Belgium:
Vegetarian Food
[This section is in the earliest
stages of development: 22 July 2006]
Flanders is a poor region for vegetarians, and is
terrible for vegans. On the coast, as elsewhere in Europe,
sea-animals are consumed extensively. What makes even the most dedicated of
carnivores want to eat animals pulled from that most polluted part of the North
Sea/English Channel I cannot begin to imagine. Inland the many black-and-white
cows are either killed and eaten, or else are forced
to produce milk. Milk and milk products figures highly in
Belgian thoughts about food, not least thoughts about chocolate.
Bruges/Brugge
To my knowledge, there are three vegetarian restaurants in Bruges,
each of which I have visited: De Bron, on Katelijnestraat not far from the city centre; Zen, a
good walk north-east from the centre; and Tourmalijn,
just as far in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, the first two are
daytime-only restaurants (recently confirmed to me in an e-mail from someone
who visited), and close for every imaginable holiday. A cynical part of me
wonders whether they find tourists too demanding. From my own experience, the
likelihood of a tourist chancing upon either De Bron
or Zen when they are open is low. Tourmalijn,
which does open in the evenings, at weekends and on holidays, is based in the
Hotel Dante, an upmarket hotel serving expensive meals. Tourmalijn
is not worth visiting for vegans. Not only is there nothing on the menu for a
vegan meal, but also the staff are, in my experience, unhelpful and unfriendly
regarding vegan cuisine. The same can also be said for Bhavani,
an Indian restaurant on Simon Stevinplein. This is
not a vegetarian restaurant, but has a reasonable selection of vegetarian
dishes. Sadly, I have been treated very rudely by the staff here, simply for
being a vegan. For vegans, De Bron is the only
place to visit as there is likely to be something vegan on the menu. It is also
both child- and wheelchair friendly. The trick is to find it open. Zen
might be able to prepare something vegan - they did on the occasion I ate there
- but this is not guaranteed. The alternative for vegans who are staying in Bruges
for three or more days is to rent self-catering accommodation, of which there
is a good selection.
Ghent/Gand
There are, to my knowledge, two vegetarian restaurants in Ghent,
neither of which, however, were open when I visited. Buddha's
Belly, according to the guide-books, is described as 'studenty';
Avalon looks a little more up-market and appears to be based around a
whole-food shop, which suggests that it might be vegan friendly. I look forward
to finding out.
Brussels/Bruxelles
No specific knowledge. Brussels
is a major international city, and has a variety of international cuisines.
p.g.h@btinternet.com