Any hope for a veggie in France?

[Graye]

We have been living in Spain for five years during which time I have almost despaired of buying anything ready prepared for veggies or even any protein substitutes to make my own stuff. Occasionally I can find a dusty pack of insipid dried soya mince tucked away in a health food shop.  Otherwise it's a drive to Morrisons in Gibraltar (two hours away) or look for the many "English shops" around here who might have some Quorn if I'm lucky.  I suspect Spanish do not even understand the concept of vegetarianism.  I did think I had made headway with our local barowner after spending hours explaining things.  He finally agreed that he would make me some nice vegetarian asparagus soup for our next visit.  I asked him if he was sure it would contain no meat.  "Of course not!" he replied, "I take the ham bone which gives it flavour out before I serve it!"  

We are now moving to France for a few months on our way back to the UK and I was wondering if things might be better there?  Do supermarkets have pre-prepared veggie food? Even a pack of frozen macoroni cheese or cauliflower cheese would be an exciting find after being here for so long!  Do they ever have Linda MacCartney type foods?  Are there any chains of shops even vaguely on the lines of Holland & Barrett?  Do the ex-pat Brits do as they do here and start up their own little shops selling HP sauce, custard powder, Marmite etc?  If so, are they quite common or few and far between?

I've given in and started eating tuna and prawns since we arrived here.  Otherwise I would have gone completely crazy eating egg and chips everytime we go into a restaurant.  But I am allergic to nuts (another problem here as they do not mark their packs about nut content) so am quite happy preparing my own stuff if only I can find the ingredients!

[opas]

I personaly have never seen LM products in France, That from a woman who likes to spread her wealth around, ie use a variety of large chain supermarkets.

English products such as you list are creeping into many supermarkets , there are usualy "foreign" sections. Depending on the size of the store will depend on their stocks, but prices are obviously marked up high.

Ready meals of cauliflower/macaroni cheese are available in most freezer sections.

Perhaps you could order your soya mice/quorn on line.

 

[Owens88]

Have not seen Quorn in France (shame). Have seen other soya stuff (don't normally use it) no LM (never use as too fatty somehow !).

Have seen Bio restaurants which are largely veggie.

Seem to eat a lot of eggs when snacking while out !

[Pangur]

We have two shops that stock vegetarian products beside us (74).  I'm afraid I can't remember the name, but they are bio (organic) type shops and stock veggie sausages and burgers, tofu, soya products etc.  A close friend is a vegetarian and although it's a bit of a hassle, he does find meat substitutes available.

http://www.vegetarisme.fr/EntreNous/index.php?p=http://vegetannuaire.free.fr/index_av.php?cat_id=5 is a French vegetarian group with listings of friendly shops.

 

[zeb]

Yes, there are lots of little shops which sell "British" foods here, certainly in SW and W.France, and, if you moved near one you could probably order what you need. There are also online "English" food suppliers.

As far as restaurants go, many of the newly set up British restaurants often have a vegetarian option. As far as French restaurants go................! Rural France has difficulty with the concept of vegetarianism!

But, if you are eating prawns and tuna, why stop there? Lots of super fish for sale in most large supermarkets! And then, there's meat! (Sorry can't do smilies, but there should be one here!)

[Christine Animal]

There should be some hope for a veggie in France Graye, the other veggies seem to survive, even on this forum :     [:)]

http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/623996/ShowPost.aspx

 

[Graye]

Yes, I was just looking at something which suggests LM is not distributed in France.  Pity!  Oh well, I've survived this long so I'm sure I'll manage.  I'll just stock up on Sosmix and soya chunks when we go back next week. And now I've discovered Indian restaurants aren't popular in France.  That is my ultimate treat if we go right onto the costa but I suppose they are there because of demand from the British holidaymakers and nothing to do with Spanish taste anyway.  I seem to remember Vietnamese restaurants were popular in France some years ago.  Are there still many of those around?

