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You are here: Home Leisure Dining & Cuisine Vegetarian in Brussels: A One-Act Play

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13/08/2010Vegetarian in Brussels: A One-Act Play

Vegetarian in Brussels: A One-Act Play Sharon Light spent her first three years in Brussels trying to find restaurants that would serve her something vegetarian. Then she decided to write about it...

The following post will either read as a rant, or an offering of vegetarian humor, depending on your/my state of mind:

The other night, I was invited to a work dinner at the Brussels Food & Wine Academy. My invitation offered a slew of culinary options - gluten-free, shellfish allergy, nut-free, even Kosher, for God's sake. Given that I actually keep kosher, I knew better than to request that option (waaay too complicated to figure out unless you live it), but I thought "surely, I'm safe if I take vegetarian. Vegan for Gidon." Famous last words.

I will qualify all of the following by reminding you that I am not vegetarian, and my husband Gidon is not vegan - but for the purposes of the Food & Wine Academy, they should have been planning for those cases. Therefore we reserve the right to condemn them.


The evening started innocently enough with passed hors d'oeuvres. The only ones we could eat were the vegetables, which a vegan couldn't dip into the Russian dressing (mayonaise = eggs). We cheated on our vegetarian/vegan guises by partaking of the smoked salmon.

We sat down to dinner and starters were served. Salad for Gidon - so far, so good. Scallops for me. Houston, we have a problem.

Scene: a restaurant. Vegetarian diner seated at table. Enter waitress, with scallops.

Diner: Excuse me, these are scallops.
Waitress: Yes.
Diner: I am vegetarian.
Waitress: Yes.
Diner: I don't eat fish.
Waitress: Oh. You are vegan.
Diner: No, I am vegetarian. I don't eat animals, and I don't eat fish.
Waitress: So you're vegan.
Diner: NO, YOU RAVING IDIOT! (throws chair at Waitress)

All of that was true except the last line - which may, in fact, be the most believable part of that conversation. Having been (in)appropriately reprimanded by my superiority-complex endowed waitress, my scallops were finally removed and replaced with a salad.


Forty seven hours later, our main dishes arrived. By this time, they had conveniently placed me in the "vegan" box, so Gidon and I both got a few spoonfuls of rice, 6 cooked mushrooms, and some baked jerusalem artichokes. I have no complaints with the quality of the food, just the size of the portions, since thus far they had provided us with enough food to starve a rabbit.

In short, we came home at midnight and made dinner. Oh, the humanity!

 

Read more from Brussels Sprout...



1 reaction to this article

Jen posted: 2010-12-19 13:23:26

Hello,
I am also a vegetarian and I find it hard to manage in Belgium. I have come across a blog with nice vegetarian recipes with Indian influence. Have a look at the recipes for peas.

http://opencookeat.blogspot.com/search/label/green peas

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1 reaction to this article

Jen posted: 2010-12-19 13:23:26

Hello,
I am also a vegetarian and I find it hard to manage in Belgium. I have come across a blog with nice vegetarian recipes with Indian influence. Have a look at the recipes for peas.

http://opencookeat.blogspot.com/search/label/green peas

Add a comment
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