# Veggies



## ponyriver (Feb 3, 2016)

Hi All.
Any other Vegetarians / Vegans out there,do you find it hard to eat out?Do you know of any Veggie/Vegan places to eat near Alicante.

Thanks.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

My husband is vegetarian (he doesn't eat fish as some people who describe themselves as vegetarian do). It does make it very difficult to eat out, although things have got better in the almost 10 years we've been living in Spain, especially in the big cities. Even in our town we now have two good Spanish restaurants where he can go and get an enjoyble vegetarian meal, they are restaurants with a more modern take on Spanish food than the old traditional ones who all seem to serve pretty much the same things, so it is good to have somewhere to go where he can eat something other than tortilla española or salad! 

We don't have any international restaurants in our town so have to go a bit further afield for those, but as with any country he finds that Italian or Indian restaurants offer the widest choice of options for vegetarians. We also have a good Thai restaurant quite nearby which does good vegetarian food - when we first started going there there was nothing vegetarian on the menu but it was available on request, but now the proprietor has included several vegetarian options on the menu which is great.

Sorry I can't help with recommendations in your area. From previous experience I would advise you always to check whether a dish contains any meat or fish when you order it, even if it doesn't sound as if it does from the menu description. It's very common for dishes to turn up with bits of ham in them which aren't mentioned on the menu, for instance, and a mixed salad will almost always have tuna on it. My husband once ordered a cheese sandwich which you would think would be safe, but it turned up with tuna on! Likewise a baked potato with aioli which arrived with bits of ham on it.


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## ponyriver (Feb 3, 2016)

Thanks Lynn R.I end up with salad minus Tuna or chips,sometimes Pizza.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

ponyriver said:


> Thanks Lynn R.I end up with salad minus Tuna or chips,sometimes Pizza.


Whenever we go somewhere we haven't visited before, my husband always takes a look at the Happy Cow website - I see they have 15 listings for Alicante, but how wide an area that covers, I don't know.

Vegan/Vegetarian Restaurants, Healthy, Organic, Alicante, Spain


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## GallineraGirl (Aug 13, 2011)

For those vegetarians living near or visiting Valencia 'AnaEva' is quite good. www.restauranteanaeva.es


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

We liked the Copenhagen restaurant in Ruzafa, Valencia too (even me, and I'm not vegetarian).

Grupo COPENHAGEN | Restaurante vegetariano en Valencia

This restaurant, which is at the back of the Instituto Francés building in central Valencia (and has a really nice outdoor seating area in the patio) has an excellent menu del dia which always includes a vegetarian option. The food is very good indeed.

http://www.caferestauranteatmosphere.es/


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## ponyriver (Feb 3, 2016)

Thank you all.x


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## AllHeart (Nov 22, 2013)

Here are three vegetarian speciality restaurants in Alicante. You're looking for cocina vegetariana:

Restaurante de Cocina vegetariana en Alicante (Alicante) | PÁGINAS AMARILLAS


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Lynn R said:


> My husband is vegetarian (he doesn't eat fish as some people who describe themselves as vegetarian do). It does make it very difficult to eat out, although things have got better in the almost 10 years we've been living in Spain, especially in the big cities. Even in our town we now have two good Spanish restaurants where he can go and get an enjoyble vegetarian meal, they are restaurants with a more modern take on Spanish food than the old traditional ones who all seem to serve pretty much the same things, so it is good to have somewhere to go where he can eat something other than tortilla española or salad!
> 
> We don't have any international restaurants in our town so have to go a bit further afield for those, but as with any country he finds that Italian or Indian restaurants offer the widest choice of options for vegetarians. We also have a good Thai restaurant quite nearby which does good vegetarian food - when we first started going there there was nothing vegetarian on the menu but it was available on request, but now the proprietor has included several vegetarian options on the menu which is great.
> 
> Sorry I can't help with recommendations in your area. From previous experience I would advise you always to check whether a dish contains any meat or fish when you order it, even if it doesn't sound as if it does from the menu description. It's very common for dishes to turn up with bits of ham in them which aren't mentioned on the menu, for instance, and a mixed salad will almost always have tuna on it. My husband once ordered a cheese sandwich which you would think would be safe, but it turned up with tuna on! Likewise a baked potato with aioli which arrived with bits of ham on it.


