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What do vegetarians eat in a country where refusing meat is regarded as a sign
of madness? A Magazine feature published last week raised this question, and
there was a huge response from readers.
It might be tomato pasta. Again. Or salad. Plain rice. Or vegetable stew...
with lumps of chicken to pick out. For the BBC's Dany Mitzman in Bologna, Italy
- where vegetarianism is seen as an exotic illness - it's tagliatelle with
mushrooms. Here is a selection of tales from our vegetarian readers trying to
find meat-free options when far from home.
1. Breanna, Whistler, Canada: I was a vegan when I moved to West Africa in
2002. I rapidly started eating dairy, eggs and fish again just to be able to
survive. I not only encountered bewilderment but inevitably would get asked
"why no meat?" and end up in long discussions where my friends and colleagues
tried to convert me. I tried every explanation: loving animals, hating plants,
being a Buddhist, but all in vain. After a few months, I finally hit upon gold.
I simply told people that my grandfather had forbidden it before he died.
Nobody would dream of asking me - an unmarried young woman - to go against my
grandfather's wishes. After that, everyone went out of their way to find
meatless dishes for me to eat.
2. Lucy, Glasgow: In Cuba, a very helpful restaurateur bent over backwards when
I told him, "soy vegetariano". However, when he served me my plate of crisps,
grilled vegetables, beans and rice, he proclaimed: "But you cannot be a
vegetarian - you're not skinny!"
3. Grant Finepen, Subic, Philippines: Try being a vegetarian in Texas. My
friend went to a BBQ and said he didn't eat meat so, after many sympathetic
words of consolation, he was given a burger bun with a salad.
Start Quote
Keep quiet! Everybody needs to eat meat
4. Phil, Riccione, Italy: When I first moved to Italy, everyone thought my
vegetarianism was odd, but my wife's nonna [grandmother] thought it was
extremely suspicious. Initially, when we were invited for lunch, she would try
to tempt me with all manner of cooked beasts. After failing to win me over, she
now cooks separate "vegetarian" pasta sauce just for me, but she sneaks
finely-minced meat into it. My wife caught her in the act, to which her defence
was "Keep quiet! Everybody needs to eat meat. Besides, otherwise it won't taste
as good."
5. Angus Gafraidh, London, UK: The French are overwhelmingly in favour of
animal rights, in that every animal has the right to be eaten by a French
person. While staying in Bayeux I ordered a meat-free salad and was served a
tuna salad. When I explained that I didn't eat any form of meat including fish,
the waiter retreated into the kitchen, a puzzled and slightly outraged look on
his face. One by one the kitchen staff poked their heads out for a shifty look
at this strange creature who did not eat animals. Eventually I ended up with a
slightly misshapen cheese quiche - I am sure they had laboriously picked the
ham pieces out - and a salad that smelled faintly of tuna. Next time I will
take my own sandwiches.
6. Demarest Campbell, San Francisco, US: In South Africa, requesting vegetables
is like swearing at the wait-staff. One bewildered waiter told me haughtily,
"But, vegetables is what food eats."
Start Quote
Don't you ever feel like you're dying for steak?
7. Richard Ward, Keighley, UK: Try Newfoundland in Canada. I was on a road trip
there for a week a couple of years ago, I basically had to live on onion rings
and side salads. Everything had meat in it and the staff in restaurants and
cafes openly mocked that I didn't eat meat. Only one place served a veggie
option... and you guessed it, veggie lasagne - the bane of all vegetarians I
know. It's just lazy catering.
8. Georgina Rowbotham, York, UK: The concept of vegetarianism absolutely does
not exist in Tanzania. After trying to explain a couple of times that meat
available in the UK often isn't farmed very pleasantly, I watched a schoolgirl
chase my dinner (a decent-sized chicken) around the school courtyard until she
caught it, I decided that since there wasn't an abundance of food and since it
was the very definition of free-range, I had no problem tucking into it later
that evening.
