My husband and I are travelling to Barcelona for the first time in three weeks with only a very limited knowledge of Spanish. He's vegetarian. Are we going to have major problems in restaurants? Should I get him to eat an awful lot before we leave, cos he'll starve while we're there? Maybe I'm worrying too much?!

He'll be fine if he can survive on tapas. Otherwise let me quote the Rough Guide on the issue..

"there's always something to eat but you may get weary of tortillas" or if you're vegan "accept weight loss if you're awy for any length of time"

Maybe this website will help....

http://www.happycow.net/europe/spain/barcelona/

Found another website with several vegetarian listings not included in the other website I posted:

http://www.spainalive.com/spain/barc...=VegRests.html


Have a great trip!

I am a vegetarian as well (lacto-ovo) and spent 3 weeks in Spain last fall, including several days in Barcelona. I was never at a loss for what to eat and didn't eat an excessive number of tortillas (like a potato omelette).

We did eat in a few ethnic restaurants, and ate at a great vegetarian restaurant in Madrid 3 times, but usually we ate in Spanish restaurants. Sometimes I would cobble a meal together from appetizers, but usually there would be at least one or two entrees that I could eat. One hint: ham has a habit of showing up in dishes that you would expect to be vegetarian, so always ask what's in the dish.

None of us (we were 5 people) were terribly enamored of the Spanish food, but that's another story.

There's a fantastic falafel stand near the Liceu Metro Stop on one of the side streets just off La Rambla. I ate there a lot, not just because it was cheap, but it was also very fresh and delicious. Just a couple of streets away was a veggie restaurant with a very good menu. Sorry I can't remember the name of it, but the sign had something do to with Juice, as in Juice Bar.

Found it! It's called

Juicy Jones

C/Cardenal Casañas 7

Also:

Maoz Falafel
Carrer de Ferran 13 (@ La Rambla)

Vegan-friendly, Take Out, Salad Bar, Fast Food

I am mostly vegetarian--not any kind of religious or moral thing--I just don't like to eat a lot of meat, and was in Spain for nearly 2 weeks in March. Our guide, who lives in Madrid, was vegan for Lent. I never had any problems--almost every restaurant offers big salads without meat. If he eats eggs, omelettes and tortillas are everywhere. They have lots of bread with every meal, and several restaurants also had rice dishes which did not contain meat (vegetarian paella). Also many soups are available and in summer, I would have gazpacho every meal if I could as it is delicious and very refreshing (wasn't available in March as out of season). They also have great cheeses--Manchego is most well-known but many others are available. He will have no problems.

Maoz Falafel and Juicy Jones are just two of the totally vegetarian (or at least offering some vegetarian choices) restaurants listed on those websites I posted. Looks like there are quite a few to choose from, so Hel shouldn't have a problem finding a place that her husband will enjoy.

Thank you all so much for you replies! My husband is a BIG fan of omelettes at home anyway and LOVES trying different cheeses, so I'm sure he'll be fine.
BrimhamRocks -those websites are really useful. Even as a confimed meat-eater, I think I'd enjoy some of the places listed.
Can't wait for this trip! Thanks again.

I'm a vegetarian, and the highlight of my visit to Barcelona was finding a veggie restaurant just off the top end of La Rambla.

Down a street called Pintor Fortuny.

I can't remember its name, but it was definetly on the left hand side.

We had a buffet lunch, and filled our boots on really delicious and substantial foods.


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In Barcelona there's a great Vegetarian Cafeteria-style restaurant called 'Fresco.' I went there with a vegetarian relative and I enjoyed it. Sorry, I can't tell you exactly whaer it is other than that we got there on a Sunday at 1:00 PM and there was a queue outside when we finished.

stillaliveca - do you remember the names of the veg. restaurants in Madrid please?
we'll be there in October and my daughter only eats vegetarian food.

clbc,
Vegetarian restaurants in Madrid for your daughter in Old Madrid:
El Estragón on Plaza de la Paja
Artemisa on Ventura de la Vega 4
Eliqui on Buenavista 18 (metro: Antón Martín)
And Gula-Gula on the bottom of the Gran Vía, near the Metro Banco de España has a great fixed price luncheon buffet with lots of salads.

The veg. restauarant I was referring to in Madrid is Artemisa. It has 2 locations - the one we ate at was Tres Cruces, 4 - Pza. del Carmen. It offers an extensive menu of vegetarian dishes, and also some fish and chicken as I recall. The servings are generous, the prices reasonable, and everything we ate, we liked. At lunch, they offer 3 or 4 fixed menus which are an even better value, and which are guaranteed to leave you groaningly full. The place was always hopping, and is patronized mainly by locals. Hope this helps.

Thank you so much Maribel and stillaliveca for these recommendations. Along with all the other information I've received here, especially the terrific stuff from you Maribel, I really feel very confident about thoroughly enjoying Madrid.