Hi there

I'm moving to Madrid in March, hopefully for at least a year.

I've been to Madrid plenty of times on holiday, so I know I can get veggie stuff in restaurants, but once I live there, I plan to self-cater most of the time.

I'm a strict veggie - no meat, no fish, but eggs and dairy are mostly OK.

My question is - can anyone tell me about the availability of vegetarian alternatives in supermarkets or health food stores out there? I've already established that the lovely Cauldron Foods don't export their fantastic veggie sausages and pates out there, so I'm wondering what my alternatives are.

I'm not exactly going to be swimming in cash either so I can't afford to be paying extortionate prices for stuff!!

Failing that, can I at least assume that I can get decent brown rice, chick peas etc easily?

Thanks in advance

Emma

You will be able to get vegetarian products e.g. tvp pieces, soya products etc from lots of health food shops. A great range of lentils (the mixed lentil packs are really good) and beans. I also was able to get soya cream and veggie burgers.
This was in Gandia, but you should have a great choice in Madrid!
Remember also that Aldi and Lidl stock jars of brown lentils, butter beans etc at very cheap prices.

Thanks so much for the info. I thought it would probably be fine, but I'm constantly surprised at how many supposedly first-world, civilised countries still don't really cater for "special" diets, whether it's veggie, wheat-free or whatever!

I do only drink soya milk (despite what I said about dairy) so it will be a real bonus if I can get that and have a good old English "nice cup of tea"!!! Not that I'm planning to do much that reminds me of here!

Emma

I would say Spain is not a veggie country. you will struggle to eat out. ;-))

Most supermarkets sell soya milk Welcome to BE, hope all goes well for you when you make the move.

You are really struggling if you don't eat fish.

Thanks for the comments, though as I say as I've been over there loads of times on holiday and have always eaten out. I've never had any trouble - plenty of veggie tapas, plus there always seems to be pasta etc (hmm, tapas is an anagram of pasta) on most menus.

I'll be eating in most of the time so I'll be making the most of lovely seasonal fresh veg, plenty of fresh fruit and lots of those cheap tins of chick peas!

I'm excited about my adventure. Thanks for the welcome.

I'm sure you will be ok. We don't eat meat and manage quite well, although we do eat fish. Pity you don't eat fish as the fish markets have such a wide choice. Be careful in restaurants though as they could use meat or fish based products in the menu and they won't tell you.

Salads with tuna springs to mind.
Also they cook the stuff in the same pans etc. ;-))

Down this way vegetarian means, chop the jamon up really small so they won't notice it

Oh yeah, I've fallen prey to the hilarious "but ham isn't meat" many a time!! And I'm also aware that I'll have to just deal with the fact that a lot of the stuff is cooked in the same pans, and they don't serve with different spoons etc. Though to be fair, I've been to plenty of restaurants in the UK where they do that too.

If I do eat out, I'm going to aim for one of the lovely-looking veggie restaurants most of the time anyway. I was really just after finding out if I can get TVP, soya mince etc in health food shops for cooking at home.

Contrary to the statement above, it's really not a "pity" that I don't eat fish - I'm an ethical veggie, not for health reasons, so for me it's a pity that other people do eat fish. I'm not trying to start a veggie debate though, just thought I'd point it out!!

Thanks again, everyone!

Isn't that the truth, I had a militant vegan come a stay with me for a few weeks once - boy was that had work, even trying to explain the "no productos animales" could be an episode. We ate in a lot.

I think the OP will be OK in Madrid, give a few weeks to find the right places, its a cosmopolitan place.

Check out the notes from spain website - Madrid based. They should be able to give you good links for Madrid e.g. what markets to stock up on spices, rice etc.