Being a vegetarian in Spain

I had no idea how difficult it would be to just be me here.  To live like I had always lived and eat what I wanted to eat.  Of course I didn't expect it to be the same as living in Canada.  I knew there would be different options and likely not all the foods I was used to (no tater tots, fresh brussel sprouts, Mr. Noodles, Kraft Dinner, Paneer, Rootbeer, Ketchup Chips, Poutine, bagels  etc.) but I really had no idea it would be this much of a challenge to just not eat meat. 

I would say Spaniards mostly eat meat like ham, lamb, beef, ham, ham, seafood, ham did I mention ham? Seriously I have never seen so much ham in my life.  How many pigs were harmed to make the meals for everyone here for all of forever?  I try not to be the kind of person who shames people for eating meat, I mean I used to eat it too and I enjoyed it, but this place is ridiculous. When I say everything is meat I am serious.  The first four days we were in the country we ate nothing but cheese sandwiches because that was the only thing we could find that didn't have meat on it.  The salads are meat.  But seriously, we went for lunch with Ross' boss one day and he got a salad that was just a bowl of various meats, before his main course of rice and 2 different meats.

It was especially difficult the first few weeks before we had an apartment because we were basically eating out every day for most of our meals.  We kept some stuff in the hotel room but I was scared that I might eat nothing but bread and cheese again.  It is not that there are no foods other than meat but they put meat in or on everything.  Everything!  This is not a hyperbole.  Everything!  And when you tell someone you are a vegetarian they still think you can eat fish (I never realized fish was a vegetable) so they will serve you things that have fish in them, even though you said I do not eat meat 3 times before they brought you your dinner.  

So we basically just eat at home.  We have found a few places over the past few months that serve some vegetarian options, like Eh Voila, Falafel places, Dominos and there is a burger place that opened a couple months after we moved here that has an actual veggie burger (DZ Fast Food)!  We frequent the burger joint as we do not want them to stop selling the veg burger and we feel we might be the only people who buy it.  They know us when we come in and even though we speak very few of the same words we have made friends with them and they tell us we are VIP Canadians!  NBD.

Ross and I have both been served meat and neither of us knew until it was too late.  My experience was not as horrifying as his though.  There was this street fair and this lady was selling empanadas.  I asked which ones were vegetarian and she pointed out two so we each got one.  We walked away to enjoy our snacks under a gorgeous cathedral on a sunny day and just relax.  I happily bit into mine and was immediately disgusted to find tuna in my mouth.  I had forgotten that vegetarians eat fish (no we don’t).  I tried to just eat it anyway because I was hungry but I couldn't do it.  It was so gross.  So I learned not only do I have to say No Carne (Meat), but also No Pescado (Fish).  Ross, poor guy, had gone for lunch with some work mates and they ordered for him and were very specific about the no meat.  He was given a mushroom risotto.  Halfway through his meal was when he realized the shredded mushroom was actually shredded lamb.  He was pretty sick after that. 

There is no real variety here when it comes to food either.  In other cities we have found more options but here in Valladolid they do not seem to embrace variety of any kind.  There are, as I mentioned in a previous post, about a million tiny bar/café/restaurants that are exactly the same; same menu, same price, same person working there every day.  I have never had so little to choose from.  I do not understand how they live without some diversity.  I always knew I was lucky to live in Canada and have everything I wanted all the time but it wasn't until I moved here that I realized that having an Indian restaurant, Sushi place, and a burrito shack all within ten minutes of my house was the best thing ever!  I miss Whole Foods, Starbucks and Tim Hortons. 

Speaking of Tim Hortons and Starbucks, I miss actual coffee.  Like an adult sized coffee that you can take to go.  People told me a lot about the coffee culture here and it sounded amazing.  Turns out the act of going for coffee and the community you have while drinking coffee is cool but the coffee itself is no good.  First of all the coffee comes in a teeny tiny cup and is really just a shot of espresso with a little water.  It takes about three sips and it’s gone.  There are also no regular black tea options at many coffee shops, and to go coffee is basically unheard of.  There are a few places that offer it but I think Ross and I might be the only people who have ever asked for it.  Again the cups are tiny and the lids do not actually fit on the cups.  Also they are usually stuffed under a cupboard somewhere and very dusty.  Its like they saw coffee to go in a movie and thought maybe an American tourist would like that but never fully understood how it works.  The thought was there but the execution was poor.

Its funny, so many people have asked us about being vegetarian and told us Spain was not the place for us if we didn't want to eat meat.  We laugh and say we know that now, a little too late.  We are making it through though.  We eat mostly at home and when we are invited out with people for Tapas (a great idea we cannot appreciate as it is again mostly meats) we just eat dinner first and go out for the drinks. I swear I have never had so many conversations about my lifestyle choices since moving here.  Everyone wants to know why I do not eat meat.  I don’t feel like it came up very often back home. 

I think that if we did eat meat it would really change our experience here.  We could just go out to any café/bar and not have to read the menu first and then walk away because there is not one vegetarian option.  We could go out for Tapas and actually experience it as it is meant to be experienced. We could rejoice in the ham with the masses.  Because nothing says delicious like ham on bread, or ham in potatos, ham pizza, ham tortilla, ham and cheese, ham croquettes, how about just a giant leg of ham in my mouth…All the ham!  OK  I feel sick just thinking about it.  I mean I get it people like what they like its just tough for us and the grocery store smells like death due to all the hanging corpses...