europe

[xjohnx]

hey, i'm taking a french course right now and my teacher says that france is not at all vegetarian friendly, not to mention vegan friendly. anybody have suggestions of places in europe to travel that are vegan friendly?

[Risker]

Come to England

I know you're going to say except the UK now. I would say the further East you travel the harder it will be.

[xjohnx]

I'm down for England. My friends just got back from England. Is veganism common there?

[Risker]

I'd say we're pretty high up on the vegan scoreboard. There's about 20 of us meeting up this weekend just from this forum.

I can't really say it's common here but from all the countries I've been to this has to be the most vegan friendly.

Restaurants by law have to offer a vegetarian option here, one of the largest pub chains does 1 or 2 vegan meal options and I think by law food ingredients now have to state if they contain milk which helps with picking out food.

I'd say the most vegan friendly places to visit here would be Brighton and Bristol, both by the sea, in my experience I'd say Brighton is probably the most vegan friendly (that's where we're meeting btw).

[Tray]

you can try with italy, also if the country is not too vegan friendly it's not difficult to find something you can eat..

[Korn]

Sweden is pretty good too, at least the two largest cities. There are relatively many vegans there.

You could also try Lisbon, Portugal, but you need to find the local veg*n restaurants. The non-vegan places put animal products into everything.

Have a look in the Europe-forum...

[Kiran]

Hi John,

This depends on what vegan products you want to find. From my experience, I would say that finding places that cater vegan food is not difficult in many parts of Europe. Other European countries may not be as vegan friendly as UK, but you could find vegan products in major cities. But finding products such as vegan shoes and beauty products will be close to impossible. I have travelled to Germany, Austria, France and Spain. My experience says that that if you are able to express your life-style, people are very cooperative.

It can be a bit rough, but not impossible.

Cheers
Kiran

[applepie]

Germany is pretty good for vegans. Although I'm living in Britain, I'm originally from Germany, and there is a great range of vegan products avaiable. Every time I go back home, I'm amazed at how much new stuff there's on offer. Most towns, however small, have an independent wholefood shop, and organic groceries are becoming ever more important. If you were thinking about going to Germany, I could possibly point out vegan restaurants in the big cities.

I'm moving to Italy for 12 months, and I'm very excited about it. The fruit and veg is fantastic on the markets, although eating out can be really tricky: very many meals include cheese in some form, and bacon and sausages are not considered meat - you have to be very specific when ordering your food. The good thing is that soya ice-cream is very widely available in the "gelaterie", so I'm really looking forward to that!

[fiamma]

eating out can be really tricky: very many meals include cheese in some form, and bacon and sausages are not considered meat - you have to be very specific when ordering your food.

Have to disagree with you there, applepie - the individual regions in Italy vary hugely as to what they offer to eat, and many Italian staples are vegan, and contain no cheese at all. Every pizzeria I've been in offers the Marinara - just tomato, garlic and oregano, there's risotto with radicchio, spaghetti with tomato sauce, speghetti with garlic, chilli and oil, bruschetta, salads, bean and spelt soup in Tuscany. Fruit salads and fresh fruit can normally be found on the menu of any restaurant. I also wouldn't say bacon and sausages are not considered meat; there may not be a great awareness of vegetarianism or veganism and therefore people often don't think what went into making that sausage, but I don't think you can equate that with these things not being considered meat. Of course you have to be specific when ordering, but that's true for any country. Remember also that the Mediterranean diet is based on fruits, veggies, grains and legumes. I'd agree with you on the soya ice-cream though - yum!!!

[yorbo]

France is definitely not vegan friendly. I live in Paris and here not all vegetarian restaurants offer vegan dishes, everything comes with cheese or cream. You have to be very careful. However there are many shops that sell vegan products and, just like the UK, all the ingredients must be labelled on the box/package.

Hope this helps

[applepie]

@fiamma: Sorry if I was generalising too much. That's the impression I got on my frequent visits to Tuscany.
I haven't been to Bologna yet, but that's where I'm moving in four weeks' time. I'm thrilled to see that it's your location! Surely you know all the vegan hotspots then?

[fiamma]

You're moving to Bologna!!! That's great Sorry if it sounded like I was having a go, I didn't mean it to come over like that. Vegan hotspots? My kitchen