You can find vegetarian fare in PA Dutch country!

We recently made a trip to the PA Dutch country. I remember visiting as a child and really enjoying the views of the farmland and the shoefly pie. Now as a vegetarian, I knew that eating out there could prove difficult. We usually can always find salads and have even found enough veggies and side dishes at the buffets. So off we went for lunch in search of a gourmet cafe we heard had hummus wraps and veggie paninis. After travelling up and down Rt 23 in search of such a place, we gave up and ventured into downtown Lancaster since we read about a couple veggie options there. It was also their Arts Tour weekend in the downtown so there was a bit of a festive feel despite the cold and rainy day. We found a lovely little cafe, "Wish You Were Here", 108 W. Orange St, that served breakfast all day and had plenty of veggie options for us. It was warm and cozy inside and the menu was perfect for what we were looking for. I had the vegan chili and my husband had a homemade vegan sausage sandwich. Both were very yummy and gave us the warm fuzzy feeling we needed on a miserable day. For lunch the next day, we really wanted to eat at one of the famous smorgasbords so we went to Miller's in Ronks on Rt 30. We asked the host if he knew if there were many veggie dishes on the buffet and he went to get the chef himself who proceeded to show us each dish and tell us what had chicken broth, butter, cream, etc in it. We felt as though we had a personal tour of the place and we were so thankful that he took the time with us. We found plenty of choices to eat (with butter and cream - vegans might have a tougher time here although they did have a vegan soup, plenty of green salads, baked apples, sauteed squash and breads) and enjoyed sampling many local favorites. Their pies are amazing; shoefly pie, pumpkin pie, apple pie and an oatmeal pie which was sort of like the inside of the shoefly pie but with oatmeal mixed in. And they do not use lard in their crust. So the weekend went well and we were pleasantly surprised that we could find so many great eateries in such a farmy place.