Vegetarian food in Italy is awful!

[Teakettletrio]

We are five days into our trip. The place is beautiful, the scenery is stunning, the sights are fascinating. BUT the food is awful. We’ve had various combinations of cheese and tomatoes for 5 days straight. I’m starting to lose it. The supermarkets are full of gorgeous looking vegetables but all we get offered is spaghetti pomoforo, gnocchi pomodoro or margarita pizza. We got all excited yesterday as we thought we had found a restaurant with a veggie burger, but it turned out to be a potato croquet in a bun. Is it just us? Have we been unlucky?

Where are you in Italy?

Are you asking for vegetarian or just looking at menus? There are a million Italian dishes that are vegetarian. But not 'advertised' as such.

@londongirl12 Bacoli

Vegan here. I went to Sicily for three days and lost 2.5lb 🤣

@MrsTerryPratchett we don’t speak Italian. We’ve noticed that what they label as vegetarian will often have fish in it or ‘wafer thin ham’ so I’m nervous of going off menu even if we could ask.

We have had a lot of trouble n Italy.

we stuck to pizzas mostly and bought bread and nibbles in supermarkets for snack style teas.

We did a 7 night tour of Tuscany in March. Partner is vegetarian and had no issue with eating well.

Im annoyed now LOL.

Bruschetta, pesto, aglio olio, puttanesca (hold the anchovies), risotto or pasta primavera, arrabbiato, any amount of risotti or beans dishes... all the oily and pickled vegetables.

So many things!

I find this really surprising! Surely there are lots of Italian dishes that are often vegetarian? Lots of pasta dishes, melanzane alla parmigiana, pizzas (not just margarita), risotto? All much nicer than a veggie burger! How weird that none of these were on offer!

Senza pesce e senza carne, vero? Non mangiamo carne o pesce, e molto importante.

Need to get a big salad 🥗

I've been to Italy many times as a vegetarian and always found lots of choices. I once went with a vegan friend and she always found something too. I know enough Italian to interpret menus (and before that carried a dictionary to look up unfamiliar words), which helps.

Just say non manjo neh pesheh ne carneh (I don’t eat fish or meat) and you will be understood.
you can eat zucca (pumpkin, often as a pasta filling), funghi (mushrooms), caponata (cold veg dish with aubergines, olives, capers - delish), melanzane (aubergine), zucchine (courgettes), radicchio. So many yummy side dishes & salads.

just watch out for prosciutto appearing on veg dishes - say senza prosciutto

I had the same problems when I went to Italy - the “hidden ham” was a major issue! One restaurant laughed at me when I questioned it, telling me “all the flavour comes from the ham…” Margarita pizza and pomodoro sauce became very boring very quickly.

I hope you find somewhere that does cater, or can get some of the fantastic food from supermarkets and enjoy some picnics or something.

Anything with cheese like parmesan, pecorino or buffalo mozarella which have rennet in it is not vegetarian. So that will cut out a lot of dishes. It's an absolute pain in this country when it comes to Italian food.

Order contorni with your pasta - generally grilled veggies or nice greens are available and always a mixed salad.

Is there no poke place? We couldn't walk 10 metres without seeing sushi (always with veggie options)/poke. Or falafel, also popular.

Eating out in Italy can be carb-heavy for vegetarians. Head to a grocery store or deli for more choice. They often have some nice deli counters with good choices.

Most pesto isn’t vegetarian.
Google lens and translate are a godsend.

Don’t you eat water thin ham Barbara?!
seriously though, I hear you. It can be very frustrating but as others have said they often do have things you just wouldn’t know. The uptake in Veganisms has made it even harder!!!

DD is veggie and doesn't eat fish either but did really well in Lombardy a couple of years ago. Much better than Germany or Spain.

Unfortunately a lot of things that might otherwise be veggie are cooked in stock (risotto, soups) which is unlikely to be fully vegetarian. And the parmesan and ham/bacon issue too.

I think you will have to choose between strict adherence to vegetarianism and varied food.

I can only assume Italy has far fewer vegetarians and therefore there isn’t the demand for vegetarian dishes in restaurants to make it worth their while.

Have you had a look on Happy Cow to see if there is anything they recommend near you?

I am vegetarian, and the rest of my family is either vegetarian or vegan, and we find it really pays to do a bit of research before you go anywhere, not just for specific restaurants but also veggie-friendly local dishes and vocabulary. I have learnt how to say 'I am vegetarian' in multiple languages over the years...

I’ve been this year and there was plenty of. Courgette flowers stuffed with soft cheese and a risotto dish with uncommon local herbs were both delicious.

This looks rather good if you fancy going upmarket for an evening (book in advance for the vegan menu) www.happycow.net/reviews/caracol-bacoli-176989

Also, that classic bean soup with bread? Ribollita, I think.

Sono vegetariano. Non mangio né pesce né prosciutto. I was in Italy for 10 years as a veggie. The food can be repetitive. So I would buy fresh in the markets and cook at home. I struggled years ago to get Eastern Mediterranean eg houmous, dips, etc. That may have changed.