Vegetarian travel in Spain

... mixing the concepts "Spain" and "cuisine" is rather pointless as each region has developed its own cuisine and comparing some of them is simply not possible. This is mainly due to the fact that historically, both "nutritional requirements" and food availability has been quite different due to the variety of climates. Thus for example, the traditional cuisine in regions on the Mediterranean coast, where the climate is rather mild, have a greater variety of fruits and vegetables in their dishes than say those in the plains of Castille, where climate -especially winters- are quite rough and the need for calories has introduced a lot of very caloric ingredients in their plates (pork grease, lots of beans) etc. Not to say that there aren't also "similar" dishes, but each to each own :))

Therefore, if you say which regions are you going to visit...

PS: As per your reference to "bocadillo de calamares" I must assume you visited Castille, didn't you? and more especifically Madrid, huh? :)) That's the only place they can mix those two things: bread and calamari, LOL!!!

Honestly, it is one of the more difficult places I have found to eat-and I eat seafood and chicken (which basically is non-existent there). Every dish seems to have meat of some kind. For Tapas I lived off potatoes bravas and salads-if the ceviche wasn't too $$$ I would get that (granted this doesn't help you). I also remember cheese plates in some places, but they often came with assorted meats. Because of this we only went out a couple times. Often I would go to a grocery store and pick something up. That being said, half the time I was solo, so I didn't care that I wasn't eating out. If it helps I was in Barcelona, Valencia and Madrid-bigger the city the better the options-just like most places.

I think it depends where you go. We just got back from Barcelona and it's a veggie lovers dream come true. Every restaurant we went to was strictly vegetarian and I had a hard time narrowing down all our restaurant options. But...we were in Seville and Andalucia last year for over a week and I couldn't eat gazpacho or patatas bravas again for a long time. To get around that problem, we rented a house with kitchen so we could cook our own meals. I still got sick of the few tapas I could eat though.

I'm thinking about this as well for my upcoming trip in October. I will be in Barcelona for the greatest amount of time, so I'm pleased to hear they have lots of veggie offerings. Maybe I should pack a jar of peanut butter from home for Andalucia LOL.

As long as I can get cheese and fruit and a green of some type, with rice and/or seafood or possibly chicken, I could survive. Travel is worth some minor inconveniences.

We visited Madrid and Castellon on the coast but I haven't been to Barcelona and I only ever hear of good things about it! We will definitely be checking that out. We rented a place in Portugal once and it certainly made cooking easier and less expensive. Thanks so much for your comments everyone! :)

Most major cities will have some vegetarian restaurants. Do an online search in addition to asking around. I assume you also don't eat seafood - that eliminates a lot of tapas and dinner options.

Some ideas that I've had personally:
(Availability will depend on where you are visiting)

Pimientos de padron
Tortilla
Marcona almonds
Croquettes (some do have meat/seafood)
Tomato bread
Fresh fruits from the markets (the figs especially are huge!)
Dates
Olives
Cheeses
Roasted peppers (sometimes stuffed with or without meat/seafood)
Soups other than gazpacho (some may have stocks though)
Squash blossoms
Salad options are usually pretty good in Spain (often with seafood though)

Other options:

Tortilla de Patata - Potato Omelet
There are many types of tortillas

Espinacas con Garbanzos - Spinach & Chickpeas in a spicy tomato-ish sauce

Believe it or not Veggie Paella

You will not go hungry - just get creative - sometimes you may have to order all starters or sides.

Veggie paella, I must seek that out!!

I've spent 8 weeks in Spain over the past 3 years. I occasionally eat fish (tuna, salmon) but absolutely no meat or seafood products. I've never had a problem getting good to excellent food. Lots and lots of delicious vegetables, great cheeses, even veggie paella (though I'm not a big paella fan).

Don't forget ethnic food! The large cities have small pockets of immigrant communities, particularly Lavapies in Madrid, where vegetarian food is easy to find. I couldn't handle one more day of jamon or mollusks one day and had a falafel while strolling through Lavapies.

Fruits and vegetables are wonderful.
Can always have a vegetable pizza.
Eggplant with Honey and molasses.
Asparagus, avocados, artichokes, roasted red peppers and mushrooms are plentiful.
Gazpacho is heavenly.
I think it would be difficult to go hungry in Spain.

Several cautions:

• Unlike what I experienced in Italy last year, I see things like sandwiches labeled "vegetarian" but with seafood (usually tuna) listed in the fine print. It will not always be enough to say, "I am a vegetarian." You'll need to find out exactly what is in any dish you are contemplating.

• The menu del dia options may be listed on a blackboard by name only, without any of the details you normally see on a menu.

• Cooked vegetables are frustratingly rare on menus in much of Spain. Grilled veggie plates presented to me have always been vegetarian-friendly, though they typically include mushrooms. Single cooked vegetables and lentils are very often prepared with bits of ham.

• Virtually every menu will include one or more salads. Thst's usually one of the options on the menu del dia. However, I've found that the ensalada mixta always includes protein--most often tuna, but sometimes ham and/or cheese and/or a hard-boiled egg. Do not assume that a salad described as including cheese (queso) doesn't also include ham. I also once saw a ham-tuna combo, so anything is possible.

• I bought some cookies at a convent in Toledo that happened to post all the ingredients in multiple languages. That's when I first encountered lard as a cookie ingredient.

• Spanish breakfast pastries do not usually taste of butter. Whether they commonly use something like olive oil or lard, I do not know, but lard is supposed to be very good for producing flaky pastry. A lot of the filled pastries (individual and cut from flat sheets) have meat or fish fillings.

Aside from purely vegetarian restaurants, the easiest going will almost certainly be at upmarket restaurants in affluent cities.

Hi Becky,
I don't know if you have gone on your trip to Spain already but I wanted to share these links with you or for anyone that is veg/vegan. I am going in Feb 2017 on the RS tour so I have been researching some info. There is a Facebook page of a woman called the nomadic vegan and she travels all over and lists vegan/vegetarian restaurants. Plus there are apps (probably for android too but definitely for iphones) that help you say what you want in many languages ie- no ham, tuna, eggs etc. Let me put the links in here and she has free downloads for instance 9 easy ways to vegan travel. Vegan tapas in Spain. Take a look and you might find some interesting stuff. There is a vegan restaurant she has a link to that I am definitely going to try when I am in Barcelona. Look around her site and there will be so much info for travel all over. Good luck!

http://www.thenomadicvegan.com/the-ultimate-vegan-guide-to-spain/
http://www.timeout.com/barcelona/restaurants/vegetarian-delights

If for some reason those links don't work just go to her Facebook page and you will find tons of info (or just search for nomadic vegan and her site will pop up):
https://www.facebook.com/wendy.werneth?fref=ts or:
https://www.facebook.com/Nomadic.Vegan/?pnref=story

The apps I just downloaded are I think $1.99 & $2.99 USD. I havent really tried them out so I can't say a whole lot about them but they look good. All the Nomadic Vegans info is free and really good.
in itunes app store-
veggoagogo-vegetarian $1.99
veganagogo-vegan $2.99 (or you can download the bundle and get the both for $3.00
another good one that is really nice (used it mostly in the U.S but it has Europe in there as well:
Happy Cow (lists veg/vegan/veg friendly restaurants) I think its 2 or 3.99