Eating vegetarian around the world

The world is changing. If you stop to think on how things were four years ago, you realise so many has changed without you even noticing. Day by day we do not notice these differences, but when we look at the bigger picture, it hit us. And I love that.

Not only the world is changing, but people too. I see people being more understanding, accepting differences, and taking a different path from they normally would have in the past. This post is about my journey into a different path that was not easy, but has slowly become more normal and more effortless.

In 2015 I watched a documentary called “Cowspiracy” and turned vegetarian on the spot - I know, right? what a cliche! But its true. Cowspiracy came out and many people that watched it, stopped eating animals products. I have always believed that information is our most strong weapon and that for me was an example of how information can change a generation. The world is evolving, and we are always evolving with it.
Being educated and trying to understand the other side of the picture is crucial.
I was living in Braga, my hometown in Portugal, where a meal without fish or meat is not really a meal. There weren’t any type of vegetarian options, there wasn’t a lot of information available and, most of all, there weren’t many vegetarians. Every time I wanted to go out with my friends I always struggled to know if the place had vegetarian options and even if they told me they did, most of the times I would be served a salad with lettuce and mushrooms ( which was beyond disappointing and not at all satisfying). I think I hit the breaking point when I went somewhere and said I was vegetarian and they brought me a tuna omelet. After that I just stopped going out to get food.
At that time, I had a friend that introduced me to Google Maps, and I really liked the idea. Here it was, a place I could look for comments and see what other people thought about the place. It was only a while later when a vegetarian restaurant opened in Braga that I really got into making reviews and sharing my opinion on Google Maps, trying to help other people like me to struggle less when looking for a nice restaurant. Since then I also started travelling more, and I like to keep sharing my opinions and recommendations everywhere I go. For me, the best feature is being able to see what the dish really looks like - what is the size? Does it have sides? How do they serve it? - and so, I always try to add pictures of the dishes I and my friends have.

I look back at that time, and I realise how different everything was. Since then vegetarianism has grown so much. There are so many vegetarian influencers, so many vegetarian options and such a bigger variety of restaurants that I can go to. I love sharing my experience through pictures and reviews, giving tips on how to order food and what to order. I think that having information available only one click away will led people to make more informed decisions and diminish the stress of not knowing if a restaurant has the option they want.

If you are in Bath and wish to try my favourite restaurants: https://goo.gl/maps/4hM8b1UmoTnQJW5o8
Some of the best vegetarians dishes I had :


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Hi @araujomjb

Delicious. Thank you for sharing your photos.

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Nice positive post, @araujomjb

As a long-term vegetarian I can’t express how pleased I am that vegetarianism is finally going mainstream. Without wanting to sound too negative or aggressive I have to say that the meat industry is an evil practice. But thankfully in these days of mass communication and increased awareness of what actually goes on in the world, more people are getting the facts and have decided to do something about it. That’s just great news to me.

Many great and revolutionary products aimed at meat eaters (as opposed to being created for vegetarians) are just around the corner and will be huge in the next 1 to 2 years. Things are going to accelerate from here.

Let’s make sure all the veggie-friendly places are well mapped and represented on Google Maps!

And welcome to Connect, by the way!!!

Regards

Stuart

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