I'm a semi-vegetarian as well; I will eat chicken and occasionally seafood. Otherwise I think I might have starved to death in more rural parts of England and Wales, but in London, veggie food was cheap and plentiful! In France...I ate a LOT of cheese. More cheese than I've ever had in my life. I mean, I love cheese, but by the end even I was a bit tired of it--but at least it was something I knew what it was! Also pain au chocolat...I miss pain au chocolat. They say all that business about small European portions, but the patisserie there gave me every day a croissant filled with chocolate the size of my head. *g*

Kit

Mmm, pain au chocolat...(/homer)
I guess you would call me a practical veggie, too. I loved the UK, surprisingly veggie-friendly. I liked the frozen foods with the 'suitable for vegetarians' symbol on the front of the box-no wasting time scanning ingredients! And of course India and Nepal-though vegans might have a hard time. Is Thai food really all that veggie friendly? I thought just about everything had fish sauce or prawns in it. I love pad Thai but always have to ask for it without the prawns. I'm thinking of going to Thailand so would like to know! A hint for those who are going to China: eat at Buddhist temples and monasteries-the food is always veggie and generally vegan. The temples in Chinatown NY serve free vegan meals - the food is a bit bland for my taste, though - much spicier on Emei Shan(Sichuan).

Hi all! What about vegetarian food in Turkey and Iran? Is it easy to be a veggie there?

I live in Croatia and I'm happy to say that there are more and more veggie options here

In Turkey, breakfast is not a problem, but the veggies that I traveled with found themselves eating far too much salad, bread and lentil soup for dinner. It was an issue. At the Olimpos treehouses, the included group meal is veggie.

I just returned from Tokyo and it's hard to be a vegetarian there. There are few restaurants with vegetarian items on the menu. I eat seafood but no land animals so it was much easier for me than on my friend Rob who is totally vegetarian. We ended up at an Italian restaurant in Shinjuku one night because we couldn't find any other place with any vegetarian items in the area. There's only so much salad and edamame you can eat...

I mostly pigged out on sushi and tempura udon for my trip. Not too shabby.

At home I avoid all animal products. I frequently travel in Central America, and consciously avoiding meat is easy, but dairy products are another situation. It is easy to find vegetarian food, but vegan is another story.

oooOOOHH! How helpful (or fun) is this?

quote:

Originally posted by crackerjillian:


Thank god booze is always vegetarian.

I don't think those cobras soaking in the bottles of booze you see in China are veggie. What do you think about the worm in the tequila bottle?

I disagree on Mexico. Although most people certainly were stumped when I told them I was veg, my prospects increased ten-fold as soon as I started listing what I WOULD eat. It's a trick I got from the Vegan Passport where it first lists the stuff you avoid but then lists everything else. Once you remind a waiter of all the veggies, the beans, the rice, etc, they or the cook will figure something out quickly enough. Without this I would have gotten quesadillas every damn day.

This is something that I've been wondering about...how difficult it will be to stick to my veggie ways while on the road, glad I found this thread.

At home I very, very rarely eat fish and on even rarer occasions eat eggs (it depends on the situation). Other than that it's veggies, fruit, grains and soy.

I've been vegetarian for 7 years and vegan on and off for the past 5 (more recently on for the past 2 years).
I'm from the SF Bay Area and we have lots of amazing options at restuarants and supermarkets to make vegan and vegetarian diets very easy to follow and cater to.
My family is from Costa Rica and they have a very difficult time understanding vegetariansim there. To them, it just means removing the meat from the dish (i.e. pick the meat out of the soup, etc.). Most of their salads are also covered in dairy-based dressings (i.e. thousand island and ranch type). I was vegetarian last time I visited, so this wasn't a prolem, but I am now extremely lactose intolerant so I would stick with a vegan diet next time I go. There are very few meat replacements, but I love the rice and beans that come with most meals so that did the job for me. The cousins from my generation (in their 20s) have said that people are starting to understand it a little better.
I fell off the vegan wagon when I went to Europe (England, Scotland, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Austria, Switzerland, Germany) in 2002. The latter 3 countries were the most difficult and I basically lived on bread and pastries while there. The others were easier (more fruit and veggies) though protein was still hard to come by.
I'm leaving for Africa in two weeks and while the tour company says they can cater to vegetarians and vegans (we cook all our own food while camping), I am still packing trail mix, Luna Bars, vegan jerky and dried fruit.

I'll never forget the "veggie omelette" I ordered in La Paz, Mexico containing hundreds of sliced up hotdogs and not a veggie to be seen....