Yes, it is difficult to eat vegetarian in Spain in general because as Lynn points out they love their tuna and ham. And it really has got a lot better in recent years so imagine before!

Lynn (or any one else for that matter) I know you occasionally come to Madrid and a good restaurant is the Ecocentro in Calle Esquilache (Rios Rosas or Cuatro Caminos metro stations) 
Ecocentro - Secciones Eco - Restaurante Bio-Vegetariano
It's good, lots of options, a good price and there's a self service part and a waiter service restaurant. We ate there today (we're not vegetarians, but enjoy vegetarian food) and I had
Sopa de alubias con verduras y algas 2,90e
Canelones de brócoli con tomate seco y queso de soja 6,00€
Crema de vainilla con mango y semillas de chía 2,00€
Vaso de vino tinto 1,50€

Probably a lot more expensive than places in the south, but it was good


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Lynn (or any one else for that matter) I know you occasionally come to Madrid and a good restaurant is the Ecocentro in Calle Esquilache (Rios Rosas or Cuatro Caminos metro stations)
> Ecocentro - Secciones Eco - Restaurante Bio-Vegetariano
> It's good, lots of options, a good price and there's a self service part and a waiter service restaurant. We ate there today (we're not vegetarians, but enjoy vegetarian food) and I had
> Sopa de alubias con verduras y algas 2,90e
> ...


Thanks for that, we'll check it out. It sounds like the sort of vegetarian restaurant we'd enjoy, some of them can be too "worthy" if you know what I mean, all brown rice and lentils! The prices look very reasonable especially for Madrid.


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## DJ Biscuit (Jan 25, 2016)

I am a vegetarian living on the Costa del Sol and it´s ham, sardines and chicken everywhere! It can be quite difficult to get anything other than tortilla and beware of Sandwich Vegetal, for some reason that means lettuce and tuna or lettuce and ham!


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## el romeral (May 8, 2012)

Many years ago a large group or our family were in Burger King in Benalmadena. The order of burgers was distributed amongst us. My brother in law had to take his back, as he had been given a normal burger instead of a vegie burger. 
The response from the person behind the counter was to open his roll, whip out the burger, leaving only some lettuce and tomato, close it up again and hand it back. That was his vegie burger! :lol::lol:


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

el romeral said:


> Many years ago a large group or our family were in Burger King in Benalmadena. The order of burgers was distributed amongst us. My brother in law had to take his back, as he had been given a normal burger instead of a vegie burger.
> The response from the person behind the counter was to open his roll, whip out the burger, leaving only some lettuce and tomato, close it up again and hand it back. That was his vegie burger! :lol::lol:


Years ago in Florida, my husband ordered what was described as a Garden Burger (marked vegetarian on the menu). When it arrived it was lettuce and tomato on a bun with mayo - well it was vegetarian all right, but not quite what he was expecting!

If anybody is in Nerja and likes "gourmet" burgers, there is a great place called Momo Burger (on the street which runs down the side of the Riu Monica hotel to Torrecilla beach). As well as meat burgers they have 3 choices of veggie burgers and also do really nice bruschettas and salads. It's run by a very friendly young Italian couple and Monica who is the chef even makes her own mayonnaise (egg free for vegans).


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Vegetarianism is not widely understood in Spain, where for many, at least until recently, meat was a luxury. The church dictates dates when you should abstain from "carne" (meat) but this doesn't include fish or ham. Things are changing, especially in places with lots of foreign visitors, but try to be a bit tolerant especially in more out of the way places. Having rice cooked in chicken stock isn't going to kill you.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

Alcalaina said:


> Having rice cooked in chicken stock isn't going to kill you.