I wasn't particularly looking for shops with custard powder etc.  It's just that normally if these little speciality shops are run by English they will have a freezer section with odds and ends including the odd veggie curry or something.  I'm not sure if the house we are renting has a freezer.  If so I will certainly look into ordering online. That service is available here but the minimum order is €50 so it's a major undertaking to squeeze it in a small freezer compartment.  By large chains of supermarkets did you mean LeClerc or Intermarche?  I don't think I've noticed anything else as we have driven through other than Lidl etc.

As for fish (or meat for that matter) I'm not an ethical vegetarian - I just don't like the taste and texture of meat.  That helps no end as I don't have to take sides in the rights and wrongs of meat-eaters!  I've tried white fish in the last couple of years and I didn't like it.  For some reason prawns, tuna and salmon seem palatable to me so I'll stick with that.  I must admit we have wonderful looking fish available in Spain (fresh trout at a euro each for instance) but I know I won't enjoy it.

Someone here suggested we try the Flunch chain.  Are they OK? He told me there is an enormous choice of vegetables.  Spanish cook their vegetables into mush but I suspect the French might do a much better job.  Am I right?

[Philmco]

You'll need to liaise with Dick Smith if you're ordering soya mice on-line, as he has lots of experience in posting kittens in and to various places, and could, I'm sure, help with the packaging requirements, etc.

[MargaretD]

But also watch out with the nuts.  I have a similar problem, and usually ask if things have nuts in "non madame", a salad arrives liberally covered with peanuts and walnut oil - both to which I have an allergy.  But they insist that there are no hazlenuts in the dish! 

You will need to know the precise words used for each individual nut, as I have found there doesn't seem to be a group name for them.  Noix is walnut and noisettes are hazlenuts, but cacahuetes (sure I've got it wrong again) aren't seen as nuts - and I teach the waiters and waitresses - or perhaps they're trying to get rid of their English teacher - pause for a little thought there.... [:(]  

[Graye]

A doctor once explained to me that I (and also you it seems) have actually got two allergies, one to nuts and the other to peanuts.  Apparently you can have one without the other.  Peanuts are called cacahuetes in Spanish, nuez are brazil nuts and all the rest are lumped in with frutos secos (dried fruits). Imagine the problems with that!  I soon learned all the various words for the individual nuts in Spanish - my husband says I'm now a nut expert and can spot hazelnuts (avellana) at a thousand paces.  Of course he doesn't have to put up with the swollen lips, slitty eyes [blink] and all the other nasty symptoms of an encounter with a peanut or other nut, even the dust on dry roasted peanuts can set me off.  The worst thing of all is that I used to adore nuts, this is an allergy which appeared in my forties and still have to resist scooping up a handful of salted peanuts every time I see them on a bar counter!  Spanish are extremely fond of almond and they are liberally sprinkled on every sweet or cake so I gave up eating those pretty early on, too.

Now you  have reminded me I will find a little notebook and note down the various french words for nuts so I can check things out when I go shopping.     

[Fridgeman]

Hi Graye

I have posted before re: "veggies in France" I am not a veggie but I like veggie dishes or should I say non-meat dishes, there is such an abudence of fresh produce (non-meat)

If I was a veggie I would NOT eat LM packaged products or any other make, the same as I do not eat packaged products anyway, I prefer FRESH, there is so much junk added to packaged stuff.

If you would like a few recipes just ask, glad to assist.

 

Bonne Chance

 

Stephen

[Pads]

[quote user="Philmco"]You'll need to liaise with Dick Smith if you're ordering soya mice on-line, as he has lots of experience in posting kittens in and to various places, and could, I'm sure, help with the packaging requirements, etc.[/quote]

are soya mice anything like sugar mice? [:)]

[Philmco]

Don't know, it's Opas' idea not mine!

[opas]

[quote user="Philmco"]Don't know, it's Opas' idea not mine![/quote]

They are the Veggie-mice.

 

Typo, not a spelling mistake in orriginal post[img]http://bestsmileys.com/eating1/17.gif[/img]

[Christine Animal]

Here's an online shop (they even have food for cats and dogs!)

 

 

 

and some recipes

http://www.petafrance.com/vegkit/pate.asp

 

Edit : Sorry Pangur, I've since seen that Veggiwave is listed under your link above.

