Josh - It's actually possible to eat very well gluten-free and even food that others will also enjoy. Look for corn-based pasta and think of using alternate gluten-free grains like rice and quinoa (or dishes wiht beans and rice). Polenta is also a great and easy to make (or can be bought pre-made). Good luck and good eating!

it's totally doable, but man, it really requires a ton more planning than before.

i didn't notice if you said you were vegan or vegetarian; the former offers a few more challenges. i'm currently gluten free, plus sugar free (all kinds, natural and manufactured), plus i try to stick to a plant based diet as much as possible. i'm neither vegan nor veg since i eat fish from time to time...but i'm getting better at it.

your new friends will be alternative grains: rice, quinoa, corn, oats, millet, buckwheat. one thing you need to do is be sure that you know what grains are now off limits for you...for example some people say "spelt" isn't wheat but it's so close that celiacs can't tolerate it. oats can be cross-contaminated with wheat, and so unless something specifically says "GF" or "Gluten Free", you're risking it.
even chocolate has flour on it...seriously! they use it to keep it from sticking to the wrapper. i never would have known that.
other new friends...nuts...i carry them everywhere i go now. hardy fruits like apples and oranges and such. i can't currently indulge in dried fruits, but they're a godsend also...apricot, mango, apple, banana chips, cherries, raisins...i love them all.

gluten really is pervasive. do yourself a favor and don't even bother going through the inner aisles of a grocery store. stay in the produce and bulk section. if you don't already like to cook for yourself, start slow with the familiar and build your repertoire.

two awesome sites for recipes:

www.vegancoach.com/index.html sassy is superb for providing an overall framework for how to pull together various ingredients for a tasty meal. just avoid the gluten products and sub in other things...i find that she also focuses a lot on alternative grains to start with.

glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/ karina is all GF all the time, and has terrific recipes

i'm the queen of trying to find handy portable ways to eat like me. so far:

breakfast: find yourself some GF hot cereals, or one trick i love is to nuke a sweet potato and go...i can eat them right in the skin if i'm in the car or whatever. there are also a lot of GF cereals at regular grocery stores...before you head to whole (paycheck) foods, check out what your store has to offer. DIY smoothies are a great option...you can put whatever you want in to make them healthy and filling, but you are tethered to a blender, of course. yogurt and fruit, if you eat it, or apples and almond/peanut butter, etc...all good options. you can also find GF bread where you find your GF cereals. most of them will not look nor taste nor act like bread, but they're not disgusting, just different. it's all in your attitude.

lunch: salad, salad, salad is my staple. i may also have something like rice and vegetables (if you're truly lazy/not a cook), get those frozen birds eye things from the regular grocery store...nuke some rice, then nuke some veggies. add some GF soy (or better, use Bragg's Amino Acids), some Earth Balance, and some nutritional yeast and chow down. i do this a lot for dinner too.

dinner: lots of ethnic foods are or can be GF...but if you're celiac you need to be careful since they cook things right next to gluten/wheat products, or in the same oil/water/whatever, and aren't careful about cross contaminating. again, your best best is to cook yourself and if you're not a good cook, keep it simple with an alternative grain, and some vegetables, hot or cold. lots of soups out there are GF, and we are truly lucky to have this issue in this day and age because there are dozens of GF "substitute" products...pasta, breads, cereals, etc. otherwise, recycle the more portable ideas below into a dinner idea.

snacks: fruit, nuts, seeds, DIY Ice cream (when i can eat sugar again :) plus things like Lara Bars, which are GF and vegan as well as processed sugar free. more and more companies are starting to make bars like this, and while you can't live on them, they are handy to throw in a backpack for a time when you really can't find anything to eat (and this will happen in airports an unnerving amount of the time).

you can do it, but it will require planning, and also, cultivating a liking of cooking for yourself for the most diversity and gastronomical interest. because you're limiting yourself already, you need to be careful to eat as broadly as you can within the spectrum of foods.

finally, don't be afraid to experiment and fail. i have tried hundreds of recipes over the years, and sometimes they work, sometimes they don't, and sometimes they're simply "weird".

good luck.

Thank you for the recipe links... I should be able to keep up the restricted diet; I'm just adding more to the already limited food factor...