You really don't "get" vegetarianism, do you?

To my husband, eating meat or anything produced from it is eating dead flesh and he is repulsed by the thought. He certainly wouldn't touch anything cooked in meat, chicken or fish stock.

Would you say to a Muslim or a Jew that eating something cooked in pork fat isn't going to kill them?


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## ponyriver (Feb 3, 2016)

Alcalaina said:


> Vegetarianism is not widely understood in Spain, where for many, at least until recently, meat was a luxury. The church dictates dates when you should abstain from "carne" (meat) but this doesn't include fish or ham. Things are changing, especially in places with lots of foreign visitors, but try to be a bit tolerant especially in more out of the way places. Having rice cooked in chicken stock isn't going to kill you.


If I knowingly had 'rice cooked in chicken stock' it would make me very sad and feel guilty.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Lynn R said:


> You really don't "get" vegetarianism, do you?
> 
> To my husband, eating meat or anything produced from it is eating dead flesh and he is repulsed by the thought. He certainly wouldn't touch anything cooked in meat, chicken or fish stock.
> 
> Would you say to a Muslim or a Jew that eating something cooked in pork fat isn't going to kill them?





ponyriver said:


> If I knowingly had 'rice cooked in chicken stock' it would make me very sad and feel guilty.


All I am saying is that most Spanish people don't "get" vegetarianism, for the reasons I stated, and a little mutual understanding is needed on both sides. If people want to eat foods that are entirely free of animal products I don't have a problem with that. It's great that there are more specialist veggie restaurants appearing; I use them myself.

But we shouldn't expect small bars and restaurants to accommodate what is essentially a lifestyle choice, by completely revising the way they prepare and serve food. Do people really expect them to prepare a separate batch of rice for less than 3% of the population? How do you think the owner feels when his carefully prepared salad has to be thrown away because there's a few flakes of tuna on it?


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

I don't think it's too much to ask for a restaurant owner to put together a plate of salad that doesn't contain tuna, if asked. They will have all the ingredients in the kitchen, after all. As to it's having to be thrown away, that's why I advised people earlier in the thread always to check what a dish contains when ordering it, in order to avoid that having to happen. It's not nice for a diner to have to make a fuss and send something back, either, and they end up having to wait and eat their food after everyone else has eaten.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Lynn R said:


> I don't think it's too much to ask for a restaurant owner to put together a plate of salad that doesn't contain tuna, *if asked*.


There's the key. Just asking if it's vegetarian isn't enough, because tuna isn't "carne".


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## DJ Biscuit (Jan 25, 2016)

Alcalaina said:


> There's the key. Just asking if it's vegetarian isn't enough, because tuna isn't "carne".


Generally vegetarian means no meat or fish. Eating just fish and no meat is piscatarean. Maybe some still don´t get that, though.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

DJ Biscuit said:


> Generally vegetarian means no meat or fish. Eating just fish and no meat is piscatarean. Maybe some still don´t get that, though.


As I explained earlier, the understanding of vegetarianism in Spain is largely based on what was forbidden by the Church on certain days (e.g. abstinence from meat on Fridays). Fish wasn't prohibited, and I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that jamón wasn't ether.


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## el romeral (May 8, 2012)

Alcalaina said:


> As I explained earlier, the understanding of vegetarianism in Spain is largely based on what was forbidden by the Church on certain days (e.g. abstinence from meat on Fridays). Fish wasn't prohibited, and I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that jamón wasn't ether.


