Vegan Portugues Route

[RMC]

I am starting the Camino Portugues later this month. I am Vegan and am wondering how difficult it will be to find vegan food and meals on the Camino. I am considering bringing freeze-dried meals but they would take a lot of space in my pack. I enjoy simple whole foods like salads, beans, rice, bread, grains, vegetables, wine, etc. Anything without animal products (no meat, seafood, dairy). Does anyone know if there are readily available vegan foods or meals on the Portuguese route? If so, do the accommodations have vegan options or would I need to shop at grocery stores to pick up staples?

 

[trecile]

Hopefully @jungleboy or @Wendy Werneth will reply. They are vegans who live in Lisbon and have walked several routes in Portugal.

 

[Wendy Werneth]

Where are you starting your Camino? From Porto there will be more options because there are more pilgrims/tourists, and therefore more people with various dietary needs requesting meals.

From Lisbon to Porto, options are fewer but it's certainly doable. Traditional Portuguese restaurants don't cater to vegans; menus are typically divided into meat dishes and fish dishes, with no other options. That being said, every meat and fish dish comes with salad, rice, French fries and bread, so you can always have that if nothing else. Sometimes pasta. Usually there's a vegetable soup too. And if you ask, they sometimes have vegetables they can cook for you.

We found it worth carrying something small like a can of vegan tuna or sausages to supplement these Portuguese restaurant meals.

For self-catering, the situation is somewhat better. It's not unusual these days to find hummus, vegan sausages, seitan, tofu, etc. in Portuguese supermarkets. And even in the very worst case, you can always get a can of chickpeas and smash it on bread to make a faux tuna sandwich. We typically have a self-catered picnic lunch and a restaurant dinner.

Check the highlight reels of my Instagram account www.instagram.com/nomadic_vegan to see exactly what and where we ate each day on various caminos, including from Lisbon to Santiago. Bom Caminho!

 

[JabbaPapa]

I'm no vegan pretty much the opposite really, but my impression is that vegans should have a generally easier time along the Português than the Francès ; from a greater variety of vegetable dishes in the staple of the Portuguese and Galician diets and cooking than in the Spanish -- outside of establishments targeting pilgrims specifically with a greater likelihood of targeted vegan options.

At very least, there'll always be the sopa and/or the caldo verde to rely on. Plus salads etc. though you'd need to take care with various beans, chick peas, or lentils recipes as they may be prepared with pork fat or grease.

I did see though that many of the food-providing Albergues along the way did make a good effort to accommodate the vegans and vegetarians.

 

[LTfit]

If you're on Facebook join our group Vegetarians and Vegans on the Camino.

From posts I've seen from Porto on it looks pretty good.

 

[CoquilleDC]

Casa Fernanda, a wonderful place to stay, offered vegan food if advised in advance. Reservation recommended.

 

[FVSQ]

I am starting the Camino Portugues later this month. I am Vegan and am wondering how difficult it will be to find vegan food and meals on the Camino. I am considering bringing freeze-dried meals but they would take a lot of space in my pack. I enjoy simple whole foods like salads, beans, rice, bread, grains, vegetables, wine, etc. Anything without animal products (no meat, seafood, dairy). Does anyone know if there are readily available vegan foods or meals on the Portuguese route? If so, do the accommodations have vegan options or would I need to shop at grocery stores to pick up staples?

In Vila Praia de Ancora they have a vegan restaurant. I am having difficulty with Portugal being mostly vegetarian, whole plant food. Very few vegetabes , lentils, pulses etc. in restaurants. I have switched to eating more fish which of course you may not choose to do. I am not in places to cook so have not checked supermarkets. Lots of fried potatoes and menu mostly meat based. You can buy whole grain breads. Salads often come with eggs you could request removed.

 

[Friend from Barquinha]

In the bigger towns, with the chain supermarkets (Intermarché, Pingo Doce, Leclerc, Lidl, Aldi, Continente)--you'll find each of those chains has their own-brand foods with a lot of natural foods including vegan alternatives. I'd say Continente and Leclerc probably have the biggest ranges.

In the smaller towns with small supermarkets, your best bets are the canned or jarred (cheaper than cans) beans as noted above.

Restaurants/cafés are definitely a challenge. Even the soups mentioned above like caldo verde typically have a bit of chorizo added for flavouring, which is pork-based. And most of the vegetarian options they offer include either cheese or eggs or both.

But a fair number of younger Portuguese are vegans, and suitable products are becoming available.

There is a kind of sausage (I know; this sounds sketchy) called alheira which avoids pork. Traditionally, it includes another meat-based source instead, but you can now get it in a vegan version. Also, another one, similar, called farinheira.

https://www.prozis.com/us/us/prozis/vegan-alheira-portuguese-bread-sausage-200-g

The Prozis products are a recognized brand in the country; quite new, concentrating on plant-based food, I believe. You should check them out!

Here's the result of the Portuguese Prozis.pt website, searching for "vegan":

https://www.prozis.com/pt/pt/search/q/text/vegan

Bom caminho!

