Adventures of a Vegetarian

I just came back from a trip to Toulouse, France for work. Toulouse is a beautiful city, full of energy, students, street life, night life, and 16th medieval century architecture. But it is a fusion of old and new in that Toulouse is the capital of the aerospace industry in France so it is also known as the City de L’Espace.

France is not very veg friendly unfortunately. Something very important to point out is that if you say you are a vegetarian to many waiters that means you also eat fish. So specify that you don’t eat fish either (Je suis vegetarian mais Je ne mange pas le poisson). If you are a vegan that is a vegetalian, with an l, this means you don’t eat any animal products.

I did find one veg restaurant, La Faim des Haricots. But your best bet is to hit the ethnic eateries (Indian, Middle Eastern, Chinese). Or if you want french food then hit the creperies where you can get cheese and vegetable crepes. Also the dessert crepes are to die for. I reccomend getting the local ciders to go with the crepes.

I would avoid the Capitole for food and eating as it is too touristy and pricey. The side streets of the old city have the best ambience and prices.

In any fancier restaurant you should be able to ask for a vegetarian plate, but specify that you dont eat fish too.

Some restaurants that I went to included:

Le Sherpa Creperie, Rue du Taur:
Here you can get the Crepe de Provence which is vegetarian. The fruit and chocolate crepes are good. Very inexpensive but the service is pretty slow. Sitting outside on the street will put you in the middle of all the action.

Pastel et Sarrasin, Rue du Taur:
Another creperie in the old city area, fancier than Le Sherpa, with better service and alcohol selection. Here they have crepes and galette (a buckwheat flour based pancake). They have a vegetarian galette which was good with more veggies than cheese. Their dessert crepes are decadent. You can’t go wrong with any of them.

La Faim des Haricots, Rue Puits Vert:
This is a vegetarian buffet style restaurant. Definitely worth stopping here for lunch or dinner. Tasty food and reasonable price.

Brasserie de Beaux-Arts, Pont Neuf/ la Daurade:
Nothing vegetarian here but the location is excellent, across from the Pont Neuf. I asked for a plat vegetarienne and they brought out a plate with about 5 different vegetable dishes. It was quite good and 12.5 Euro.

Indian Restaurants:
There are Restaurant d’Indien all over the city. You will be able to find vegetarian food at all of them.

Drinking:

Toulouse is a great place for wine, cider, and beer. Bars stay open until 2AM and then the streets fill with people. The La Daurade area is a fun place to drink in the late evening / early morning but there are little bars all over the side streets. Definitely try the Brut ciders and Belgian Blond Bier’s. I did not have a wine that wasn’t good. You are spoiled for choice here.

Things to do:
Walk around every little nook and cranny of the old city built in the 16th century. Walk up and down the Garrone river front, cross over the Pont Neuf for excellent views, take pictures of teh Palace de Beaux Arts at night, and check out the daytime markets along the Canals. Check out the Capitol square (day and night), Saint Sernin Basilique, Eglise de Jacobin, Notre Dame de La Daurade, and the local art museums. The City de L’Espace is not to be missed. It is a Space Themed amusement park and the best of its kind in the world in my opinion (as I am an aerospace professional that means somethinng). You can walk through the Mir Space station, under the Arianne 5 rocket, see all the Mars rovers, spin around in a gyrosope, and learn all about the solar system from formation to the present day. It is accessible by bus from the city center and is great for adults and families.

For out of city excursions Carcassonne is a must see, a medival city with a beautiful castle and catedral, about 90 minutes by public transport. Also the historical city of Albi with a massive 13th century Catedral, old city streets, and the world famous Lautrec Museum housed in a 13th church. Make sure to pick up a few Lautrec prints in the Museum store and you too can turn your house into the Moulin Rouge. It is about 1 hour by public transport.

I am originally from the UK and have visited far too many places to recount each city at this point. I will attempt to do so at some point. But there are some simple tips for finding vegetarian food in england. In every town in england you will find one or more Indian restaurants. You will always be able to find vegetarian dishes here as most hindus are vegetarians. Just go to the vegetable section of the menu and there will be at least 5 main dishes to choose from. If you can, do a veg thali, or order 3 or 4 dishes for your table with an order of naan and rice. You can never go wrong with dishes with eggplant (baingan), spinach (saag), chick peas (channa), or potatos (aloo). If you are a vegan ask your server if the sauce is cream based, as some of them are.

Just like indian, you can usually find a chinese takeway in each town. Here you might need to ask the server which dishes are vegetarian if they don’t have a vegetable section called out, but I am sure they will be able to make you one meat free if you ask.

In england due to the large indian population even the pubs will have at least one vegetarian dish, as will the sit down restaurants.

Also some fast food treats that you can get that are veg are cheese and onion pasty, vegetarian cornish pastry. Even in the fish and chip shop you can usually get veggie burgers, peas, fries, mushrooms, and beans! You may have a harder time fiding vegan food however, as cheese and dairy finds its way into most everything.

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