Sounds pretty much like how Spain follows the rules from the EU - adhere to a select few which suit them and turn a blind eye to all the others :roll::roll:


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

They certainly don't seem to consider jamón as meat. As well as the baked potato with aioli fiasco I mentioned earlier (and would anybody have expected that to contain ham from the description?) my husband once ordered sautéed mushrooms which also arrived with chunks of ham in it. It was from experiences like these that we learned not to simply ask if a dish is vegetarian (which in most places just gets you blank looks anyway) but to explain that my husband does not eat any meat, ham, chicken or fish and check that whatever he wants to order from the menu does not contain any of those things. 

If we go to a small restaurant in a village, say, and there doesn't appear to be anything vegetarian on the menu, I'll usually explain the situation and ask if he could have something like huevos fritos con patatas. He's partial to a plate of egg and chips and it doesn't seem to be putting them to too much trouble. Most places are happy to oblige and their willingness to do so will be reflected in the tip we leave. Some are not, so we leave and they lose customers. Simple as.

It can be very annoying sometimes, though, when you have gone to the trouble to check as much as possible and still things arrive which he can't eat. Such as in one of the two Thai restaurants in Torre del Mar. My husband ordered a vegetable curry (they make a big thing on their menu and in their advertising of the fact that they cater for vegetarians). As soon it was brought to the table my husband could tell it smelt strongly of fish so asked the proprietor who was waiting at table about it. He flatly denied that his wife (the chef) would have put fish in it, but she then came out of the kitchen and said sorry, she had forgotten and put shrimp paste in it. So that went back. We no longer go to that restaurant (althought we had eaten there once before without problems), preferring to go to the other Thai restaurant which is much better and really knows how to accommodate vegetarians. On another occasion we went for a special Semana Santa meal at a rather pretentious "gastrobar" which had recently opened in Torre del Mar. When we booked we had a long conversation with the waitress about the fact that my husband was vegetarian and checked that the 4 course menu had an option per course which was suitable. She assured us it did and from the description it certainly looked OK. When one course arrived it turned out to have cod in it, and when called over the waitress said oh yes, it's a traditional Easter dish and has cod in it. The chef was not at all helpful about it either, initially, but eventually offered a pasta dish as a replacement. That's another place we have not crossed the threshold of since - not that I miss it because I thought my meal was pretty bad too.

By the way, neither of the people in the Thai restaurant nor the waitress in the gastrobar were Spanish, so whatever the Church might have decreed about what counted as meat and what didn't had no bearing on the matter at all. They were just people involved in the catering trade who claimed to cater for vegetarians but didn't know what they were doing.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Not eating animal products is a matter of personal choice. It's not that people _can't_ eat something, it's that they don't want to. There are many different reasons; some object on ethical grounds, others just don't like the taste. But it's not the same as having a food allergy or intolerance; a coeliac genuinely can't eat wheat products, whereas as I said before, a bit of rice cooked in chicken stock isn't going to kill you. 

If you come to live in a country like Spain where meat and fish are an essential part of the diet for >97% of the population, your options are to cook your own food, seek out specialist vegetarian restaurants (most likely run by Northern Europeans, where vegetarianism is more frequent) or be prepared to be flexible when eating out.

Personally, I'm what is known as a "flexitarian". I choose not to eat factory-raised meat if I can help it. I hardly ever cook meat at home, I live mainly on vegetables, pulses, eggs and cheese. If we go to a restaurant I will usually choose fish or, if they are available, retinto steak or cerdo iberico, because I know how they are raised.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

It isn't just the Spanish......










apologies if someone beat me to it already.....


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Alcalaina said:


> Not eating animal products is a matter of personal choice. It's not that people _can't_ eat something, it's that they don't want to. There are many different reasons; some object on ethical grounds, others just don't like the taste. But it's not the same as having a food allergy or intolerance; a coeliac genuinely can't eat wheat products, whereas as I said before, a bit of rice cooked in chicken stock isn't going to kill you.


