Camino de Santiago de Compostela

[Artemisofephesus]

Hi,

Just wondering, what does a typical pilgrim menu in an albergue consist of? I'm a vegetarian and don't necessarily want to go to a cafe or restaurant every night just to get something that doesn't have meat in it, I'm not going to have that much money to spend. Do the albergues offer vegetarian meals?

Thanks,
Jo

[Chev.Jerry]

Hola,

Just a thought but you might want to do a search for "Vegetarian food" in the search box and see what has been said on this before.

We only saw one "vegetarian" cafe before we got to Santiago and that was in Sarria.

You can, of course, go to the market and fix whatever you want in many of the albugues.

Rual northern Spain had wonderful food, but vegetarian was not high on the list.

Jerry

[viajero]

The wonderful hospitaleros in Ruitelan made a lovely meal at the albergue. There was a vegetarian option as well which was very satifsfying. They made a great veg. paella meal at the albergue in Vilar de Mazarife (I can't remember the name of the albergue but I believe it was the first one on the right just as you enter the village). I think a couple of the others may have done veg. meals as well but these are the two that come to mind. Several of the albergues have kitchens so if you pick up a few items you can prepare meals too. The restaurant Manolo in Santiago had a very fillling vegetarian plate (I don't think it is on the menu so you have to ask for it). I myself am not a vegetarian but met and walked with several on the camino and I must say it was sometimes difficult for them. They got a little bit tired of salad, french fries, bread and eggs. I think that buying a few groceries here and there will help. Good luck.

[sillydoll]

Hi Jo,
Very few albergues offer any food at all. Some of the smaller albergues - Eunate, Tosantos, Granon, St Nicholas, Manjarin come to mind - offer an evening meal for a donation whilst others, like Ave Fenix or the Albergue Vegetariano at La Faba, charge about 10 euro.
Many albergues have kitchens (with limited utensils) where you can cook your own meals.
The Spanish are a carnivorous people and eat a lot of meat and fish. I found that the Menu del Peregrinos, which you can get for about 10 euro in any little village or cafe-bar, offer chips and chicken, salads and a fruit or yoghurt. We very rarely saw vegetables on the menu.
It is much cheaper to make your own dinner. I took a little immersion heater (a spiral one cup heaters) and often bought a bottle or tin of vegetables to add to a cup of soup eaten with fresh bread. There are large and small supermecados along the way where you can buy pastas, rice, lentils etc to cook in the albergues. Often people leave opened packets behind and you are free to use those as well.
You can buy yoghurt with fruit or muesli for breakfast, some cheese or a tomato and a fresh loaf to have al fresco for lunch. Treat yourself occasionally in a restaurant and you will find that the platos are often cheaper than the Menu del Dia.
You won't starve - but you might crave a home cooked vegetarian meal!

[Pablo2007]

Oh well thats at least 3 meals you can have.......

I say to my wife that vegetarians in Spain are a little like Introverts, (they do exist but are very hard to find).

But seriously I don't know how much of a vegetarian you are (some will eat fish occasionally) but I think you may struggle in parts.

Even the mixed salads nearly always have tuna. I also saw someone order a mixed "vegetable stew" that when it arrived it had chicken in it and when questioned the waiter said "well its just chicken".

So be carefull, again it depends on how serious a vegetarian you are.

Someone once told me a story of about Swami Vivekanada (devout vegetarian) who after eating a dish with meat in it by mistake and being physically ill once he rcognised the fact came back inside and asked his host for another helping, saying that he should get over his "attachment" to not eating meat.

Anyway

I wish you the best of luck .

Buen Camino

Pablo

[sillydoll]

Pablo is quite right! The Spanish don't seem to understand the concept of vegetarianism.
I often ordered soup - sin carne - only to have the host spoon a big chunk of sausage out of it before passing it to me!
When I asked for ensalada - sin pescado - it often came with tuna chunks it. A Spanish pilgrim explained that tinned atún is not considered to be real fish!

[ksam]

Hi! There is/are breakfast cereal/yogurt combos (the come four cups together) that are "shelf" stable..and can be carried with you. We found them when doing the Camino Portuguese recently...can't think of the brand but I do remember it had Bifidus in the label in bold letters...helps with the digestive tract staying on track! They made a great breakfast or lunch addition...and helped with protein consumption.

Post when your on the road so we can see how you make out!! Being married to the butchers son...being a vegetarian ain't really possible!!!

Buen Camino, Karin

[Javier Martin]

Hi,

In 2003 I walked for more than a week with a nice canadian vegetarian girl. It was surprising for me to see how easy was for her to take only vegetarian meals.

Salads and omelettes, Caldo Gallego, lentejas, fruits, and so on.

Usually it's possible to order two "first" in a menu, so you can ask Caldo and a salad.

She used to buy fruit for breakfast.

Buen Camino,

Javier Martin
Madrid, Spain.

