Eating Vegetarian Around the World
There are a lot of advantages to dining abroad — better and fresher ingredients in a lot of cases, an emphasis on quality over speed, and chefs eager to share the unique flavors of their region, to name a few. But something we don’t talk enough about is how much easier and more delicious it is to be a vegetarian outside of the United States.
I’ve been a vegetarian since I was 14, so I’m something of an expert on this. I should clarify that for me, “vegetarian” means no meat and no fish, but does include dairy and eggs. This is an umbrella term I’ll use, but it’s also the minimum — many of the places and foods I’ll be discussing are actually fully vegan, which is significantly more difficult and demanding.
If you’re not familiar with the vegetarian landscape in your average American city, allow me to paint you a picture. Generally, it is and has been pretty bleak. I’ve been to many restaurants where all I could theoretically eat was a small side of vegetables because even the salads all had meat or fish included. I’ve encountered soups that sounded like they should be safe but inexplicably contain chicken or fish broth. I didn’t realize even Caesar salad has fish until I was a decade into being a vegetarian!
If you’re lucky (and in fairness to restaurants, they are slowly getting better at this) the menu will include a lone vegetarian sandwich, or maybe the option to switch out a meat burger for a non-meat patty. This is fine, but being a vegetarian abroad has really hammered home the idea that there is so much more we can do without meat.
The standby in the US for a long time has been the cheapest available option (typically a Boca or Gardenburger, sometimes a bland house-made standin). In recent years we’ve seen Impossible and Beyond burgers, which are exponentially tastier, slide onto menus at fast casual restaurants and even chains (shout out to White Castle’s Impossible sliders, one of the better I’ve found in this category!), but it’s still primarily burger-centric, while your meat eating dining partners get to choose from a much larger range of dishes.
I’ll carve out an exception here for several genres of non-American food. Indian, Thai, Japanese, Chinese, Mediterranean, and Mexican restaurants (just to name a few) can provide you with a flavorful feast that includes no meat at all, and will leave you feeling much more satisfied than a sad, thin fake burger. And this is true most places these restaurants can be found, both in the US and beyond.
So what are they doing in other countries that makes their vegetarian landscape so much more appealing? A couple things spring to mind. For one, there just seem to be more dedicated vegetarian and vegan restaurants across Europe, patronized by a wider range of folks. For another (and this may sound novel to Americans), the chefs in these restaurants lean into the vegetables, rather than trying to hide them. They use in-season, fresh produce and celebrate the flavors and textures. They’re more adventurous in what they’ll use as a meat “substitute” — I’ve enjoyed dishes starring mushroom, falafel, seitan, tofu, and eggplant that have all surpassed my expectations.
Most importantly, the people making the food in these restaurants are striving for quality and creativity — they’re putting time and effort in to make sure that each vegetarian dish is just as savory and satisfying (and often as visually appealing) as their meat-based counterparts. I’m not presuming that the people at Impossible or Beyond aren’t passionate about their work, it’s just a lot harder to see in a frozen patty that’s traveled thousands of miles to my table.
The biggest perk of eating vegetarian elsewhere, especially in a fully vegan restaurant, is the sense of security I feel knowing I can eat anything on the menu and don’t have to stress about hidden meat. My wonderful husband understands this, and gladly spends more time in these places with me than any other person in my life, past or present. It’s nice to feel not only included but cared for in a dining environment; and as more diverse vegetarian options become more mainstream, I’m hopeful that we’ll see more movement in this direction.