Correct, it isn't going to kill you. 
However, people don't choose to be vegetarian so that people can give them rice cooked in chicken stock.
PS A celiac wouldn't die from eating a product with gluten in either.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

banana plant said:


> aww boohoo boohoo, vegetarianism, what a 'first world' problem that is, you should be grateful that you have the choice of what you eat, Some 795 million people in the world do not have enough food to lead a healthy active life. That's about one in nine people on earth. The vast majority of the world's hungry people live in developing countries, where 12.9 percent of the population is undernourished----- source, World Food Programme. Boohoo boohoo a bit of chicken touched my plate, behave yourself your adults.


One has little to do with the other, (except that many third world diets are vegetarian or practically so because meat is too expensive to rear or buy)
It's a first world choice you're right,and so what?
Livestock production has a huge effect on the environment and it's really not the way forward if we're going to feed the world adequately
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-28409704
Here's some info about beef
A new study suggests that the production of beef is around 10 times more damaging to the environment than any other form of livestock.
Scientists measured the environment inputs required to produce the main US sources of protein. 
Beef cattle need 28 times more land and 11 times more irrigation water than pork, poultry, eggs or dairy.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

bob_bob said:


> So Pesky, are you one of the odd ones lol
> 
> My butchers hanging four Ox tails for the weekend... yummy


Am I a vegetarian? No, (see post 10).
Like Alcalaina I try avoid any kind of meat that's not been produced organically and I don't eat too much anyway, certainly not every day.
I don't give my eating habits a name though.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

For anyone who doesnt "approve" of vegetariansm, I've made you your own thread to discuss it, using some of the unsolicited posts from here http://www.expatforum.com/expats/la-tasca/1023633-were-not-vegetarians.html

Jo xxx


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Alcalaina said:


> As I explained earlier, the understanding of vegetarianism in Spain is largely based on what was forbidden by the Church on certain days (e.g. abstinence from meat on Fridays). Fish wasn't prohibited, and I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that jamón wasn't ether.


The church really doesn't have that much influence in Spain today so while that may be the origin of problems defining vegetarianism, it shouldn't be affecting what restaurants put on plates nowadays. I think it's just general lack of awareness


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## Isobella (Oct 16, 2014)

Alcalaina said:


> As I explained earlier, the understanding of vegetarianism in Spain is largely based on what was forbidden by the Church on certain days (e.g. abstinence from meat on Fridays). Fish wasn't prohibited, and I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that jamón wasn't ether.


Reminded me of the Royale Family comedy on TV. Son's girlfriend said she was a vegetarian, all the family looked at one another. The old Grandmother said "can she have thin sliced ham"


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## Isobella (Oct 16, 2014)

A friend has been vegetarian since she was 15, now 63. She keeps it private, just ordering whatever she can. Not because she is ashamed but gets sick and tired of everyone wanting to discuss the same old issues, says it ruins social conversation it's true, mention you are and there is always some smartarse wants to harangue you.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Spain isn't the only country where it's difficult to be vegetarian or avoid being given ham or chicken as for some reason these aren't classed as meat. The Czech Republic is much worse for vegetarians and there isn't the variety or quality of fresh fruit and vegetables that there is in Spain. That's one of the reasons we left Prague.
If asked Sandra would say she doesn't eat meat for 'sentimental' reasons. She certainly doesn't go on about morality and such like. If we had goldfish she'd probably stop eating fish. Neither does she make a fuss when eating in restaurants or at friends' houses. She certainly wouldn't bother 'justifying' what she would agree is a lifestyle choice.
Like Alca, I rarely eat meat at home but we eat out a lot and I order meat quite often then.
Last night I enjoyed a plate of succulent baby lamb chops.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

mrypg9 said:


> Last night I enjoyed a plate of succulent baby lamb chops.


Thanks so much for letting us know, it has added so much value to the thread.

We ate out last night as well, and I enjoyed my pork solomillo with caramelised onions.


