There are 3 vegetarians in our family of four. We will be travelling to Italy next summer and were wondering if we will have any difficulty finding food without meat and fish. When we went to Australia we found it difficult to find veggie food.

In Italy, you won't have many problems as a vegetarian. You'll find plenty of pizzerias which all serve vegetarian pizzas, and in all the other restaurants, there's at least one vegetarian option: pasta (spaghetti et cetera). The only problem could be that pasta often isn't served as a main dish, but as a kind of starter. But with a little Italian (or even in English) it's no problem to ask the waiter to serve it as a main course.

Hi Richard,

In addition, you can have risotto primavera (rice with vegetables, Ravioli, Tortelloni and Manicotti with tomato sauces, Verdure Misto (mixed vegetables), a selection of contorni (vegetable side dishes), and cheese plates. If your vegetarians eat eggs, you can get many kinds of Omelettes.

We also discovered that Italians eat French Fries with pizza.

Travelled with a vegetarian in Europe a few years back and she had no problems eating in Italy. In fact, in other countries we often went for Italian because it offered her the most options (especially in those meat and potato kind of countries).

Apart from fish restaurants, places that make a big thing about grilled meat, and the odd idiosyncratic place, it's possible - usually easy - to eat proper, non-faddy, vegetarian food absolutely everywhere in Italy.

If you're strict, you might want a bit of advice about how often meat stock might be used, and bits of bacon can find their way into dishes some might think of as vegetarian (minestrone being the obvious example).

But no professional Italian waiter (and there's no other kind)will bat an eyelid at serving an entire vegetarian meal. None of the coyness you find in so many other countries.

Risotto is normally made with stock, usually chicken stock, It is sometimes, however, made with vegetable broth. So that's another thing to ask about.

Hi richard,

A horrible thought just occurred to me: will your vegetarians eat gelato?

On a Friday in Lent this year, I had dinner at a place in Rome called Margutta Vegetarian (or maybe Vegetarian Margutta?) on via Margutta near Piazza di Popolo. It was very elegant, and the food was fabulous.

Buon Viaggio & Buon Appetito,
BC

If they are "Vegans" it might be tough. If they are Vegetarians and don't have a problem with soups or risotto made with chicken stock, then it won't be a problem. An Italian has pasta with almost every meal and plenty of pasta dishes are meatless.

An Italian may be perplexed as to why anyone would choose not to enjoy some great meat dishes, but they'll have plenty of alternatives.

Thanks everyone for the info. We don't eat anything with animal bases (etc. chicken stock, bacon or anchovies in salads). Please don't tell me gelato has gelatin in it! We are looking forward to the ice cream and gelato but don't eat gelatin.

Hi richard,

Gelato should not contain gelatin. It is made from milk, sugar, natural flavors, sometimes eggs and whipped cream.

Not all gelatin is animal-based.

Ira,

Thanks for the info. Looking forward to the gelato!!! We thought Italy would not be too big of a problem and fodorites have confirmed our thoughts.

richard, I don't eat red meat, and when I do it really effects me. A few weeks ago in Italy I had a delicious Tuscan bean soup and it must have had a beef based stock, so be sure and learn the words in Italian to ask such things.

Actually our friends son was a vegan for years. He did a semester in Italy and came back well...eating meat.