If you hadn’t been clued in before your trip to Cody, the billboards proclaiming “Wyoming is beef country!” will convey the message: This is not a top destination for vegans. However, traveling vegan in Cody can be done, and it’s well worth doing. This town of 10,000 has extreme history. After an hour of touring around, you’ll be on a first name basis with Buffalo Bill Cody, founder of the town in 1896, and after a day you’ll feel like you’ve known him your whole life. If you have any interest in Old West buildings, culture, fashion and firearms (I know, not generally a top priority among most vegans, but an important part of western history), you’ll want to spend a few days visiting Cody’s attractions.

The Local is Number One

If it had been up to me, I would have eaten every meal at The Local, Cody’s top restaurant for vegans. The Local prides itself on sourcing quality ingredients that are organic when possible, seasonal and, well, local, all served in a simple, elegant décor. Since I was with a group of omnivores – and Wyoming is a beef state with many steakhouses to visit – I only got to have one official meal there. But I snuck back on my own twice, once for a veggie burger to go after a group dinner at a steak house (slim pickings for the vegan) and one morning for an almond milk cappuccino.

The lunch menu offered five clearly marked vegan choices. A miracle! They included a vegetable platter of beet puree, sweet potatoes and fresh herbs; a falafel sandwich; and the island wrap, which featured tofu, mango and kale slaw. Sandwiches came with a choice of yam chips, fries or kale slaw.

The Whole Foods Trading Company (no, not that Whole Foods) is attached to The Local and under the same ownership. This health food store has tons of good stuff for traveling vegans to pack in the cooler, like Daiya cheese, milk alternatives and nut butters, fresh vegs and lots of snacks. I got a bag of my beloved Paqui ghost pepper chips and also some Maya Kaimal chick pea chips. Vegans, stock up here if you’re driving around Wyoming.

 

Buffalo Bill Center of the West

If you’re visiting Cody you won’t want to miss the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. This Smithsonian affiliate is a collection of five museums: the Buffalo Bill Museum, Whitney Western Art Museum, Draper Natural History Museum, Plains Indian Museum and the Cody Firearms Museum. I spent four hours there and still didn’t see everything. If you want to get up close to spectacular birds of prey, the raptor show introduces you to a peregrine falcon, golden eagle, red tailed hawk and my favorite, the turkey vulture. All these animals have sadly been injured, so they live at the Draper Natural History Museum as animal ambassadors, making people more aware of their species. Hopefully this will make people care about conservation more. These injured birds serve a noble purpose and the staff treated them with kindness and respect.

Anyway, if you’re at the Center of the West, plan your visit to coincide with lunch or, better yet, dinner. The museum dining area has a salad bar with good quality spring mix and several other vegetables. There’s also a veggie sandwich, and bottled juices and smoothies.

Stay for the Cowboy Show

I stayed at the Center for the West to catch Dan Miller’s Cowboy Music Revue. A buffet dinner starts at 5:30, followed by an hour-long show at 6:30. Going in, I figured 60 minutes of singing cowboys would be plenty, since it had been a long day and this show had to be kind of hokey. But in the greatest show biz tradition, they left me wanting more. The trio – Dan Miller, Hannah Miller and Wendy Corr– were excellent musicians, mostly playing guitar, fiddle and acoustic bass guitar. Their close harmonies were perfect. Each had a distinctive voice, but when Hannah sang her ballad about Wyoming, it was like an angel was crooning to us. Dan had exquisite comic timing, apparently honed by his stint as a game show host in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s.

The dinner also surprised me. Except for the meat, most items were vegan. I got a big plate of roasted rosemary potato wedges, excellent organic spring mix salad with good tomatoes and vinaigrette, sourdough roll and green beans and mushrooms cooked in a little olive oil.

Other Places to Eat Vegan in Cody

Most of the other places I ate took a little negotiation. Zapata’s, the Mexican restaurant with a cute outdoor patio, unfortunately puts lard in its beans, and the rice isn’t veg, either. But you can get a fajita salad – hold the meat and dairy – of lettuce, grilled peppers and guacamole, served with rice and chips. The unpromisingly named Rib and Chop House can make you a simple but good salad of spinach, beets, candied walnuts and blood orange vinaigrette and a plain baked potato. You can doctor your potato up with vinaigrette or ask for olive oil and add salt and pepper. The baked potato is probably the workhorse for vegans in all the region’s steakhouses.

Coffee in Cody

I lucked out with the coffee shops. Almost every place I went had dairy alternatives for my coffee and cappuccino. Rawhide Coffee Company had almond, soy and coconut milk. The drive-through coffee kiosk Rocky Mountain Mudd made an excellent soy cappuccino, and The Local was tops for almond cappuccino. I even learned a new trick there – the barista added a couple of ice cubes when she steamed the almond milk. She said this works with both dairy and nondairy milks to make it foamier.

If you go

Don’t let your vegan diet make you miss seeing Cody and environs. When visiting, remember to practice utmost courtesy. This is beef country, and as vegans, we’re the exception. Be a good guest. Make your requests quietly and politely, and be appreciative when somebody adapts a dish for you. And take care of yourself – bring plenty of vegan snacks like bananas, nuts, chips and vegan protein bars. There are lots of good motels, hotels and camping options in Cody. I especially enjoyed my stay at the Best Western Sunset Inn, which had lots of nice outdoor areas – picnic benches and a shaded patio – where I sat and ate my vegan snacks.