff needs more time to be fully versed about vegan options. Of course, Field Roast Frankfurters are vegan, I bet they are tasty….miam! :) Garlic fries..hmmm….I would eat loads of em! Knowing that it is expensive to eat at the games, it reminds me of how expensive water and food are at the airports. It’s ridiculous >_<
Phew! I thought at the start this was going to be a tragic tale of a person being denied vegan hotdogs. Glad to hear it was a mixup – I guess it’s better to get it wrong by telling you it wasn’t vegan when it was, rather than telling you it was vegan and then finding out later it had animal ingredients in. (still, getting it right would be better all round!) I REALLY like the look of those fries too!
Those fries look delicious! I am a huge Giants fan. It’s nice to know that there are vegan options at the ball park.
wow this sounds awesome! i kind of want to go to a game just for the food! those garlic fries need to me in my stomach right now!
I like when places will actually let you read the ingredients! And I love me a good vegan hotdog!
I was just talking to someone yesterday about baseball games, and she said she hates them. The only reason she goes is for the garlic fries! I’m not willing to go to a game for some, but I think I should make some right here in my kitchen — in the oven, of course. :) I’ll eat deep-fried stuff elsewhere, but I can’t stand to fry things at home. Weird?
And did you enjoy the game?
Thank goodness that person was mistaken- I love field roast, and the idea of getting one of their franks at a legitimate ball game is so perfect. What a big step forward for vegan-kind!
Thanks everyone for your comments. :-)
Andrea – Yup, I’ll eat fried things but I’m much too lazy to deep fry anything at home.
I did enjoy the game, the home team are the world champions so they’re somewhat familiar from being on the local news a lot. It’s makes it much more interesting than just watching a couple of random teams play. It’s a bummer they didn’t win the game though.