Munich: vegetarians delight and beware
During my weekend in Munich, Germany, I had a lot of great meals. I approached the city of sausage with some trepidation, but it turns out that Munich has a lot to offer vegetarians. In addition to discovering some great vegetarian restaurants (see HappyCow for a list), I found that I often had a pretty wide selection to choose from at most ‘normal’ restaurants, as well (although note that strict vegan options were fewer and farther between).
Most menus we encountered had a vegetarian section with at least three or four choices, and often one or more of the daily specials was vegetarian, too. I rarely have so many options at a typical restaurant in the US or Switzerland.
But here is the BEWARE part of the story: while walking around town examining every restaurant menu I encountered, I found a few dishes listed in the ‘vegetarian’ section that were not actually vegetarian. Luckily I know German so I was able to spot the offending bacon cubes or shrimp in the descriptions, but what if I had been somewhere where I couldn’t understand every word? I hate to think how many naive, trusting vegetarian tourists have adventurously pointed at one of the ‘vegetarian’ options on the menu only to be brought something that doesn’t meet their dietary requirements.
Obviously the best way to avoid unwanted surprises in your food is to eat at a vegetarian restaurant. Barring that, ask your waiter for details about a dish if you can’t understand or are unsure about the menu’s description. In Munich, English is widely spoken, so even if you don’t speak German you will probably be able to communicate your wishes and questions.
I resisted the urge to march into the offending restaurants and teach them the definition of vegetarian, and instead opted to eat at places that didn’t seem to have problems understanding the difference between what comes from a dead animal and what doesn’t. And I ate extremely well.
[This post was featured in the Carnival of Dining Out IV, in their all-new vegetarian section. Check it out!]
Tags: dining, Germany, happycow, Munich, munich_germany, travel, vegan, vegetarian, vegetarian_restaurantsRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Adventures, Food, Restaurants, Traveling While Vegetarian
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