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-   -   Vegetarian Dishes (https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/vegetarian-dishes-251750/)

xxx Aug 21st, 2002 10:24 AM

Vegetarian Dishes
 
Hi, I am a vegetarian who eats eggs, cheese but no seafood, chicken, meat. I plan to travel to Paris, Rome, Florence, Venice, Pisa and Switzerland. Could someone tell me names of vegetarian dishes that I should look for in restaurants at these places? Just trying to make my life easy at these places thanks in advance!

scarlett Aug 21st, 2002 10:31 AM

Way toooooo many to list! Get yourself a Maerlings Menu Master, they are made just to fit in your pocket, easy to translate those dishes on the menu. I too do not eat red meat and my Menu Master was very very helpful.

Sheila Aug 21st, 2002 10:34 AM

Italy is a scoosh. France is a nightmare. As the Rough Guide says (actually about the Pyrenees) "vegetarians should prepapre themselves for a long period of weight loss"

odds & ends Aug 21st, 2002 10:39 AM

I suggest check a couple phrase or guidebooks; often they list restaurant "words" in a separate section you could xerox.<BR><BR>Safe bets would be some pasta dishes (i.e., I know Pomodoro is a tomato-only sauce where Bolognaise is tomato based but with meat).<BR><BR>There will be some obvious choices like quiche, crepes, omlettes, pizza, bakery sandwiches. Watch out for salads (especially I noticed in Paris they often included meat). And even vegetable soups (at least in French cooking incl. parts of Switzerland) have a meat stock (if you are strick about this).<BR><BR>Thai and middle eastern are a good standby for vegetarian dishes.

s Aug 21st, 2002 10:58 AM

Indian food is best for varities of vegetarian dishes.<BR>Paris-there are always excellent salads, veggies,cheeses,and some pasta dishes in most restos.<BR>Italy-pasta and veggies,they do veggies so well!<BR>Start reading guide books now!<BR>

dean Aug 21st, 2002 11:49 AM

I have two vegetarian stories...<BR><BR>I was traveling in Italy with a long time vegetarian. We had enough Itlaian between us to say "Vegitariano, senza carne, senza pesche, senza brodo" meaning vegetarian, no meat no fish, no broth. There was this wonderful little hostaria in Modena's centro. We told the owner/waitress of my friends limitations before ordering. He ordered a pasta with zucchini flowers for his primi and a grilled vegetable plate and scamorza (grilled smoked mozzarella) as his secondo. We again asked "No carne?" and she said yes.<BR><BR>The primi arrived and it was delicious and obviously vegetarian. The grilled vegetable plate was vegetarian as to be expected. The scamorze was served with two pieces of the cheese. One was plain, and the other had a red line running down the middle which I recognized as being prosciutto. I called over to the the propietor and asked "Prosciutto?"<BR><BR>She nodded yes and replied "mai solo un po!", "only a little!" as if just a little prosciutto couldn't hurt!<BR><BR>The second involved my brother who has not eaten meat for over 20 years. I guess he is more of a fishitarian than a vegetarian. I had sent him to a wonderful restaurant outside Castellina (Il Pestello). His party of 6 ordered a huge assortment of antipasti and pasta, some vegetarian and some not. My brother samples all the vegetarian plates. There was a platter of prosciutto in front of him and it smelled so good that he finally broke down and ate a speck of prosciutto half the size of a grain of rice, just out of curiosity's sake. Next up was the specialty of the house... grilled baby Tuscan lamb rubbed with salt and rosemary and grilled till crispt on the outside and very juicy inside. A huge platter was set in the middle of the table right in front of him. He was so full from the antipasti and primi that he was not going to eat anything more, but the aroma of the lamb was wafting up to him and he had a full glass of red wine and, well, back when he ate meat, lamb was his favorite....<BR><BR>The last time we ate at his house we had a huge new york steak!

Melissa Aug 21st, 2002 10:30 PM

I loved white asparagus with hollandaise. yum. Outside of that, pasta dishes, artichoke hearts in olive oil, veggie sandwiches---all available.<BR><BR>I was in Prague in May....the home of red meat and potatoes. My tour guides, who live there, claimed they ate no red meat! I thought that would be difficult in a place like that but they said it was no problem.

Siobhan Aug 22nd, 2002 01:25 AM

I am veggie also but not for the normal reasons...I hate fish/poultry and pork and can manage some steak twice a year. I do eat cheese and some egg and so fare I am not starving over the years...the opposite! I find that in Ireland/UK they really cater on most menus for veggies. In France, I got crepes, panninis salads etc that were veggie no prob. Italy no problem as you can have mozzarella salad (Caprese)or pasta without meat sauce and pizza. Switzerland try Kase spatzle (SP?) its a cheesy pasta and lovely. Just tell them when you order. You usually won't get the crummy veg plate you get in the U.S. Also look for Veggie restaurants in guidebooks. Not all are crunchie hippie places. Dublin has 2 and 1 is a typical place with granola etc but the 2nd (called Juice) is a really upmarket place and great. Also you can't go wrong with Indian and Chinese. Good eating!

xxx Aug 22nd, 2002 01:58 AM

In Florence:<BR>ribolitta (sp) - a thick stew with white beans, greens, bread YUM!!<BR>pizza with funghi porcini<BR>papa di pomodori (sp) - a thick tomato based stew<BR>

Ursula Aug 22nd, 2002 02:05 AM

Here's a liste of Switzerland's vegetarian restaurants and hotels. Unfortunately, only in German. Some have own web sites that might be in English, too.<BR>Vegetarian places are becoming very popular and hip here. In Zurich, try 'Hiltl Vegi', 'Bona Dea' or 'Tibits'.<BR>They all have fantastic food, often buffets you can choose from.<BR>http://www.vegetarismus.ch/restaurants.php

xxx Aug 22nd, 2002 03:46 AM

I think that there is a book called Vegetarian Europe which should list vegie restaurants all over Europe. Also, some of the more backpacker-y guides like Let's Go, or the Berkely Guides, or the Rough Guides, or Lonely Planet tend to have listings of vegie restaurants. You should have the same difficulty/ease in Europe as you have wherever you live, but with maybe with some language problems depending on your fluency in the different languages. <BR><BR>The other poster's comment about "it's only a little" meat, is very funny and very true. <BR><BR>That said, I think it there is a michelin starred vegetarian restaurant in Paris...

xxx Aug 22nd, 2002 03:49 AM

In Switzerland, try cheese fondue and raclette (more cheese).


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