The Best and Worst Countries to Eat as a Veggie
Hello Wonderful People!
I
love being a vegetarian; I've been one all my life and would never dream of changing my eating habits. However, being veggie can be a royal pain in the a
hole when travelling. There are some countries that are really good for veggies
and there are others that look at you with disgust when you ask if there’s a
veggie option. You’d be surprised at the amount of people who have no idea what
the word vegetarian means and who offer you chicken as an alternative. The last
time I checked, chicken was definitely meat. So here is a list of the best and
the worst countries that I've been to as a veggie.
Hall of Fame:
Italy
Italy
has got to be my favourite European country. The people, the weather and the
food make it the perfect place to go on holiday. For me, Italian food is
amazing, and there are so many veggie options, I’m always stuck for choice! The
pizza choices are always great, and even if there isn't much choice, you can
always have a margarita and add some extra toppings! My favourite pasta dish
has to be a simple cheese ravioli in a butter and sage sauce. They also do some
cracking salads in Italy and all the food seems to have so much flavour! I love
a simple mozzarella and tomato salad, drizzled in olive oil or a tricolore
salad, they are both delicious!
Vietnam
I
ate really well as a vegetarian in Vietnam and never struggled to find tasty
food. Meat is quite expensive in South East Asia and lots of their traditional
dishes are meat free. Plus tofu is readily available and used in lots of
curries, so there’s a great choice! My favourite dish in Vietnam was a street
food noodle soup type of meal called Pho. If all else failed, I could always
fall back on good old spring rolls, I absolutely love them!
Thailand
Food
wise Thailand was very similar to Vietnam. I ate really well here as a veggie
and always had a good choice of food. My ultimate fave meal in Thailand
was a Thai Green Curry with sticky rice. Thai Green curries in Asia are very different from what they are like at home, and they are amazing! Don't be fooled into thinking a Thai Green will be mild; it won't be. The Asians love their spice, so I'm sure a Thai Green is mild for them, but I certainly couldn't cope with any hotter (a Thai Yellow or Red for example). Again, if I ever struggled (which was pretty rare) spring rolls were always an option!
Hall of Shame:
Hungary
I
really struggled to eat anything in Hungary. We this is a lie, I did manage to
eat, but I couldn't eat any traditional Hungarian food. When I visit a country
I love to try some of the local delicacies; sadly, this proved to be pretty
impossible when I visited Budapest. All the traditional Hungarian dishes
contained meat, which was a really bummer, so most of the time I ended up
eating Italian food. Good old Italy saves the day again.
France
France is pretty famous for its food; sadly for veggies the choice isn't that great. Loads of restaurants have set menus, which 99.9% of the time are all meaty, not leaving much flexibility for veggies. Everything in France seems to have meat added to it; even the salads. There aren't may exciting options for veggies on most French menus, so get used to ordering onion soup, omelettes and lots of cheese. And if you're vegan, then this definitely is not the best country for you!
Australia
No
I don’t like to be stereotypical, but the Aussies do love a good BBQ and sadly,
they are always full of meat. While I was backpacking the east coast of Aus I
stayed in a few hostels that offered free BBQs. Whenever I asked if there was a
veggie option the answer I always received was a blank stare and a shake of the
head. So my free BBQ always ended up being a bread roll filled with fried
onions and ketchup. Fantastic. I didn't actually eat out that much in Aus, as I
was on a budget and couldn't really afford it, so I cooked most of my meals in
hostels. Cooking for myself also had its limitations as I found it impossible to find any meat substitute products, such as Quorn, in any Aus supermarket. So sandwiches and stuffed peppers played a big part in my Aussie diet.
Great post!
ReplyDeleteI traveled through Germany a few years ago and was fearing the worst. It is, after all, a region known for their sausages and ham hocks... But surprisingly I found lots of vegetarian options. Even traditional German restaurants would have a meat-free pasta option :)
Thanks :) Yeah, I've been to Germany a few times too and was also pretty worried at first, as I thought everything would be meaty! Was pleasantly surprised though, most places had good veggie options :)
DeleteDefinitely agree with you on France! Weird thing is I lived there for a year and the French people I got to know didn't find the concept of me being a vegetarian too difficult and weren't that worried about cooking veggie either. I even found a French vegetarian! But go to a restaurant and it feels like you have somehow offended them because you want something without meat! So I made many a trip to a trusty Italian restaurant...
ReplyDeleteWe're in South America at the moment and its been easier than expected ... and I've enjoyed some great street food too ... tasty tasty papas rellenas. We've not yet got to Argentina though, so we'll see how that goes. I might just drink lots of wine!
I recently posted a guide to being veggie in Peru: http://www.2britsabroad.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/being-vegetarian-in-peru.html
Italian resturants always save the day haha! Thanks, I'm heading to South America in 2 weeks, so good to know it isn't too tricky to find veggie food! I'm hoping there's a good selection for me to chose from out there :)
DeleteSpain is pretty bad for veggies too. Once I asked (in Spanish!) : "no meat or fish please" and the waitress came up with tuna, cause "it wasn't a whole fish, but from a tin"... ehmmm...:-)
ReplyDeleteYeah that´s very true, Spain is pretty pants for a veggie! I´ve had that before with fish, people just assume I eat fish and give me that as the veggie option!
Delete