most vegan friendly city in europe?

[JP]

What are your opinions?

so many awesome cities out there for vegans, london, barcelona, amsterdam...

but taking things like availability of vegan restaurants, vegan friendly restaurants, vegan options in "normal" places, vegan foods at supermarkets, what would you say is the best?

I would like to say berlin, but i only spent 3 days there so thats hardly enough to say, or is it? it was AWESOME!

[baldy]

My vote would be for Edinburgh.
London is good with loads of places but its also huge in comparison with Edinburgh. So if you are talking about vegan spots per a kilometre then Edinburgh kicks ass.

Plus every newsagent in Edinburgh sells vegan sausage rolls and pies. You just don't get that in London.

[soniczip]

i can't really say about other cities, but london was quite good (i lived there for almost 5 years). on the other hand, i can help you erasing italian cities from the map.

[Talyn]

With only a small amount of bias, I'd have to say London. Lots of restruants, easy to get vegan options in non-vegan places, labelling is commonplace, most people know wtf a vegan is, etc, etc.

Vienna is also one of my favourites, along with Berlin. Love the vegan stuff you can get from the Biomarkt's, and German people are so far ahead of English people in terms of embracing veganism

[_Andreas_]

I have to agree with Berlin and London. I don't know how the rest of Germany is, but veganism is quite widespread in the UK. All cities I've lived in have had some good places.

Paris had some great things, but considering its size, not that much (a lot of health food shops though!). The Netherlands weren't that great either, even if there were some good health food shops and the world's first vegetarian butcher. Switzerland isn't very big, but the concept is very foreign here. So far veganism hasn't been very hard anywhere I've lived though.

[soniczip]

I have to agree with Berlin and London. I don't know how the rest of Germany is, but veganism is quite widespread in the UK. All cities I've lived in have had some good places.

Paris had some great things, but considering its size, not that much (a lot of health food shops though!). The Netherlands weren't that great either, even if there were some good health food shops and the world's first vegetarian butcher. Switzerland isn't very big, but the concept is very foreign here. So far veganism hasn't been very hard anywhere I've lived though.

i remember zurich had some nice buffet restaurants. i went to hiltl and tibits and found them excellent. i missed samses because it was close when i was there.

[_Andreas_]

I have to agree with Berlin and London. I don't know how the rest of Germany is, but veganism is quite widespread in the UK. All cities I've lived in have had some good places.

Paris had some great things, but considering its size, not that much (a lot of health food shops though!). The Netherlands weren't that great either, even if there were some good health food shops and the world's first vegetarian butcher. Switzerland isn't very big, but the concept is very foreign here. So far veganism hasn't been very hard anywhere I've lived though.

i remember zurich had some nice buffet restaurants. i went to hiltl and tibits and found them excellent. i missed samses because it was close when i was there.

Yeah I don't really know Zurich. However, Tibits is amazing. The thing with Tibits (in Bern) is that I get the impression most people go there not because they are vegetarian/vegan, but because the food is good/healthy. This is a great thing, but shows that even if you can get vegan food (e.g. there are a lot of Ethiopian restaurants), the idea itself is not that well known. That is of course just my impression

[loveliberate]

Great topic!

Berlin, Vienna & Edinburgh are all definitely on my list of cities that I'd love to visit. I really like Baldys take on considering how veganfriendly cities are relative to their size.

Personally, I prefer smaller places and would ask the same question but ask that folks also share what smaller cities, towns and even villages they find to be the most veganfriendly.

[JohnBarleycorn]

My vote is for London. So much choice. So easy. Portobello Road, for instance, has five places, at least, that I know of, to get vegan food.

Amsterdam has to be in the running too.

[JP]

couple restaurants does not a vegan friendly city make.

(did i get the sentence construct right?)

anyway, against UK is the SHIT provision of vegan specialist foods in normal supermarkets. Soya milk is ok, but venture out a bit like yoghurts, ice creams, meats, different tofus, chocolate and other flavured soya milks, and the european cities walk all over UK and london with it.

Vienna is a great call, another awesome place for vegan tourists!

[fredrikw]

Isn't this a bit like asking a group of people to agree on the tastiest dish, but no one has really tasted more than like five dishes in total, and there's not much overlap? Feels a bit like people are naming the cities they have been to that has a better selection than they're used to, and not really saying anything about what the most vegan friendly city would be...

But to add something here, I'd say if a place is to be really experienced as vegan friendly is very much a contextual thing, and this has perhaps more to do with the people you spend time with there than what restaurants there are and if a news stand has vegan options.

So, now that I have spoiled the mood in an otherwise good spirited thread, I'll let you continue bragging about your favourite European cities. My vote goes to Berlin.

[loveliberate]

It seems likely that we have some folks here who could offer a fairly accurate assessment based on the kinds of criteria put forward by JP. In terms of hard(er) numbers, I looked at http://www.happycow.net and came up with the following numbers, based on a 25 mile search radius:

* CITY: ALL LISTINGS / VEGAN LISTINGS (restaurants only - so no vegan stores, etc)
- Berlin: 102/13
- Edinburgh: 24/0
- London: 247/18
- Vienna: 66/6

and for the sake of comparison:
- NYC: 358/54
- LA: 387/48
- VeganHQ -aka- Portland, Oregon: 110/19

[JS]

anyway, against UK is the SHIT provision of vegan specialist foods in normal supermarkets. Soya milk is ok, but venture out a bit like yoghurts, ice creams, meats, different tofus, chocolate and other flavured soya milks, and the european cities walk all over UK and london with it.

UK supermarkets seemed to be swamped with Quorn products I find or Cauldron stuff so I agree UK supermarkets don't have much range of specialist foods although I find this on one hand to be a good thing as it means I'm not one stop shopping at a supermarket but then on the other hand it's keeping some great vegan products out of the public eye.

I would like to see a city named that has a place with lots of vegan options in "normal" places but I cannot really think of one A city I can visit without asking for a menu item to be adapted to suits my needs, a place with choices.......a place that has options that contain protein!

I can feel a rant coming on.................................and an off subject rant!

I remember Prague being alright but then I think it was my surprise at finding a pub that served a tofu burger and now it's so stuck in my memory I think Prague is a good choice to visit being vegan

[baldy]

UK supermarkets seemed to be swamped with Quorn products I find or Cauldron stuff so I agree UK supermarkets don't have much range of specialist foods although I find this on one hand to be a good thing as it means I'm not one stop shopping at a supermarket but then on the other hand it's keeping some great vegan products out of the public eye.....

I can feel a rant coming on.................................and an off subject rant!

I also have a rant building up about UK supermarkets. 1 whole aisle for beer another for wine and another for crisps. Then they only sell one brand of chickpea, dont sell flaxseeds and only stock plain soya milk. It is enough for me to get the rage on.

[powerlifer]

Really for Edinburgh? I don't think ive ever found a dedicated vegan restaurant there, any pointers would be appreciated?

I know some restaurants do veggie options but not vegan.