[KathyC]

[quote user="Graye"]

  I'll just stock up on Sosmix and soya chunks when we go back next week.

 

As for fish (or meat for that matter) I'm not an ethical vegetarian - I just don't like the taste and texture of meat. 

[/quote]

Hi

I'm not a vegetarian (quite the opposite) but your post has highlighted something that's always puzzled me about vegetarians; why do they eat things that are manufactured to imitate meat? I know that they're often not very good imitations but it still seems odd to me. I suppose I can understand it with people who really love meat, but who have ethical objections but that still leaves me puzzling over someone in your position. I know when we have veggy friends staying we have souffles and pulse dishes (always a difficult catering problem for me as I don't like many vegetables) but I just can't see the point of soya mince etc. Why take a vegetarian food, ie beans/pulses and have manufacturers spend time, energy and resources turning it into a poor imitation of the thing you don't want to eat ie. meat. I'm not being critical, it's just something that has always seemed strange. Can anybody enlighten me?

[Owens88]

why do they eat things that are manufactured to imitate meat?

 I am a fish-eating veggie. I agree that its stupid to rearrange molecules of non-meat to resemble a steak, or even worse a rasher of bacon.

However. Foods such as sausages and mince are quirks / inventions in the own right. A conjunction of texture, taste and a blend of ingredients. In the case of mince, a blend generally designed to go with something else rather than being a standalone dish. I see no reason this texture / form is reserved for foods containing meat or meat fats.

 

Regards

 

John

[KathyC]

Hi Owens

Thanks for your thoughts. I hadn't thought of it that way though I still have reservations. Sausages are an invention, mince isn't. It's just minced meat, not a blend of ingredients. Most things you do with mince (shepherds pie, bolgnese sauce, chili ) can be done just as well, if not better, with pulses and/or vegetables. I'm just glad I have the choice, although I have a great deal of respect for ethical vegetarians.

Best wishes

[Fridgeman]

Hi All

I am not a veggie but I use soya mince and textured soya and I have even dished it up to non veggies and had compliments on how nice the dish was, they thought it was meat! so it is not just for veggies, I have veggie friends whom I have cooked for and they have always enjoyed the food I  have made, we eat it as well and enjoy it as much as they do, I have to say I tend to eat less meat as time goes by, no real reason for this as we do enjoy the occasional steak and we do eat a lot of fish and sea food as well, I could not bring myself to eat veggie ready meals the same as I do NOT eat ready meals anyway, too many additives.

 I feel soya mince etc. just gives you a different texture to what you are eating and I think that is why veggies like it and why not, ready meals on the other hand are a different subject and are there to make someone rich.

All the best

[Rob Roy]

"And now I've discovered Indian restaurants aren't popular in France.  That is my ultimate treat if we go right onto the costa but I suppose they are there because of demand from the British holidaymakers and nothing to do with Spanish taste anyway.  I seem to remember Vietnamese restaurants were popular in France some years ago.  Are there still many of those around?"

Most of the French people I have met enjoy Indian food when they have tried it, and you can find a limited range of items for sale in the supermarkets - mostly to make your own, but also fresh and frozen samosas etc. Don't ask me for details because I loath curry etc[+o(] so never buy any of them! Of course there is not the historic connection to the Indian sub-continent in France that there is in the UK and perhaps that is why Indian cuisine was not known here for a long time.

I don't know which area of France you are going to be in but there are several Indian restaurants in Brive (Dept 19, Correze), as there are also Chinese and Vietnamese (where, of course, France had a lot more involvement).

 

[Lautrec]

Hi Graye,

Do not despair! There are a lot of towns in France that have an 'English Shop' and they sell loads of veggie products. We shop in the 'Cockleshell' in Ruffec and Jane the proprietor is very obliging and if there is something special, which is not in stock, she will order a quantity of it for you!

But normally they stock all Linda Mc. products and separate quorn products. We have been in Restaurants here which have Veggie meals on their menu. The word is going around that it is a growing trend in France and more outlets will stock the food we perculiar people need.

 It has been said, 'that if everybody had to kill an animal to eat meat, there would be a lot more vegetarians!'

Bon appetite. Lautrec.