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July 16, 2004

Please Don't Turn Your Cats into Vegans

Being a vegetarian while living in Europe was hard. In Prague, vegetables are always out of season. The "vegetarian plate" was always just whatever the side vegetables would be on a regular entree. Hence, about five pieces of shredded lettuce and a sprinkling of shriveled carrots. My traveling companions would ask, "Are you sure that's going to be enough?" Um, no, what do you think? It wasn't long after that that I discovered a true Czech staple: fried cheese. I pretty much lived on fried cheese, chocolate, dumplings, and beer for six months.

Paris had no shortage of vegetables. I could go to the farmer's market and get all kinds of fresh veggies. My roommate and I would make elaborate vegetarian meals to accompany the cheap bottles of Beaujolais Nouveau. Besides, we couldn't afford to eat out much in Paris.

In Rome, everything was much easier. Eating out was affordable and there is always something for vegetarians on an Italian menu. Antipasti, pasta, risotto, pizza . . . need I say more? Once, however, I found myself in Calabria in a pizzeria and they didn't have any pizza without meat on the menu, even though cheese pizza (called Margherita pizza) is a staple in Italy. So I asked for pizza without meat on it and the waiter said, "No problem, but ham is okay, right?"

Posted by Anna at 11:54 PM | Comments (13)