Vegetarian Travel: 7 Countries With Veg-Friendly Cuisines (PHOTOS)

Just because someone enjoys a meat-free diet, doesn’t mean they can’t indulge in local delicacies while on the road. In some countries vegetarian or veg-friendly eating has been historically en vogue. Thus, a delicious tradition of meat-free cuisine exists around the globe for vegetarian foodies to enjoy.

In places like India and Ethiopia, religious traditions that shun animal consumption required people to get creative with meatless dishes. And, in countries around the Mediterranean, a rich produce harvest lent itself to centuries of high veggie consumption.

Look for places with a lot of beans, rice and vegetables in their diets, recommends Andrea Giancoli, a registered dietitian and American Dietetic Association spokesperson. Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisines are rich in this area, she said — think things like falafel, baba ganoush, hummus and grains like bulgur and faro.

Whether it comes to traveling abroad or stateside, Giancoli warns vegetarians not to fall into unhealthy habits. “You still have to be conscious of getting a balanced diet [when traveling,]” she said. “It’s easy to get caught up eating nothing but tortillas, pasta and cheese.”

Look to the soup, salad and sides sections on a menu to find vegetables. She also recommends scanning the entrée section for vegetarian sides that might not be listed elsewhere.

If all else fails, take a stroll through the local market to put together a meal heavy on produce.

Read on to learn about countries with historically vegetarian or veg-friendly cuisines. For this list we use a lacto-ovo vegetarian approach, but there are nods to vegans as well.

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Comments

[Nick Kuiper]

06:54 PM on 09/19/2011

These are all great! I'm a huge fan of ful mudammas (Egypt), too. A great way to start the day (and end it, too).

[DavidMG]

02:10 PM on 09/19/2011

Vegetarians in the US will benefit from "Healthy Highways" my guide to 2800 healthy eateries.

[Ljilja]

12:53 PM on 09/19/2011

Each of these places has a glorious cuisine of its own. I love them all. Healthy and delicious.

http://graciouslivingdaybyday.com/

[stampy420]

10:46 AM on 09/19/2011

don't go to Jamaica if you're vegetarian! I starved for a week there

[DavidMG]

11:14 AM on 09/19/2011

I spent a week there as a vegetarian and did fine.

[Nick Kuiper]

06:52 PM on 09/19/2011

Shocked! You've got to find the Ital restaurants: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ital

[Elizabeth Schwartz]

10:44 AM on 09/19/2011

It's extremely important - just as a good citizen - to learn a few phrases of the country you are visiting - it's polite AND essential for vegetarians. Please, thank you and I'm a vegetarian are good ones to get down first. I love Japanese food and spent a week in Japan - and almost starved. They use fish dashi as a seasoner the way we use salt, so even in "the land that invented Tofu", you can't assume you'll have a lot of choices (and I don't see Japan on this list, probably for that reason - beautiful country and culture, btw, worth going even without the smorgasbord). I did eat in a friend's home and the entire meal was vegan and awesome. I was surprised to see Mexico on this list, because of the prevalence of lard in the the cooking (not just beans - chicken stock in the rice is common, as is lard in the tortillas).

[DavidMG]

11:18 AM on 09/19/2011

I have travelled the world as a vegetarian . And yes it is good manners to learn some local lingo, However, I have found it handy to ask someoen to write a note describing my culinary needs - especuially in acultu re where the alphabet is not familiar.

[Elizabeth Schwartz]

11:22 AM on 09/19/2011

Excellent point, I did that in China, too. Thanks for the reminder.

[DavidMG]

10:31 AM on 09/19/2011

What got me to give up meat was the wonderful time and taste tested recipes that my wife and I found around the world. These recipes provided a lot more necessary variety and interest than the next chicken recipe. My wife and I tested 1900 recipes we found through travelling and put the best in "American Wholefoods Cuisine" which has been pleasing cooks and eaters since 1983.

[European1919]

06:12 AM on 09/19/2011

Israel is not a politically correct destination. Apart from that I'd feel happy to eat in any of the countries mentioned. And because I do not like "exotic" surprises vegetarian food is usually the only thing I'll eat abroad - especially in Asian countries.

[synergie]

12:37 AM on 09/19/2011

With regards to Thailand, the fish sauce would be a problem for an ovo-lacto vegetarian, since fish is neither eggs, dairy or even remotely vegetarian. If you're eating Thai anywhere, you need to make sure that there is no fish in your food, if you're trying to be vegetarian.

[Nick Kuiper]

06:54 PM on 09/19/2011

Shrimp paste, too.

[pankate]

07:05 PM on 09/19/2011

Agreed. Thai food is terrible for vegetarians.

[Ninveh Albazi]

11:21 PM on 09/18/2011

Ohh god!!! My all time favorite Indian, Middle Eastern and Spanish/Mexican food!!

