"Je suis végétarienne": France as a vegetarian

Tuesday, 10 December 2013
Yum
I have about 800 photos of France, so it's a bit of an undertaking to put them together for here but I'm working on it.  I thought I'd start by sharing my thoughts on food. It's mostly a chance to show off lots of pictures of bread because well really, who wouldn't?

In my experience, France as a vegetarian is tricky.  It's somewhere we used to go as a family when I was younger and I never really got on with it.  I remember the choice for me being a few slices of brie and lettuce on one trip.  It's a lot easier if you're self-catering but when you aren't?  What's to be done?

Have a good hearty breakfast.  Breakfasts in France are better than the traditional English in my opinion - croissants, beautiful breads, pain au chocolat - the options are there for something very different.  I may have even sneaked a macaroon one morning... the pistachio ones are absolutely amazing.







Just look at the prices of these - 65 cents (about 50p) for something so beautiful that you almost don't want to eat it.

A top breakfast (that seems more like a lunch in this country) is french stick with butter and jam.



Check out that little log twist of butter.  Even the BUTTER is presented impeccably.


D and Mr K opted for a mixture of pastries to share - there may be a little nibble out of one of them...



There are types of cuisine that are better than others.  Whilst my Dad enjoyed (well.. sort of...) frogs' legs in a Chinese dish, I only really found a plate of vegetables in a thin soy sauce.  Not the best meal.

Italian is far safer.  We found Caffè Italiano on a side street off the Champs-Élysées.  We'd not had the best morning - mostly thanks to a lack of schedule/plan.  We were running very late for lunch and I didn't hold out much hope for a satisfying meal.

Fortunately, my fears were very much unfounded.  The service there was excellent and the portions really very good.  They were excellent with a slightly fractious D and the food was out in double quick time.  Despite the fact that we were there at the end of service (the owners were already eating their own meal as we left) there was no sense of rush - they let D have as long as he needed.

I had a really lovely pasta dish that was creamy and contained lots of greens.  I couldn't have been happier.

Moroccan food can be found in some places.   In Disney, we found the Cafe Agrabah -


The buffet option there allowed me to have lots of side dishes - chickpeas, mediterranean vegetables, couscous, houmous and very tasty salads and pitta breads.

So, to recap - eat a huge breakfast and head for Italian or Moroccan food for your main meals.  If you have a good grasp of French, you might be able to order off menu but I've always found that a bit tricky - there is a level of incredulity often if you try to ask what's vegetarian.

What would you suggest to vegetarian friends (apart from eat meat!!)?  What would you have for breakfast? I have to be honest, I'm missing Paul right now.
 

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