[JohnnieWalker]

Alas Caldo Gallego is made from meat stock - at least pork and beef and in some places also chicken. I've also never known lentejas to be made with anything other than ham.

But there are plenty of vegetable/salad options plus tortilla and of course ubiquitous chips.

If you eat fish then there are many other options.

[elzi]

Hello, Just made it thorugh the whole camino alive and I´m vegetarian.

Most vegetarians I met along the way tried to stay in the albergues that had kitchens and made their own food (lots of chick peas, lentils and salads etc). It was usuallly fairly easy to find albergues with kitchens but I struggled a bit across the meseta and also in very small villages sometimes if there is just one bar offering a pilgrim menu the albergue might well not offer a kitchen (presumably so the bar gets the money?). In big towns there was almost always a kitchen.

If you want to eat out be very caareful about ordering. If you eat fish you will probably find you will be eating fish almost constantly. Almost all salads in spain seem to come with tuna on for some reason so if you don´t eat fish be sure to ask for "sin carne" AND "sin pescado". Or just ask for a salad without tuna.

Also be very careful with soups. Even vegetable soups come with meat in. Most soups are made with meat stocks so even if you ask for a vegetable soup without meat you will almost certainly be given vegetable soup made with meat. I haven´t eaten meat for about 18 years and it makes me very sick, I got very ill a few times on the french route last year and once this year eating "vegetable" soup so now I avoid soup entirely. I guess it depends how fussy you are about how "vegetarian" you like your soup.

Sometimes people can be very understanding, the last pilgrim meal I had I left the soup and the chef came out to ask me what was wrong with his food. When I explained about the meat stock he gave me a lovely vegetarian salad and made me a really nice egg pasta diah as well. Mostly though don´t expect the spainsh to truly understand the concept of vegetarianism.

Please remember though that you won´t starve as virtually EVERY single bar in spain has Tortilla a vegetarian staple. Whatever restaurant/bar/albergue you are in you´ll pretty much always be able to order tortilla as an alternative..... Wow, I´ve had a lot of Tortilla!

Good Luck!

[viajero]

Years ago when I lived in Spain, an American friend met a Spanish family who said that they were vegetarians. She was surprised as she had met so few Spanish vegetarians. When she asked them what they ate, the father replied, "vegetables, chicken, and Jamon de york "(regular deli style boiled ham as opposed to jamon serrano). We found it pretty amusing that chicken and ham were considered vegetarian fare. If you ever order the "sandwich vegetal" beware! In the village where I lived the sandwich vegetal always came with ham.

[Annette]

...If you are a vegetarian like me... (well... ok I do eat fish)... you can still survive the camino, though spanish restaurants tend to put meat in everything. I always remove the meat from the soups... (I dont mind if the stock is made on meat... - as long as I do not have to eat read meat)

Ham is not considered as meat in Spain... sometimes when I ask... "¿lleva carne?" (does it have meat?) They usually answer me "No! lleva jamon york" (no it has york ham). When I reply to them "Ham is meat..." - they respond... "Yes but it only has a little bit".

Some restaurants can cook up a VERY nice vegetable plate... with NO meat.

Also it is posible to get lentel soup with no meat... (however as already mentioned the stock might be from meat.... )

I haven't eaten red meat for 20 years... and if I have it I will get a bad stomace ache... however it seems I can deal with the stock...

I have done the Camino now 3 times... without suffering or having to eat the same thing over and over again... - and now living in Spain... I still survive.

Just use your imagination. Most restaurants can serve you tomatosoup, lentelsoup... a nice plate of beans... there are salads... tortilla frances or tortilla de patata... it is even posible to get integral bread... so you do not have to eat white bread.

Nothing is impossible... many restaurants will cook something up if you ask nicely... and with out expecting to get it as a part of the peregrino menu...

¡Que aproveche!

[sillydoll]

I don't eat any animal, eggs or milk. But, I will eat a muffin or cake baked with egg and milk - or even a patata tortilla. I always take my little spiral immersion heater and a large mug with me on my travels. Even the smallest shops in Spain sell bottles or tins of mixed vegetables and these, added to a mug of packet soup, make a really substantial meal accompanied with bread and cheese. I carried a couple of those little tins of veges with the pull off tops and often ordered a plain salad - sin atun - and just added my own vegetables to it.

[Rebekah Scott]

If you stop in at our place on the meseta we´ll make you up a lovely veg. meal. We´re just now starting into a semi-vegetarian lifestyle (we only eat meat when we have company who eat meat); Patrick is becoming a fine vegetarian cook, and we operate on a co-op/donativo basis.

Reb.

[Pacharan]

La Trucha in El Acebo is a vegetarian B&B; the host is very welcoming and the homecooked food a world away from the chicken'n'chips pilgrim menus. I'm not a veggie but enjoyed it very much. Ensuite room, dinner and breakfast for 2 was 60 euros total so treat yourself if not on tight budget.