Vegetarian in France

Just make sure everything is cooked. Heating kills the ecoli bacteria. I'm not hugely concerned about the outbreak but I will avoid raw vegetables.

The E.Coli outbreak in France a few weeks ago (different from the possible-vegetable based one in Hamburg) was from ground meat, so you're fine.

Thanks, Brad. I guess cooked is the key. Kathy, there was a more recent outbreak in Bordeaux (where we're going); people had been eating gazpacho garnished with sprouts. I guess he'll be eating a lot of ratatouille! Any other menu suggestions? Thanks!

I'm not a vegetarian but I've traveled with several people who were. They ate quite a few omelets in restaurants. They also took along their own snack things like favorite energy bars, raw almonds and peanut butter (but it is now much easier to buy PB in France).

Think rice or pasta dishes, like risotto, or anything with mushrooms. There are all kind of cooked veg you can eat while in Europe, from eggplants, to zuchini, to tomato sauces, beans of all sorts, fresh peas and so on. It shouldn't be difficult to find delicious menu items.

I travel with my sister a lot who is vegetarian and France is one of the more difficult countries for her, but not impossible. It also depends on how 'vegetarian' your husband is. My sister doesn't eat eggs, very little dairy, or anything cooked in meat stock which is just about all vegetables, pasta, rissoto, and even the pastries can be made with lard. Hopefully that doesn't bother him. For my sister, she just knows she is going to get a little sick or sticks to salads (which is now a risk) and we also eat at ethnic places that have a lot of vegetarian dishes. There's a handfull of vegetarian restaurants in Paris, but I don't recall finding much outside of there. The protein bars idea is a great one too. Like my sister says, there's much worse things than being on a bread, cheese, and wine diet in France!

My wife and I are both vegeterians and the past 5 years eating in europe has become much easier. Most restaurants will have at least 3-4 vegeterian items in their menu. There are a few places in France that gave us some trouble. Italy is the most vegeterian friendly place in europe with all the pizza/pasta dishes.
Earlier this month spent 2 weeks in Switzerland and getting vegeterian food was easy.

The very best resource I have found for finding vegetarian and veg-friendly restaraunts anywhere in the world is Happycow.net. Paris has lots of excellent options. There are less in the rest of France, but more than you might expect. Have a great trip!

My husband eats daily but no meat, so omelettes are a good choice. Yes, Italy was wonderful - forveating and everything else! Looking forward to Switzerlandvat some point. Thank you all so much for your suggestions!

This may provide some ideas for you. There was a recent article in about.com French on vegetarianism in France. Here's the link: http://french.about.com/od/culture/a/vegetarianism.htm?nl=1 hope that helps!

Thanks for the link - very kind. Excuse my spelling; predictive text too early in the morning. I meant to say, among other things, that he eats dairy, not daily, though both are true. Thanks all!

I spent 3 weeks in France with my vegetarian niece in 2003, and she had no trouble. The one place where the menu didn't have any vegetarian options, we just asked the waiter and he was very happy to discuss options and have the chef prepare something just for her. It seemed as if they relished the challenge! So learn how to say something like "do you have any vegetarian choices, please?" in French, and you should be fine. Have a great trip!

Another good place to look for is middle eastern take away places. They usually have a veggie option

Ditto with Indian places.

Yes, that's what he enjoys in the states - Indian & Thai. Moroccan would work, too. Thanks!

I have eaten here a few times: http://tinyurl.com/6zthne6 It isn't far from the Eiffel Tower.

My favorite lunch place in Paris is L'as Du Fallafel in the 4th. They have several vegetarian options and I have eaten here regularly since 1998. There are several other all vegeterian restaurants in the 4th.

Couscous is all over paris, especially the Left Bank

One word of warning. (I am not sure how much this is the case in France of not, as I have not traveled with a vegetarian in France but have in other places in the world.) The word "vegetarian" varies in meaning in different cultures. On multiple occasions we had a waiter/waitress/cook tell us something was vegetarian because it didn't contain any red meat, only chicken. Even in the USA many non-vegetarians particularly in the south consider fish to be vegetarian while most vegetarians don't. I have also seen the opposite where someone assumed if you are a vegetarian you are also a vegan and won't drink milk. So I would suggest when ordering don't simply mention that you are looking for "vegetarian" but be specific with what he will and won't eat. If your french language skills are not great it might be a good idea to have someone write it out on a card that can be handed to waiter/waitress/cook.

Good suggestions everyone. Thanks so much. Yes, we speak with a lot of vegetarians who say, "I'm a vegetarian but I eat fish.". Good idea to write things down as well, like Dylan in Positively
4th St!

Hi Nancy, I'm a vegetarian too and will be visiting Paris in the next couple of weeks.
http://www.saravanabhavan.com/restaurants.php?cn=France&cy=Paris&rid=54# This is one of my favorite vegetarian Indian restaurants. I thought your husband might like this since you said he likes Indian food.

I was vegan for a long time, and found that a tad tough to stick to in France. All that glrious CHEESE that I had to avoid! If your busband is vegetarian, he should find it easy to find wonderful things to eat that are meatless. With eggs and other dairy as choices, he can get the full on French food experience without missing the flesh. As for the E. coli thing... well... I looked online and found this. It's pretty helpful, and it isn't an advertisement, a virus, or a pop-up: http://www.self.com/health/blogs/healthyself/2011/06/scary-e-coli-outbreak-in-europ.html This is from an expat blog, and also has some good advice: http://www.expat-friendly.com/?E-Coli-EHEC-3-Things-to-Avoid