I would greatly appreciate ANY information on all things
vegetarian/vegan in Poland, Czech rep., Slovakia, Hungary,
Slovenia, Italia, Italy and Austria. That is: facts about
restaurants in major cities, general availability of veg*an
products in supermarkets, veggie accomodation, local
vegetarian people/organisations to contact, festivals etc.
I┤ll be travelling during june and july.
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I am not so sure about Italy or Austria, but if you are
going to try to remain vegan in Poland, you can forget it!
When I went to Poland 4 years ago I was given chicken soup.
When I mentioned I was vegetarian they took it away....and
brought me back 'vegetarian' soup. They had just fished out
all of the bigger bits of meat! The reasons for their
apparent lack of understanding stem from the fact that most
of them are so poor that they don't have the opportunity to
even consider turning down food. You won't truly appreciate
that until you go there and then, when you are faced with
their way of life you'll realise what I mean. The situation
is likely to be that same in almost all Eastern/Central
European countries.
*
Furthermore, the veggie options offered in most more
'Western' places (such as the hotel I sayed in when I went
to Italy) will almost undoubtedly be either omlette or
fried cheese. If you are happy to live on bread and dark
chocolate you may be OK, but expect to pay through the nose
for fresh fruit and veg in poorer countries, especially in
Winter. In Bulgaria this winter, after my omlette I was
offered a bowl of shrivelled apples. This was the way they
ate fruit in winter, in Sofia I saw apples in a similar
state for the equivalent of a pound each. When you earn the
equivalent of ú60 a month, that's pretty steep! I am going
to Europe myself this summer and although I have very
strong vegetarian beliefs, I am considering being carnivore
for the trip. It may become a case of them or me! I feel
wrong for doing it when I am sat here munching on a 95% fat
free BBQ style vegetable flatbread, but when I am
travelling through countries where my attitude to food is
so alien, I feel I should try to appreciate their way of
life and eat as they do. Good luck with whatever you decide
to do. Perhaps try visiting India where vegetarianism is a
way of life?
pAkrAt's right about the difficulty of eating out vegatarian
and vegan is out of the question in E. Europe. In Hungary,
where I spent a few months, the only vegatarian thing on the
menu was usualy fried cheese or fried mushrooms, and that
was most likely fried in an animal product. But in Budapest
there is at least one vegetarian restaurant, called
Vegetarium. I've eaten there a few times and the food is
good. The customers there are mostly Germans or Austrians
or Americans or other visitors from W. Europe. Even this
place though is probably not vegan.
But in Hungary at least you should be able to find fresh
fruits and veggies in the markets. They had carrots and
kiwis and grapefruits and other things for most of the
winter for not too much money, and lettuce and tomatoes
towards the spring (there's always cabbage and potatoes if
you have access to cooking facilites). If you're there in
summer there should be plenty of produce in the markets.
Good luck.
Shouldn't be too difficult for you in Slovenia. I am not a
vegetarian myself, but in most restaurants I can find veg'an
menus. Many friends of mine are vegetarians and they don't
really have difficulties being ones.