This is a guest post by Ayngelina Brogan from one of our favourite travel blogs Bacon is Magic. We didn’t make it to Ecuador so there’s a gap in our vegetarian survival guide series – Ayngelina helps out with this guide to eating in Cuenca.
Some may think it’s odd that some chick with the web site Bacon is Magic would be writing a post about the best places to find vegetarian food but the truth is that even a pork lover’s arteries need a bit of a break.
Argentina is Mad Cow crazy for its meat. In Buenos Aires, you can’t throw a porteño without hitting a parilla restaurant. Luckily for us, there is also a burgeoning vegetarian/health food scene and with a little research and some lucky stumbles, we found a whole bunch of really tasty veggie restaurants – mostly around the trendy Palermo Viejo area.
These are our favourite vegetarian restaurants in Buenos Aires. Not all of these places are strictly vegetarian but they all offer great options for meat-free meals. It’s usually a good idea to plan in advance and head to a specific restaurant or else it’s pizza night (again).
For Erin’s birthday we treated ourselves to a sumptuous meal at Sette Bacco Italian restaurant in Recoleta, Buenos Aires. As soon as we stepped in the door, I felt my wallet lighten considerably. This place was classy.
I was wearing hiking shoes.
Despite that, the Maître d’ was warm and welcoming and seated us in a lovely spot on the roof terrace, perfumed delicately by the rosemary plants dotted about. There were candles everywhere and my napkin was bigger and thicker than my travel towel. Feeling that this place might be very, very expensive (as opposed to just very expensive), I had a surreptitious check of our cash situation.
Not good. Less than A$200.
Buenos Aires is the steak capital of the world, so we were a little worried about how we’d get on as vegetarians. Our fears were quickly eased on our first day when Simon sniffed out a local bakery and came back with a pile of sugary doughnuts, sticky medialunas and dulce de leche filled pastries – all for just 7 pesos (about £1).
OK, so it may not make a nutritious, healthy meal but it was gooood.
Things got even better in the coming days as we discovered some wonderful Buenos Aires vegetarian restaurants and some tasty Argentine snacks. These are our top food choices in Buenos Aires for vegetarians or for those just looking for a break from great slabs of beef.
South America is not going to be an easy place for two vegetarians who like their food, so during our travels we’ll be investigating the best meat-free options and creating a Vegetarian Survival Guide for each country we visit.
Brazil is as meat orientated as the rest of the continent, and has the additional problem of being quite expensive for budget travellers. We found that most cheap restaurants don’t have any vegetarian options at all, as the set meals consist of meat, chicken or fish served with rice, beans and salad.
We managed to survive though, and without blowing the budget too much. Here are our recommendations for vegetarians visiting Brazil.
We are Simon Fairbairn & Erin McNeaney a couple who sold everything and left the UK in March 2010 to travel the world forever. We write about our travels and our journey to become digital nomads. Read more...