9. Christopher Smith, Pewsey, UK: I remember going out to eat in a restaurant
in Bamberg in Germany. We ordered ravioli, having first established that the
filling was vegetarian, There then followed a lengthy animated discussion
between the management and my German-speaking friend on whether the pink meaty
filling inside the ravioli was spinach or not.
10. Julieta, Buenos Aires, Argentina: I am also a non-meat eater in a country
where vegetarianism is an exotic illness. Try telling people you don't eat red
meat in Argentina. First question is always "Why?", followed by "Are you sick?"
and, later, any of the following: "Are you sure? Come on, a bit won't hurt", or
"Don't you ever feel like you're dying for steak?"
Start Quote
You're in meat country now, love
11. Kedaar Raman, Troy, New York: I have travelled far and wide. My family
raised me as a traditional Hindu Brahmin vegetarian. I have found it hardest to
find vegetarian food in Malaysia, China and Vermont when I lived with local
farmers. I was always given the look of pity when I told locals I did not eat
meat. I explained it was a personal choice and that I did not feel like I was
missing out on anything since I have never eaten meat in my life. If a mother
does not put a piece of meat in a baby's mouth and say it is food, the baby
does not know it is food.
12. Martha P, Buxton, Derbyshire: In the deep south of New Zealand, we stopped
at the one pub in the village for lunch. When I asked the bar-keep what
vegetarian options there were, he sucked his teeth - "You're in meat country
now, love" - and proceeded to make me a most delicious salad sandwich.
13. Marcus Oliver, London, UK: As a third-generation vegetarian (no meat, no
fish), I made life even more difficult for myself by getting into practical
farming in Ireland from school age. People I met and worked with couldn't
understand how I could help raise livestock and yet never eat the end products.
I later became an agricultural journalist for 30 years. I remember vividly a
steak house in Maidenhead where the waiter brought out a leg of chicken as a
substitute for the steaks my colleagues were enjoying. I sent this back
complaining that it, too, was meat. I eventually got a huge lump of sweaty
cheddar cheese plonked on my plate, enough for a family of four. On another
occasion, at a beef production conference in Ireland, one of the delegates had
to be forcefully restrained by his fellow farmers from punching me. He couldn't
see how I could report fairly on the conference when I wouldn't eat the
exquisite beef on offer.
14. Otto Gross, Boonton Township, New Jersey, US: On my first business trip to
South Korea, the response to telling people I was vegetarian in Seoul was,
"Vegetables are what they feed animals before they kill and serve them." But
these experiences are not just overseas. On entering South Dakota, one of the
first signs we saw was "South Dakota. Vegetarians not welcome". Now this was
definitely meant in jest, but it underscored we were infidels in the land of
beef.
Start Quote
No sir, no meat in our oil, just pure lard
15. Laura Dover, Calgary, Canada: When I was in (then) Czechoslovakia in 1992,
I order a meatless, fishless pizza. Sure enough, they brought me a ham pizza.
My Czech boyfriend berated the waitress and pointed out the meat on the pizza.
"But it is chopped up in small pieces!" she exclaimed.
16. Jonathan Lesser, Jerusalem, Israel: My experiences of avoiding eating meat
dishes are mostly based on my childhood during numerous walking tours
throughout the UK. In the 1960s "kosher only" was relatively unknown. Much to
my embarrassment, my Dad was constantly asking fish and chip owners what they
fried their chips in: "No sir, no meat in our oil, just pure lard..." We had to
"schlap" (an apt word here) all our dishes with us, not to mention tins of
kosher Spam, in itself a contradiction of terms. We usually went pretty hungry
on those walking tours.
17. Sarah, Surrey: Not only am I a vegetarian, but I love to travel and the two
don't often go hand in hand. In Asia, I quickly became accustomed to eating
simple foods such as plain boiled rice (including for breakfast) to ensure I
didn't go hungry. But it wasn't all bad. Tropical climates offer the most
beautiful exotic fruits, vegetables and spices at incredibly low prices. There
were also a few vegetarian restaurants, particularly in Borneo, serving some of
the most delicious veggie food I've ever eaten. Yes, in some countries locals
struggled to comprehend that I didn't eat meat, but in others there were locals
who - primarily for religious reasons - were vegetarians themselves, and for
once I was in the majority. Amazing.
