28 M | | La vida
Eat your veggies
It’s growing ever easier to live here as a vegetarian.
By Stefana Serafina. Photos by Susana Grau.
W
hile by no means a new phenomenon, the vegetarian life-
style has earned increasing numbers of adherents in the
West over the past decade. While some vegetarians consid-
er their choice to eat a meatless diet as a sacrifice for better health,
many see it instead as an integral part of a lifestyle that embodies re-
spect for all living creatures, animal rights and a wholesome, healthy
planet. Many cities have developed multiple resources for vegetar-
ians, helping foster not only a meatless diet, but vegetarianism as an
active attitude about making a better world.
In recent years, the preference for
plant-based food and beverages, ani-
mal cruelty-free cosmetic products
and clothes that don’t require the kill-
ing of animals to be manuactured has “Oh my God, I’m going to
made itself a commercial force. Even
‘mega’ corporations like Starbucks, Barcelona. What will I eat?”
Subway and Burger King are address-
ing vegetarian and vegan diets among
their customers, offering dairy-free
beverages and vegetarian meals around the globe. It is safe to say
that vegetarianism has irreversibly entered the mainstream.
However, in blogs and on-line forums, anxious first-time visitors
to this city often worry along the lines of, “Oh my God, I’m going to
Barcelona. What will I eat?” Even Wikipedia, in its page on Euro-
pean vegetarianism, claims: “In Spain, most ‘vegetarian’ meals will
be served with egg, or even tuna, even if vegetarians are not that un-
common; however, most food companies and markets simply do not
care about it.” But in reality, although Spain isn’t necessarily known
for vegetarian inclinations, once in Barcelona the vegetarian’s wor-
ries are quickly dispelled.
28-29. vegetarian-4.indd 34
Barcelona is becoming
vegetarian-friendly.
In Barcelona, there are over 40 restaurants and markets dedicated
to providing meat-free meals, according to Happy Cow, one of the
world’s largest on-line vegetarian guides, and the figure is echoed by
the Barcelona-based web for vegetarians, Sin Carne. A poll by the
Happy Cow guides recently listed New York, San Francisco, London,
Singapore and Portland, Oregon as the top five places for provid-
ing an easy, enjoyable vegetarian lifestyle. And although Barcelona
isn’t even found amongst the runner-ups (Chiang Mai in Thailand,
Toronto, Canada, and Taipei, Taiwan), it still ranks 19th in the world
in the number of vegetarian res-
taurants and cafés, coming in just
after San Francisco. With places
like Amaltea, Veg World, Sesamo,
Vegetalia, Juicy Jones, Maoz and
Organic, the Catalan capital seems
equipped to respond to any vegetar-
ian caprice.
“The attitudes towards the con-
cept of vegetarianism have definitely
changed over the last decade in Barcelona,” said Mads Rademacher,
the Danish man whose Juicy Jones offers a vegan alternative—–meals
that don’t contain any animal by-products—to Barcelona’s ‘old-
fashioned’ vegetarian cuisine with less flavour, eggs and dairy in the
ingredients, and an often unappetising presentation. The vegan life-
style opposes all forms of cruelty to animals, and its adherents eat no
cheese, eggs or butter, and wear no clothes or shoes made of leather.
It is not popular in Barcelona, although the concept isn’t unknown,
and groups like Acción Vegana do exist. In addition to Juicy Jones,
other places cater to vegans, like the venerable vegetarian Indian
restaurant Govinda, which was the first in the city to do so.
22/1/09 14:24:04
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Giselle Tarrés, who helps her mother run the Organic vegetarian
restaurants in Barcelona, agreed with Rademacher that the growing
abundance of information on nutrition has made people in Barcelona
more open to the ideas of eating and living vegetarian. “Young peo-
ple in particular have become more aware of the vices of the modern
food system—the killing of animals, the frozen and canned food, the
mechanised processing of what we eat. More and more often, the
ethical motivations come first.”
The clientele at Organic and Juicy Jones consists of both locals
and tourists, and ranges from teenage skaters to elderly ladies. Bar-
celona may not be a cutting-edge city in the vegetarian world, but its
residents are generally an open, tolerant bunch, willing to consider
different world-views and embrace a healthier, more humane way of
life, according to Rademacher. “You won’t see the people of Barce-
lona shouting animal-rights slogans in the streets, but they are pro-
gressive in their own quiet way, as they are inclined to contemplate
and embrace radical ideas.”
In fact, vegetarianism here has quite a long history. One of the
first vegetarian organisations in Spain was the Lliga Vegetariana de

