vegetarians in France
 

Anyone have suggestions for non-carnivores traveling in France? Seafood is fine, but not meat or poultry. Most of the fixed price meals in restaurants seem to include meat. Perhaps ordering a la carte is the best way.
We are traveling with kids and prefer less fancy cafes and restaurants--hate to waste great food. Although I'll bet my husband is just hoping to eat all of the meat dishes served to me!
Recommendations for restaurants or approaching a menu?

I can't think of any cafe or bistro or restaurant that wouldn't have at least one seafood main course on the menu, probably several. Grilled or sauteed fish, scallops, etc. There are also salads on most dinner menus, and vegetables offered as side dishes, but you could order a few.

For lunches, you will find salads and omelettes everywhere. Also, you might want to try a Chinese or Japanese restaurant in Paris. There are also casual crepe places offering a choice of fillings. Someone here can chime in with specific recommendations.

also take a look at timeout.com, for vegetarian dining suggestions.

We spent three days in Paris, and never had a problem. My husband and I eat fish and seafood (no other meat), and the kids don't eat any meat at all, and we were fine.

You shouldn't have any problem. I eat very little meat, and mostly ate salads (very high quality ingredients compared to here), fish, and a lot of cheese. I'm not a big fan of eggs, but lots of even very nice restaurants have egg dishes. Also pizza in France is usually great and easy to obtain without meat.

Virtually every restaurant or cafe I've seen with a prix fixe menu will have a chicken dish on it. I agree seafood might not be on the prix fixe in most places, but there are plenty of restaurants that specialize in that more. There are quite a few seafood restaurants in Montparnasse, actually--on bd Edgar Quinet and av du Maine, aside from the wellknown and expensive places like Le Dome.

Vin et Maree is a good choice on av du Maine (there are 1-2 others in Paris, one in Bastille area). They serve medium priced fish and seafood, simply prepared, that they get fresh each morning at the Rungis market (avoid Sundays when the market is closed). This is the lower priced relative of the expensive La Luna seafood restaurant.

Another good place for seafood and pasta in that area is Contre-Allee near Denfert Rochereau metro stop (I know, out of the way for many). They have a sidewalk terrace and it's not expensive.

Or you can order a la carte, if you wish but poultry will be easy to find.
Most brasseries have seafood, that's one of the things they are known for--lots of mussels and various seafood platters.

A really good idea for you would be to find a Chez Clement restaurant (plenty around Paris, it's a French chain but good very reasonably priced). It is a very nice, pretty restaurant with a southern sort of decor (light colors, kind of Provencale, I guess) and they specialize in seafood, also -- at least they will have several choices of prix fixe seafood meals, as well as chicken and meat, but I think they're better at seafood. It's also casual enough.

Those are my best ideas and now that I've written all this I realize you may not even be in Paris, but throughout France. Aside from my specific suggestions, you'll still find plenty to eat of fish/chicken at brasseries and other places.

Hi Elisabet,
I lived in Paris for a few years, and like you, I don't eat red meat or poultry. We used to go out to eat in restaurants once or twice a week, and I can honestly say I never had a problem!! 99% of restaurants will have some sort of fish option on the menu. As restaurants have to display their menu outside, you can always check what's on offer.

There's a very handy Timeout guide to eating and drinking in Paris, in English, it only costs about 7 or 8 euros, and you can purchase it at most newstands and bookstores in Paris. It has a lot of reliable recommendations for vegetarian and seafood-oriented restaurants, and a useful vocab section at the back.

Indeed, unless you speak French, your main problem may not be finding places that serve seafood, but identifying it on the menu! So make sure you have some kind of vocab book with you so you don't think you're ordering cod but end up with gizzards... or worse :-o

Hey Fodorites,
What about non-carnivores who eat no red meat, chicken or fish/seafood?
Any suggestions? :-"
My husbnd and myself will be in Paris in July \:D/

You may be best off by ordering ala carte, from the entrees portion of the menu, although you may find a vegetarian ratatouille (sp?) once in a great while among main courses. But they do wonderful things with aubergines (eggplant) and asparagus, mushrooms and tomatoes, particularly in the South of France. We have found more places in Paris seem to offer big mixed green salads at lunch time...they do like to use goat cheese in many forms in salads, so if you avoid dairy products be aware.

Check these websites for more info on vegetarian eating in France/Paris:


http://www.vegetarianguides.co.uk/paris/

http://www.nwfolk.com/vegparis.html

http://www.happycow.net/europe/france/paris/

http://www.ivu.org/avf/VisitFrance/visitfranceMAIN.html

For JAGIRL's question, well the more strict your requirements the harder it will be (i.e., no red meat is easy if you eat seafood, no meat/seafood is not hard if you eat dairy, strict vegan will be the most difficult).

Having a list of vegetarian restaurants in your neighborhood is a great idea.

Learning a few phrases in French or having a card with your requirements written out in French is good.

I've found in Paris often meat or egg turns up in a salad unexpectedly, or meat broths are used in 'vegetable soup' etc.

hmm.. sorry I somehow misread your question as to just not meat, but you would eat poultry or seafood. I have a friend who does that, she just won't eat meat, so I guess I read it that way. I meant that chicken was real common on prix fixe, but seafood isn't quite as much, that's true. Getting a phrasebook with menu terms is a good idea.

Cheese, bread, fruit, wine ... shop for picnic food and find a nice spot outdoors.