We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum... Read More »
We're aware that some users are experiencing technical issues which the team are working to resolve. See the Community Noticeboard for more info. Thank you for your patience.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
Being a Vegetarian on holiday
Options

Spendless
Posts: 24,664 Forumite


My teenage daughter became vegetarian last year (went to school a meat eater and came home veggie!) Faddy as a meat eater, she's not much better having eliminated it.
Since then we've had 2 family holidays. Last year we did a few days in Belgium, very few veggie choices when eating out (we stayed in a hotel) but we managed by looking at every menu and then eating when something suitable was found. Breakfast was better as it was buffet style at the hotel.
We've just returned from a fortnight in Florida, and I thought vegetarian options would be better there - they weren't! Thankfully we were self catering but the options for eating out weren't great. I've lost count of how many cheese and tomato pizzas she had! The worst one was when ordering an egg muffin at a McD's off their all day breakfast menu. when she opened it, it had a slice of ham on it! When I took it back with the receipt convinced they'd messed the order up I got a rather sharp response of 'what were you wanting on it?' and surprised that egg and a cheese slice was all that was required. I know McD's isn't a great choice anyway but she wanted to go 'cos it's got free wi-fi' At the airport I had to ask about why all the fries were listed as 'parmesan fries' and then explain I didn't want the automatic sprinkling of cheese over a portion. This sort of thing happened so often, I started questiong if Americans use a different word to us for vegetarian, as they didn't seem to grasp what I meant?
Anyway for my dilemma, my mind is turning to next years hols and am wondering where to go to not have a huge issue about what she eats. Self catering would be the obvious answer, but she'd like a holiday where other kids of her age would be but I'm relucantant to book a hotel if she can't eat the meals.
Am hoping some more 'experienced' vegetarians can give more some pointers about holidays abroad and their dietery needs.
Thanks.
Since then we've had 2 family holidays. Last year we did a few days in Belgium, very few veggie choices when eating out (we stayed in a hotel) but we managed by looking at every menu and then eating when something suitable was found. Breakfast was better as it was buffet style at the hotel.
We've just returned from a fortnight in Florida, and I thought vegetarian options would be better there - they weren't! Thankfully we were self catering but the options for eating out weren't great. I've lost count of how many cheese and tomato pizzas she had! The worst one was when ordering an egg muffin at a McD's off their all day breakfast menu. when she opened it, it had a slice of ham on it! When I took it back with the receipt convinced they'd messed the order up I got a rather sharp response of 'what were you wanting on it?' and surprised that egg and a cheese slice was all that was required. I know McD's isn't a great choice anyway but she wanted to go 'cos it's got free wi-fi' At the airport I had to ask about why all the fries were listed as 'parmesan fries' and then explain I didn't want the automatic sprinkling of cheese over a portion. This sort of thing happened so often, I started questiong if Americans use a different word to us for vegetarian, as they didn't seem to grasp what I meant?
Anyway for my dilemma, my mind is turning to next years hols and am wondering where to go to not have a huge issue about what she eats. Self catering would be the obvious answer, but she'd like a holiday where other kids of her age would be but I'm relucantant to book a hotel if she can't eat the meals.
Am hoping some more 'experienced' vegetarians can give more some pointers about holidays abroad and their dietery needs.
Thanks.
0
Comments
-
Agree with you that florida is far from veggie friendly.
Without knowing what type of holiday you are looking for its hard to recommend, but from experience, Greece, Turkey, Italy, India , Thailand are all very veggie friendly0 -
Hi, Thanks for reply. Ideally we'd like to go somewhere in Europe eg Spain.
I hadn't thought of Italy, that would make sense them having more vegetarian options.0 -
South East Asia is very veggie friendly.
My wife doesn't eat meat when out and about, so it is like going on holiday with a vegetarian, typically we go self catered, we have been to a few catered places, but eating hotel food day in and day out just isn't us.
Spain is a good choice, lots of dishes are vegetarian, be careful in Italy, they put parmesan in so called vegetarian dishes.0 -
Spain should be ok, tapas would be ideal as you can each choose several individual dishes to suit your needs, there are usually a lot of vegetable dishes available.
Presumably as she was eating cheese and tomato pizza she can eat parmesan? So Italy would be good too, there are lots of non-meat pasta dishes available, and of course pizza!Accept your past without regret, handle your present with confidence and face your future without fear0 -
peachyprice wrote: »Spain should be ok, tapas would be ideal as you can each choose several individual dishes to suit your needs, there are usually a lot of vegetable dishes available.
Presumably as she was eating cheese and tomato pizza she can eat parmesan? So Italy would be good too, there are lots of non-meat pasta dishes available, and of course pizza!
Parmesan is not vegetarian.0 -
This summer I have been to NYC, Copenhagen, Miamisnd Las Vegas. I have never had a problem with veggie options at all.
That is annoying re Mc Donalds though.
I would have just picked it off though but I know some people are funny if it touches the meat.0 -
"I started questiong if Americans use a different word to us for vegetarian, as they didn't seem to grasp what I meant?"
I think they refer to it as "Meat free".0 -
This summer I have been to NYC, Copenhagen, Miamisnd Las Vegas. I have never had a problem with veggie options at all.
That is annoying re Mc Donalds though.
I would have just picked it off though but I know some people are funny if it touches the meat.
Are you able to give some examples of what vegetarian options were on the menus at the places you visited?
Re - the cheese and tomato pizza. I'm not aware that parmesan would automatically be put on a margarita pizza. Is that the case? As said parmesan isn't vegetarian. Pizzas were frequently the only option she had when dining out.0 -
None of us are veggie, but there seemed to be a reasonable selection of options in Crete where we've just returned from.0
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

Categories
- All Categories
- 351K Banking & Borrowing
- 253.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 453.6K Spending & Discounts
- 244K Work, Benefits & Business
- 598.9K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 176.9K Life & Family
- 257.3K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.6K Read-Only Boards