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I travel to Europe about once a year and I've noticed they're far behind the US in terms of vegetarian options. In the US it's been easy to get a high quality,
by coldpie 7y ago
I travel to Europe about once a year and I've noticed they're far behind the US in terms of vegetarian options. In the US it's been easy to get a high quality, vegetarian meal at almost any restaurant for at least a decade (edit: at least in metro areas; perhaps rural areas are different, although I haven't noticed this personally). Meanwhile in Europe it's almost impossible to get anything resembling a full meal. Like you say, it's usually simply a meal based around meat with the meat removed. I hope things are getting better over there.
- Vinnl 7y agoYou can't really make a statement like that about "Europe" and be right, as the amount of options really varies throughout Europe. The UK has had a lot of options for vegetarians for a while, and outside of rural areas the Netherlands is excellent as well. But Hungary, for example, was far less easy (though still very doable) last time I checked it: the vegetarians in our group had to have grilled Camembert in practically every restaurant.
- keiferski 7y agoWhere is “Europe”? London? Athens? Budapest? Kyiv? The availability of vegetarian-friendly food varies drastically from city to city. Half of the cities in this list of “Top Vegan Cities” are in Europe: London, Berlin, Warsaw, Paris, and Prague. https://www.happycow.net/vegtopics/travel/top-vegan-friendly-cities https://www.happycow.net/vegtopics/travel/top-vegan-friendly...
- Sharparam 7y agoAnd London is the #1 city as well. Is that person just trying to throw shade on Europe?
- moate 7y agoI agree with your "Where is Europe" sentiment, but lists like this aren't super helpful. The fact that western site somehow doesn't have a single Asian city, despite veganism tracing it's roots to India, in their top 10 feels less like an objective analysis and more of a list of places the editors have visited.
- keiferski 7y agoI don’t think it’s fair to expect an English-language, western-focused website to cover India. I doubt the average Westerner could name more than a city or two in India to begin with. Even then, I am skeptical as to the claim that contemporary western veganism, as a cultural phenomenon, is traceable to India. I would attribute it more to developments in western ethics and growing awareness of the realities of the meat production economy, combined with left-wing culture and politics in general.
- moate 7y agoLet's ignore India specifically, and call out "the whole rest of the world that isn't the US, Western Europe, and Israel". Why isn't it fair? You're saying "the best vegan cities in the world" and ignoring the vast majority of the world. Should I take this list as the definitive list of the objectively best vegan cities, or some westerner's take the subject? If you don't want to be judged on the world stage, don't bring the world into it. Say "the best vegan cities we've been to" or "the best vegan cities in europe/the US". They wrote a list, I'm critical of their list and process. Here's a better list IMO, if you're trying to talk about the world. https://theveganword.com/vegan-friendly-cities-2018/ https://theveganword.com/vegan-friendly-cities-2018/ Also, you can talk about "contemporary western veganism" but that's very different from "veganism" in general. You're moving the goalposts sir.
- keiferski 7y agoI only linked to the site as a response to the above poster, who was comparing Europe to America. If you have an issue with the title of the post I linked to, take it up with the author. Otherwise, this is a pointless pedantic argument that has nothing to do with the original reason I linked to the article.
- moate 7y agoLet's just agree to disagree on what constitutes good supporting evidence and move on.
- hannob 7y agoWhich country? It highly depends. More veggie friendly: Germany, Sweden, UK. Less veggie friendly: Denmark, France. And then it depends on the region. (And with my few visits in the US I didn't find it particularly rich in vegetarian options, with the exception of San Francisco.)
- athriren 7y agoI would say this is probably a slight overstatement of the situation in the US. In California and New York it has been very easy for a decade, but the midwest (St. Louis, Lawrence, Omaha) has only recently become nearly as easy as the coasts within--my perception is--the last three years. However, I agree with the overall point of your comment. The US is comparatively much easier overall than Europe is, and the quality of the restaurant options in the US has improved quite rapidly over the past 5 years. Edit: I would note this really only applies to western cuisine options. Indian and Thai food have been widely available for quite some time and have a lot of vegetarian options.
- Sharparam 7y agoWhat countries? Remember that Europe consists of many countries and the cultures/cuisine differ greatly. In Sweden we have a pretty good selection of vegetarian options, at least according to my vegetarian friend.
- StreamBright 7y agoThis really depends on which particular part of US comparing against which particular part of the EU. Examples: - Louisville, Kentucky vs Berlin - San Francisco, California vs Munich