Vegan Practically

Content warning: apparent griping about “first world problems.”

For ten days I finessed my way through a triple-challenge. Brittany and Normandy are tough at the best of times. So that was challenge #1. Add to that being on a tour with omnivores, where for the most part the dining venue was organized and not up to me. That was challenge #2. Add to that being a non-drinker among drinkers on vacation. I add “on vacation” because, having been a drinker in the past I am well aware of how the fact of being on vacation can increase the daily intake beyond the general definition of “moderate” drinking (generally thought to be 2 drinks a day, which a good percentage of my group surpassed by the time lunch was over and certainly before dinner had begun, not that I was counting 😉). That was challenge #3.

On balance I did okay but this time the excellence of the tour (and it was indeed excellent) didn’t offset the daily stress of being unable to find adequate vegan options (a function of where we were travelling—northern France is as not-vegan-friendly as my research suspected), having to dine three times a day with people savouring steaks and chicken and seafood at every meal, and being surrounded by seemingly incessant alcohol consumption from noon onwards. I’ve had my own issues with substances, which is why I haven’t partaken in over fifteen years. But I haven’t experienced other people’s more-than-moderate vacation-style drinking quite like that in a group for ages. It’s not typical in my usual circles, even among people who drink. And it’s not particularly fun. Coupled with the lip-smacking over dead animals, it was not a travel experience I’m keen to repeat.

But let’s get back to the primary issue at hand: travelling while vegan. My main recommendation for a vegan trying to enjoy Brittany and Normandy is to do it on your own terms and have some control over the choices of venues where you will be dining. For example, one night in Saint Malo I left the group to their café with tanks of live lobsters and heaps of crab legs to go eat alone at an Indian restaurant. This was a spectacular and bustling restaurant that was full within half an hour of opening and also had a steady stream of take-out. It wasn’t fully vegan, but it had more options than any place I had been since arriving in Europe. I had a vegetarian three-course meal that was fully vegan, including the sorbet. It was the only good vegan meal I had that actually included protein. It was an enjoyable outing and I’m glad I did it. But I wasn’t about to go solo every day.

Because of the protein deficit that I would have experienced and the challenge of getting a decent vegan meal, I loosened my veganism and sometimes ate dairy (in the form of cheese). I hate doing that and haven’t done so in a very long time. I understand that there are many vegans who wouldn’t or couldn’t bring themselves to do it. But when veggie burgers end up having cheese on them and the only non-meat sandwich on offer is a cheese sandwich and the chef can figure out vegetarian but not vegan, and you’re on day-five of the very real struggle, you need to make some choices. Outside of Paris, where there are lots of vegan restaurants, some of them world-class, and countless more vegan-friendly restaurants, and Lebanese or Indian places with solid vegan options, it’s tough.

Here were a few of the wins. The Hotel Thérèse in Paris had soy milk available at breakfast and the Hotel Sable Blanche in Concarneau had almond milk (not my first choice but better than cow’s milk on the sustainability front). I like baguettes and most places had fresh baguettes and jam as part of the breakfast offerings. Similarly, muesli or granola when there was a plant-based milk on hand was good. And all breakfasts had fresh fruit, both cut and whole. And I could take a piece of whole fruit with me for later. Over the course of the ten days I had a handful of good salads that didn’t have cheese in them, and a couple even had edamame. The tour organizers figured out that Oreos are accidentally vegan and bought some for one of our picnic lunches, which was thoughtful. But since a package of Oreos lasts me a year and have no protein, it didn’t address the core issue, which was protein. The same day included a good salad just for me that had some edamame in it. I didn’t do that shopping but I get the impression that if you go to supermarkets you can find one or two prepared foods with a vegan sticker on them. This salad was one of those, but it had cheese in it and I couldn’t tell if it was plant-based cheese.

As I said in my previous post about this area of France, dining is one of the joys of travel. I get why we went to so many restaurants where the majority of the others on the tour had ample wonderful options, and I had one or two (assuming a willingness to be flexible). But I can’t say I would recommend that a vegan travel with an omnivore tour, even if they make an effort to accommodate you, and especially in a place like northern France that is known to be difficult as a vegan (but let’s face it, that isn’t specific to nothern France).

If you are going to Brittany and Normandy it’ll be hard to get well-rounded diet and stay vegan if you are eating in restaurants. I had one vegan waiter once, the day we went to Omaha Beach. He guided me through the menu and made sure there was no cheese or mayo on my veggie burger. That was literally the only server at any restaurant who had any actual understanding or care about what I was asking for. The next day at a different place, the waiter simply said, “you can have the Caesar salad,” which I did, and which probably wasn’t vegan (due to the dressing likely having egg) but thankfully had no anchovies.

I also want to emphasize a point I’ve made before. In the end the main issue is not actually about getting a decent meal. There is a deeply ethical values-based argument that supports my veganism, and it isn’t a commitment I take lightly. Omnivores don’t really care about that, and so they think the main issue is “what will she eat?” Sure it’s a concern day-after-day. But the larger context of being subjected to animal consumption — which I actually consider to be the product of suffering and mass atrocity and a major contributor to environmental harm— three meals a day while on vacation with a group really drained my soul this time.

I’m not about to try to have a conversation about my deeper reasons in a context like this, where others are also on vacation and understandably not wanting to think through their core values. No one really wants to have a real conversation. No one really wants to consider their own choices. Especially when they’re on vacation. The stronghold that the ideology of human entitlement to exploit nonhuman animals for our own enjoyment was very much brought home to me yet again.

I know this already of course. I eat with mixed company from time to time at home too, with friends and family, and experience the same thing. But not every day, ever meal, for two weeks. Literally, other than when I went off to eat alone in Saint Malo, I did not sit down to eat with others who were not eating animal products since the day I left Canada.

That’s my own fault, since I was well aware that the rest of the group were omnivores and that the area in which we were travelling would be a challenge. I don’t blame the tour organizers or the other people for my experience. But it’s been an important lesson in learning my own limits.