Start Quote
Is chicken meat? Is pork meat? It's just a little, you'll never notice
18. Jonathan Pagden, Chesham, Bucks: I once stayed in a hotel in Munich (in a
land famous for offering six varieties of meat for breakfast), and asked for
the vegetarian lunch option. The waiter brought a plate of bacon. When I
pointed this out, he said, with a completely straight face, "It came from a
vegetarian pig." I still don't know whether he was joking.
19. Cheryl, Austin, Texas, US: I routinely travel around the world for work and
the reactions to non-meat eaters are routinely hysterical. "Is chicken meat? Is
pork meat? It's just a little. You'll never notice. Are you ill? Poor thing..."
When I worked in eastern Hungary, the company cafeteria staff would try very
hard to come up with something suitable (their soups, appetizers, main courses,
desserts all have animal products and even the veggies are cooked in butter).
It became a daily contest and everyone would gather around to see what had been
concocted for me on any given day. One day I received something that looked
vaguely like a deep-fried brick, about four inches long and an inch deep. I cut
into it to find that it was a block of cheese. Similar adventures even in India
and South America, where bean and lentils are easy to come by.
20. Damian Bown, London, England: Reminds me of a story that my sister recounts
of visiting a restaurant in northern Italy and asking "I am a vegetarian, is
that a problem?" to which the waiter replied "Only for you madam, only for
you."
And five good experiences...
John Crane, Prague: Not sure where Dany is eating. I have spent a lot of time
in Bologna eating pumpkin ravioli, pasta with sage butter and pistachio pesto
with Portobello mushrooms. I am sure that the Bolognese use a lot of meat, but
the idea that there is a dearth of vegetarian dishes is a bit disingenuous.
Street food in India India: Heaven for vegetarians
Joe Sweeney, Gyffin, Wales: I hitchhiked around the world in the 1980s for six
to seven years and never had problems finding vegetarian food. India is the
nirvana for vegetarians, especially Kerala where restaurants have to
distinguish themselves as meat restaurants as most are vegetarian.
Tony Palmer, Leiston, Suffolk: My wife is a vegetarian and we like foreign
travel. A couple of years ago, we went to Greece for the first time - Crete to
be precise. My wife was apprehensive, imagining it to be a very meat-based
cuisine. How wrong could we have been? Every restaurant we went to had a good
vegetarian selection, even little family-run ones hidden in the mountains. And
some national dishes are vegetarian, such as briam, a vegetable stew, and a
Cretan speciality of aubergine slices covered with a vegetable mix that
translates to "little shoes". After watching my wife living on chips and salad
in Spain and omelette in Portugal in the past, I can't recommend Greece highly
enough to the vegetarian traveller.
Mary Fitzpatrick, Amsterdam, Netherlands: I have been a vegetarian for 30 years
and a year ago moved to Europe from Portland, Oregon - the most
vegetarian-friendly place anywhere. I was in the UK for several months and
Indian food was the big relief for me. In Europe, I have not had any difficulty
as there are always delicious cheese sandwiches, many pizza selections and
salad options. But a vegetarian needs more than that and it is difficult
finding good bean or tofu dishes. Costa Rica had the freshest and healthiest
vegetarian food at every food service area. Lots of beans and rice and fresh
fruit and veggies - a vegetarian's paradise for sure.
Lindsey Laing, Glasgow: On a walking tour in Budapest I was told it would be
really difficult to find something to eat, as in Hungary they serve meat with a
side of meat. We traipsed around trying to find somewhere that would satisfy
this fussy veggie, as I was sick to the back teeth of cheese pizza. We finally
found a great restaurant where we had the best meal we had eaten in eight
countries. Garlic cream soup served in a big loaf of bread as a bowl as a
starter. Vegetables and potatoes for main and palinka (the national drink) for
pudding. Still can't stop thinking about that starter...