Vegetarian food in France

[midnightmoon8]

We've just returned from a lovely holiday in France. It was perfect apart from one issue - I'm vegetarian and found finding vegetarian options in restaurants almost impossible. We travelled around and mainly stayed in b&b accommodation and ate out each evening but this involved traipsing round restaurant after restaurant until we found somewhere suitable. Think we'll go self-catering in future but wondered how other vegetarians overcome this? There must be French vegetarians - where do they eat??!

That is the reason I am pescatarian. In France there is usually one revolting vegetarian pastry dish shoved in as an afterthought. As RuthandPen says, the falafel etc in the Jewish quarter is amazing but that’s it.

I would love them please! France is one of the few places I would like to visit-i am not a fan of going abroad at all but this issue has most definitely put me off-especially as I would be travelling alone. I don't want my whole break taken up with traipsing about looking for food options

I’m vegan and visit France annually. I really do struggle - other than in larger towns or cities where there are some restaurants which are suitable - often the falafel type places ..

I tend to self cater mostly as it’s just easier.

I'm still struggling to convince French friends that chopped bacon isn't a vegetable.

Yeah this is why I don’t go to France much.

we have family there and once at wedding the veggie option was beetroot. Plain Beetroot.

we self cater if we do go.

the ski areas are actually not too bad, presumably because it’s largely international tourists.

I’m currently in France and am vegan. Eating out is a bit tricky but I’m finding it very easy to be vegan while self-catering. The supermarkets are very well stocked with fruit, veg, seitan and tofu etc. I thought it would be really hard but so far so good. I hear what PP said though about bakeries as I don’t seem to be able to find any vegan bakery options.

I was worried about this too but turned out my hotel was about three minutes' walk from a vegan restaurant. This was Paris, however.

I found Portugal (Lagos) a hell of a lot worse. The only vegetarian option in every restaurant was pasta in tomato sauce.

Yes, as well as being vegetarian, I also gave birth to the world's food-fussiest child, so Chez Hanna on the rue des Rosiers has been a godsend, serving EXACTLY the same falafel since dinosaurs roamed the Marais... I live in fear it will close down and we will have to move down the street to the far inferior offerings of L'as du falafel, or try to persuade DS to try the weirdly meekly-spiced iterations of Indian cooking you get in France.😀

I'd be interested to know the name of that Limoges restaurant please @AgentPidge .

There are vegan bakeries out there but they're not very widespread. There was even a vegan baker on French Bake Off a few years ago.

I've found the best option in France is to find the Chinese, Indian, Italian etc restaurants. They will usually have at least one half decent vegetarian options. Actual French restaurants might do you a begrudging omelette, and will charge the same as steak. But like other posters, it is the main reason I rarely visit France anymore, it's not a great holiday when food is a bit of a battle.

If you're OK with eating fish, you're not a vegetarian.

In Brittany you have the option of gallettes with lots of different veggie fillings.

@Geranium879 , most of which will not be vegetarian.

Yeah being vegetarian in France is a nightmare.

My friend asked for a veggie burger and they served her an empty bun 🙈😂

Germany is king for vegan/vegetarian food, if you fancy an alternative holiday destination next time.

Yes, that's always been another boon!

It's very hard to eat out yes in my experience. The people saying it's fine if you self cater - well yes obviously French shops sell vegetables! OP is asking about restaurants. I was at a work thing in Nice earlier in the year which was very lavishly catered and there was nothing vegan at all.

I'm very old, and have found this much improved over time from the point of view of being vegetarian. It's obviously easier in cities (crepes, omelettes, Indian, Lebanese, Italian foods etc and even specific vegetarian restaurants now). And it's easier everywhere if you speak a little French. I have always found something by asking very politely in French - and I love an omelette et frites anyway.

I think it must be tricky for vegans though, outside Paris and some other big cities. In that case I'd self-cater.

It's not a deficiency in any way though. Just another culture that you have to adapt to.

These days, Spain has quite a few completely vegan and vegetarian restaurants in the bigger cities like Barcelona and Valencia. Also, churros are usually vegan!

It's not a deficiency in any way though. Just another culture that you have to adapt to

I mean it literally is a deficiency -much of France is deficient in vegan food. You could argue that they have no obligation to remove the deficiency and I'd agree with you.

Thank you for all your replies. If anyone is interested we did find one restaurant (called KRIS) in Digne-les-Bains which had plenty of vegetarian options and where I enjoyed a delicious meal. (2 Cours des Ares)

This. If you absolutely want to eat at a French restaurant you can have salade à chèvre chaud (🥗 with warm goat cheese on bread) or ratatouille, omelette aux champignons with 🥗 . The big supermarkets sell fresh vegetarian salads as well.

I live in rural Brittany and just can’t be bothered eating out any more, it’s too much hassle unless it’s a crêperie where there’s usually at least a couple of veggie options. I’ve met literally two other vegetarians here in 20 years, it’s just not a thing.

This is giving me flashbacks to a holiday in France 30 years ago with a vegan boyfriend. He didn't speak French, I do, so I had to explain...

In the end I said he had allergies, just to avoid the weird looks 😂

Though we found an amazing chocolate ice cream in the standard supermarket ice cream isle that happened to be vegan...

i eat a lot of pasta and pizza in France…..