The Philharmonic
Catalunya, established in 1907. In 1920, the Sociedad Vegetariana
de Catalunya was created. Since then, the region has been distin-
guished as the Spanish autonomic region with the greatest number
of vegetarians, and vegetarian-friendly environments. Even Antoni English Pub
Gaudí is known to have kept a strict vegetarian diet. “His meager “Not just a pub, more a way of life”
lunches had often consisted of just a bowl of fresh lettuce leaves
dipped in milk, finishing later with a handful of nuts or sugared al-
monds,” according to Cèsar Martinell’s book, Conversaciones con
Gaudí. In 2004, Barcelona became the nation’s first city to declare
itself an ‘anti-bullfighting city’ after nearly 250,000 residents signed
a petition to oppose the bloody sport.
About four percent of Spain’s population follows a vegetarian
diet, according to the European Vegetarian Union (EVU). That same
percentage of vegetarians is also estimated for countries like Can-
food sports music
Open Monday to Friday 9am-3am • Saturday & Sunday 12pm-3am
ada, the US and the Netherlands. The European chart is topped by
t. + 34 934 511 153 • t. + 34 934 515 043
Italy, with 10 percent of its population defining themselves as veg-
The Philharmonic • Mallorca, 204, 08036 BCN
etarians, Germany and Switzerland have nine, and the UK has six www.the-philharmonic.com
percent. At the bottom of the Old Continent’s list are countries like
Portugal, Poland and Denmark, where vegetarianism seems to at-
tract few adherents.
While popular demand in countries like Canada and the US has
forced college campuses and schools to introduce vegetarian and ve-
gan options, coffee shops to offer vegan pastries and dairy-free cap-
puccinos and music festivals to promote vegetarian and eco-friendly
practices to attract visitors, in Barcelona the vegetarian lifestyle is
still characterised by its relative scarcity and a much lower demand.

So much
In markets like Veritas, a pair of veggie burgers costs about five eu-
ros, a handful of seitan (the wheat gluten meat substitute) is about
four euros and less than half a kilo of tofu is more than three. Veg-
etarian products are not only expensive, but their variety is more

choice
limited, and often lacking in flavour compared with cities where
such products are in more demand.
For many environmentally sensitive, politically active and so-
cially aware residents, embracing vegetarianism or seeking to in-
clude vegetarian alternatives is becoming part of their daily lives,
and a way of building a new relationship to other species and affect- Britain’s largest university offers over 600 courses, all taught
ing a positive change in the world. It can also seem to be in direct op- in English by supported distance learning. You can mix and
position to centuries of a meat-based diet, a cuisine founded on flesh match courses to study for personal interest, or combine
and stretching back a long way. Nevertheless, attitudes are changing
courses to get the qualification you want.
and vegetarians here are finding it easier and easier to eat according
to their heart’s delight.

Open Event
Thursday 12th February 2009
18.30 - 20.30 at The Hotel Astoria,
Useful links: Calle Paris no 203, Barcelona
www.sincarne.net
For a world-wide search of vegetarian places,
Presentation at 19.00
information, and statistics: www.happycow.net
For details, visit our website or contact us quoting ESKAAB
The European Vegetarian Union: www.euroveg.eu
Mundo Vegetariano: www.mundovegetariano.com
The Vegetarian Society: www.vegsoc.org
Telephone: 91 577 77 01
Accion Vegana: www.accionvegana.org Email: spain@open.ac.uk www.open.ac.uk/europe
The Open University is incorporated by Royal Charter (RC 000391), an exempt charity in
England and Wales and a charity registered in Scotland (SC 038302).

28-29. vegetarian-4.indd 35 22/1/09 14:24:27