How hard is to be a vegetarian in France?!
Answers: I wasn't sure, and I am going there on a trip next summer. I am a lacto0ove veg, by the way.
France has very high quality food, a wide variety of local (by U.S. standards) foodstuffs. Major cities have vegetarian and organic (called "bio" or "biologique") restaurants. Paris has a lot of them. There are guides (chercher google "listes des restaurants bio et/ou vegetariens") all over the web, and I found some vegetarian guidebooks to France for sale online as well.
The French can be touchy about their cuisine (as they are about their language), and if you are somebody's guest, they will be insulted if you refuse to eat what they serve or recommend--something to keep in mind. I was a vegetarian when I visited France after chef school some years ago, but I gave it up for the duration of my visit after experiencing the hairy eyeball a few times.
I brought some vegetarian cookbooks back with me, but I didn't find them to be very interesting--French food can be amazing, but in my experience, most French cookbooks are pretty awful. That was a decade ago, so perhaps the books have improved.
Short version: You will find plenty of tasty vegetarian food in any major city in France. If you can't find what you want, in most cases the French despise special orders.
I'm going there next March, and I'm a lacto0ove veg as well!
My mom told me that there's bread, cheese, and wine at every restaurant in Paris, so I figure I'll be okay.
I'm interested to see what actual French experienced people say though.
Not hard, but it's hard to be vegan in France because they put cheese and cream in everything. If you're a vegan all you get is baguettes.
Lucky you! I love France.
Being a vegetarian in France is not difficult, especially in Paris since there are a lot of vegetarians there.
omg man my parents and i went to france (paris acutally) and i have to say it is almost impossible to be a vegetarian there
we are also lactovegetiarians
there was only one place where we got to eat and it was an indian restaurant
In Paris not as difficult as other parts of the country. They would look at you quite strangely in southern France. What a shame you will not be able to enjoy the wide expanse of French cuisine. tsk, tsk.
ohhh pookie, are you planning a special trip for us?! besides what kinda question is that? LOLOLOLOL
That is funny, I am a former chef and like Chuck I know of many places in France as I worked there and did training there also (I trained and am from Canada), "Yes", the french diet may seem to be full of non veggie options, but there are soups, salads, veggie appetizers, true they have Indian places, but there are many Chinese and Vietnamese places too (France was the colonial head of Vietnam before the Communists took over).
For someone who is looking for veg options, there are small "marches", markets like a 7/11 were you can buy fresh veg, fruits, cheeses and bread. Buy small amounts, and some hotels have small frigs in the rooms for you stored it, otherwise, bring a cooled and pack ice into bags keep it in the sink in the bathroom, there are lots of options.
I always started my day with either a french bread tomato sandwich or a crossiant, all cafe, bistros and restaurants have veggie dishes, pastas and salads, some with or with out cheese or with other veg. Just make sure to ask for the daily specials alot of times they have a vegetarian one, we had dishes like lasagna made with all veg, cassaroles with pasta and veg, not all have heavy cream/butter based sauce, that is the misconception alot of Americans have with the french diet.