[Janna Liliya]

08:34 PM on 09/18/2011

I made a package tour reservation for 4 nights and 5 days with this Private Tours in Istanbul on the internet and ı had great days with a good price in Istanbul thanks to them. They picked me up from Airport to the hotel. They arranged me a 4 stars hotel in old city area (very close to main attractions as hagia sophia or blue mosque). www.privatetoursinistanbul.com visited a lot of places during these days and all of them were worth to see. For example Dolmabahce Palace, Hagia Sophia, Topokapi Palace, Blue Mosque and of course the Turkish night. On the Turkish night we had the chance to see the traditional dances of Turkey and the same time we could see the Bosphorus during having our dinner. If you want to see a coplex of religions you must visit the Hagia Sophia; Byzantium, Ottoman and Pagan religions are complete each other. We had different guides but all of them were very kind and knowlageble. So the tours were great the hotel was perfect. I left them to do my program and ı only applied. I had a good experiance in Istanbul.

[synergie]

01:59 AM on 09/19/2011

Is this a spambot?

[David Rozgonyi]

02:52 AM on 09/18/2011

Very few diets have as much meat as western diets, owing at this point to economic differences and realities. My native Hungary, for instance, ate very little meat a hundred years ago, and even in my parent's lives, the kids got meat once a week (and a small amount) due to economic reasons. Now, of course, that's changed, and we're getting fatter by the minute!

As an aside, I spent 5 weeks in India without eating meat of any sort, and had the best food of my life. Arabic mezzes without meat are also just out of sight.

[synergie]

02:01 AM on 09/19/2011

Did even a Western diet a 100 years ago have this much meat in it? I thought even then that diets like this (and their attendant diseases like gout) were diseases of rich Westerners?

[Elizabeth Schwartz]

10:40 AM on 09/19/2011

And I just spent a weekend in Budapest and had WONDERFUL food - you must miss it!

[David Rozgonyi]

01:58 PM on 09/19/2011

Hey there, nope, don't miss it at all, cause I live 3 hours south in Pecs, on the Croat border. Cheers! :)

[O K Ali]

02:47 AM on 09/18/2011

One thing I have to point out about India is, it isn't strictly vegan. I was watching Gordon Ramsey's Great Escapes and depending on what direction he traveled, the dietary regulations changed. Closer to the North, more meat is consumed, such as goat, quail, and chicken. In other regions, fish a main staple. Only in the deep south region of Mumbai, will you find a majority of vegan cuisine.

[synergie]

12:36 AM on 09/19/2011

Mumbai is hardly the "deep south". If you traveled to the actual south of India, Andhra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, you'd find plenty of meat free options. Vegan on the other hand you'd still have to be careful about since milk and butter are found in many dishes. If you ask though, they'll warn you about what has dairy in it, and hold off on the butter. You'll find a wide variety of actual vegetarian food there as well, not just substitutions of meat with paneer (that's more of a north Indian thing), and a wide variety of flavors.

[Elizabeth Schwartz]

10:45 AM on 09/19/2011

There really are no totally vegan countries - but India at least understands vegetarianism so they are generally used to offering those choices - not so easy in other countries.

[Siobhan Landis]

12:34 AM on 09/18/2011

Ethnic cuisines definitely make it a lot easier to go vegetarian (or mostly vegetarian) without feeling at all deprived. Glad the article mentions Indian and Mexican - two of my favorites. My kids have grown to love black beans - which work in place of ground beef in all sorts of Mexican recipes. We have a Mexican Black Bean casserole regularly - it's delicious, filling, AND even nutritious!

The recipe is posted at

http://www.naturallyradiant.info/site/mexican-black-bean-casserole/218

[gbrooks]

05:00 PM on 09/17/2011

All of those "Israeli" dishes are hundreds to thousand year-old Middle Eastern dishes that came into existence when Israel didn't exist. They don't just destroy culture over there, they steaI it.

[cdncommentator]

11:16 PM on 09/17/2011

Don't forget about ancient Israel. Maybe humus came from then.

Greece wasn't an independent country for many thousands of years either.

All cultures share and borrow. Get over yourself.

[Monique Buckner]

02:59 PM on 09/18/2011

'Ancient Israel' as 'cdncommentator' claims was actually called Palestine by the Romans and has existed for centuries prior to its destruction in 1948 and there were many tribes living on the land (Jebusites and Canaanites were two of many non-Hebrew tribes). There is a difference between sharing and borrowing, and downright lying about who created a dish first. Otherwise, I could say I invented pasta!

[gbrooks]

10:22 PM on 09/18/2011

Quit defending the destruction of a culture for your own ridiculous agenda.

[DavidMG]

10:38 AM on 09/19/2011

As has been said by Picasso (and others) " good artist borrow, great artists steal."

[gbrooks]

08:36 PM on 09/19/2011

While I like Picasso, I'd have to disagree.

[Mochilero]

07:19 PM on 09/16/2011

It is easy and delightful to eat healthy food in many warm weather countries, and all for a pittance. Fresh, real non-processed and non-chemicalized food is always available in many parts of South and Southeast Asia, and Latin America. The Thais eat off the street all day, but you rarely see an overweight person.