Menu for change

Six years ago my husband and I traveled to Washington D.C. by train. At the time we were both vegetarians. Neither of us ate any gluten either although my husband is the one who gets really sick pretty quickly when he consumes gluten. Eating in the Dining Car on Amtrak was very difficult. None of the waiters knew much about gluten intolerance and they were not interested in learning. We were told repeatedly that we had to order from the menu "as is" since the food was pre-packaged and no one was willing or able to take meat off the plate let alone offer something else, like a veggie burger in its place. It was not only difficult to eat, it was also kind of embarrassing since the waiters were prone to raising their voices and making us feel pretty bad. A couple of times were told to go "buy food from the snack bar" which, if you have ever ridden on the train, you will know is far more gluten and vegetarian unfriendly than the dining car menu.   
Nonetheless we love traveling by train so we always take food with us in case there is nothing on the menu we can eat. Now, six years later, we are both vegan as well as gluten free and we were quite aware when planning for our recent trip that it could be difficult to order food that we could eat on the train. I called the special services line ahead of time and was told that we could pre-order vegan food although there would be no way to know if the food would be gluten free or not. That was a pretty big issue for us since we do know that many vegan foods are packed with noodles or wheat or other gluten filled products and vomiting on the train from gluten consumption would be rather unpleasant.
I was assured by the Amtrak special services person that no one should make us feel bad and that it seemed perfectly reasonable to her that we would ask for the main entree without the meat. So we decided to take our chances on the regular menu and take food with us as well. Much to our delight the regular menu offered several items that were labeled 'certified vegan' and which came with no foods that would have gluten in them. There was also an option for soy milk on the menu.  So we had vegan Pad Thai with Rice Noodles several times. We ordered potatoes and grits - without the eggs and bacon -- for breakfast and had Gardein black bean veggie burgers without the buns for lunch after I looked up the brand name online and could see that they were gluten free.
The waiters in the dining car were cheerful and helpful. For our last dinner on the train we had the steak, baked potato, and veggies - without the steak and with a Gardein burger in exchange. After one meal the waiter remarked that "you two are so healthy you have the right to scold other diners for the next 20 minutes." We laughed and felt at ease in the dining car which was a very pleasant change from six years ago. We were also aware of several other diners who chose vegan, vegetarian or simple foods.
Sometimes it seems that change will never happen but when we look back through our own lives we can see where change is happening rather rapidly considering how long it took humans to evolve into carnivorous creatures unable to pass up meat or dairy even when it clearly is "not doing a body good."