 

[JabbaPapa]

Even the soups mentioned above like caldo verde typically have a bit of chorizo added for flavouring

I don't know about "typically", though good point about the caldo verde specifically, where it's more frequent regionally to add some meat or fat -- as to "sopa", that's true in some local variants of it ; but what I found, from my opposite carb-avoiding mostly carnivore perspective is that most often I had to completely avoid it, for being pure veg plus the wrong sorts of veg. Except on my week to ten day cheat days, I had to systematically ask what was in it, just to avoid carb-induced inflammatory pain later.

That's just me and my idiosyncratic illness, but my 180° opposite perspective gives me some insight into the question via paradox. Carb-avoiding mostly carnivore has its own difficulties, and moreso in Portugal than Spain or France.

 

[RJM]

You're just going to have to seek as you go along. Restaurants and markets.

 

[TravelingVegan]

I am also vegan going from Porto to Santiago in July so I'm also curious. Thank you for starting this thread!
I need protein at every meal or I get very spacey and light-headed, after two days of not enough protein I get physically ill so I'm hoping this won't be an issue on the Camino. Gonna have nuts with me at all times, maybe some dried edamame because that stuff has a lot of protein and weighs little to nothing.

 

[Friend from Barquinha]

Gonna have nuts with me at all times, maybe some dried edamame because that stuff has a lot of protein and weighs little to nothing.

Quick translation tip (I didn't know this)--the word "nut" translates as "noz," (sounds like "nose") but "noz" ALSO is the word for "walnut." All the other kinds of nuts have their own name in Portuguese; this had me stumped for a bit.

And in Portuguese labelling, "frutAs secas" is dried fruit, but "frutOs secos" is mixed nuts)--quite confusing!

Bom caminho.

 

[Donny Camino]

My wife and I are total vegans. Doing our 4th Camino this summer. We carry our picnic lunches with us daily (that we buy the night before) which is usually can beans (we eat it cold, it's tasty!!), baguette, dates, fruits, etc.. easy easy! For dinners, if no vegan restaurants...we consider Italian for spaguetti (meatless of course) or veggie pizza no cheese. But half the time, we eat back in the room (after happy hour out on the town of course)...all you need is a kettle or microwave (always available)..stir up some cut veggies (that you bought earlier) in noodle cups or rice cups (that you also bought earlier). So yes, there is fresh veggies, fruits and choices all along the way. No problemo!

 

[Chizuru]

I am starting the Camino Portugues later this month. I am Vegan and am wondering how difficult it will be to find vegan food and meals on the Camino. I am considering bringing freeze-dried meals but they would take a lot of space in my pack. I enjoy simple whole foods like salads, beans, rice, bread, grains, vegetables, wine, etc. Anything without animal products (no meat, seafood, dairy). Does anyone know if there are readily available vegan foods or meals on the Portuguese route? If so, do the accommodations have vegan options or would I need to shop at grocery stores to pick up staples?

We met a vegan on the Camino Frances who said that she mostly ate hot chips and packets of nuts! There are always chips with every meal in Spain, so I guess it will be the same in Portugal.

 

[Felizcamino]

I am starting the Camino Portugues later this month. I am Vegan and am wondering how difficult it will be to find vegan food and meals on the Camino. I am considering bringing freeze-dried meals but they would take a lot of space in my pack. I enjoy simple whole foods like salads, beans, rice, bread, grains, vegetables, wine, etc. Anything without animal products (no meat, seafood, dairy). Does anyone know if there are readily available vegan foods or meals on the Portuguese route? If so, do the accommodations have vegan options or would I need to shop at grocery stores to pick up staples?

Hi @RMC If you are going through Santarem , you must go to this restaurant called "Eva Pecado Natural." They serve the best vegan options I ever had!

 

[luv2dive_co]

My daughter is vegan and we've done both the Portuguese coastal route and Camino Frances. Both times she brought vegan protein powder that she put in her small travel bag that we had transported to our nightly accommodation. She always carried a bag of it in her daypack that she could mix with water in case she couldn't find something along the way. Twice she was able to find cafes that carried veggie burgers but be warned - both times the burgers were served uncooked (not dangerous, but looked like a pile of raw meat on bread). There is a Happy Cow cafe along the Portuguese coastal route with vegan options. As others have suggested, you may need to seek out groceries the night before and stock up on nuts and other items for your pack - it wasn't easy for my daughter to find a lot of options (other than bread, pasta and iceberg lettuce).

 

[henrythedog]

I am starting the Camino Portugues later this month. I am Vegan and am wondering how difficult it will be to find vegan food and meals on the Camino. I am considering bringing freeze-dried meals but they would take a lot of space in my pack. I enjoy simple whole foods like salads, beans, rice, bread, grains, vegetables, wine, etc. Anything without animal products (no meat, seafood, dairy). Does anyone know if there are readily available vegan foods or meals on the Portuguese route? If so, do the accommodations have vegan options or would I need to shop at grocery stores to pick up staples?

I’m not vegan, but I do pay attention to what’s around me.

I did notice that in many places which might have a written menu, as opposed to being a simple bar or coffee stop, it was common to see specific vegan menu-items listed. That’s in addition to the choices which simply are ‘vegan’ as well as long-established staples.

I’m sure you’re used to planning in advance ‘just in case’ but I sense the options for vegans are expanding.

 

[Donny Camino]

Every town has a mercado (supermarket)....and you will find all you need as a vegan.