Vegging Out

Being vegetarian in France hasn’t always been an easy choice. But things are gradually starting to change, with an increase in vegetarian and vegan restaurants and more meat-free options appearing on the menus.

- Mark Sampson

The other day I found myself caught short in a supermarket. Intending to ‘eat on the hoof’ – largely unthinkable to many of my French compatriots – the only sandwiches on offer were filled with either chicken or ham. ‘Typical,’ I thought. As a vegetarian in France, I have often found myself with restricted choice.

But then I wondered if things are really as difficult for vegetarians as they were when my family settled in la France profonde over 20 years ago. Back in the bad old days, when lardons (or bacon bits) and pasta seemed to qualify as vegetables, when an omelette was about the only vegetarian option, it was so difficult that we simply gave up eating out.

When invited to eat with French friends, we often felt guilty for the stress we created. The idea of a plat principal that didn’t involve meat or fish was so alien to their traditional cuisine that they simply didn’t know how to cater for us.

Our daughter had the same problem throughout her education. Sometimes at the end of her school day, she would be exhausted – not from all the lessons, but more from the lack of food. English and vegetarian and thus a race apart, she (only just) survived on a diet of green beans or pasta with butter. Turning down the lentils because they’d been cooked with the chicken was surely just a sign of caprice.

But that was then and this is now. Recently, I read about her former local school’s canteen, where they have installed a salad bar to offer a healthy alternative to the heavier, meaty diet otherwise on offer. Perhaps Jamie Oliver has surreptitiously been touring France with translations of his books.

CHANGE IS AFOOT