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## DJ Biscuit (Jan 25, 2016)

I lived in Moscow for many years and saying you are vegetarian there was tantamount to saying you worshipped the devil. It was considered unmanly and looked on with suspicion. It was just an alien concept for them and went against what they considered normal. Over the years it became easier and Moscow has an extremely diverse restaurant culture now but nevertheless it is still very much a meat eating country.


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## Tigerlillie (Apr 7, 2015)

DJ Biscuit said:


> I lived in Moscow for many years and saying you are vegetarian there was tantamount to saying you worshipped the devil. It was considered unmanly and looked on with suspicion. It was just an alien concept for them and went against what they considered normal. Over the years it became easier and Moscow has an extremely diverse restaurant culture now but nevertheless it is still very much a meat eating country.


I remember vaguely reading somewhere that even as late as the middle of the twentieth century in France if you were a vegetarian you were classed as having a mental illness. Even now in french schools there is a law that says vegetarian dishes are 'banned' as the children have minimum nutritional requirements and those are very specific and controlled by the government.

French government 'banning vegetarianism' in school canteens | Life and style | The Guardian


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

By great coincidence I have just received this in my inbox




It's about meat consumption in Germany and the world. It's in Spanish so if you want to practise your language skills...
It's the usual thing - how much space and water raising livestock takes, the pollution and damage it causes, compare this to undeveloped countries etc etc


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Pesky Wesky said:


> By great coincidence I have just received this in my inbox
> Carne y Sostenibilidad - YouTube
> It's about meat consumption in Germany and the world. It's in Spanish so if you want to practise your language skills...
> It's the usual thing - how much space and water raising livestock takes, the pollution and damage it causes, compare this to undeveloped countries etc etc


Yes, as you say, the 'usual'.
Most of the activities that make up life as we know it in developed industrial countries -and that now includes most of Asia, China and South America - in some way or another cause medium to long term damage to the environment/planet/poorer people/animals.
The majority of people in the world have only recently raised themselves from comparative poverty ad it is very unlikely that they will cease doing these admittedly harmful things.
It's like middle-class people preaching to the recently affluent poor about consumerism.
Yes, we are doing untold damage but we won't kill the planet. It will adapt, as it has in the past, and we will adapt with it.
We no longer swing from the trees (most of us, not so sure after seeing those videoclips of Magaluf in summer) and we will adapt again to meet changing conditions, although none of us will be around to see it.
The worthy warnings of a handful of people will be as a grain of sand in the desert, I'm afraid.


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## bob_bob (Jan 5, 2011)

mrypg9 said:


> Spain isn't the only country where it's difficult to be vegetarian or avoid being given ham or chicken as for some reason these aren't classed as meat. The Czech Republic is much worse for vegetarians and there isn't the variety or quality of fresh fruit and vegetables that there is in Spain. That's one of the reasons we left Prague.
> If asked Sandra would say she doesn't eat meat for 'sentimental' reasons. She certainly doesn't go on about morality and such like. If we had goldfish she'd probably stop eating fish. Neither does she make a fuss when eating in restaurants or at friends' houses. She certainly wouldn't bother 'justifying' what she would agree is a lifestyle choice.
> Like Alca, I rarely eat meat at home but we eat out a lot and I order meat quite often then.
> *Last night I enjoyed a plate of succulent baby lamb chops*.


How were they cooked?

We ate in last night, I'd cooked about four kilo of Ox Tail in a slow cooker with onions, mushrooms and garlic; red wine as the stock base, green cabbage and sweet potato mash...it was stunning.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

bob_bob said:


> How were they cooked?
> 
> We ate in last night, I'd cooked about four kilo of Ox Tail in a slow cooker with onions, mushrooms and garlic; red wine as the stock base, green cabbage and sweet potato mash...it was stunning.


No idea....we ate in Taberna Miguel, Estepona, one of our favourite restaurants. I'm guessing they were grilled. They were delicious.

I like the oxtail recipe, may well try and freeze what I can't eat in one sitting.


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