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I have a well-used spiel in French that boils down to 'wow, your menu looks great, I would particularly love the horse cheeks with foie gras, but I've got a serious condition and my doctor won't let me eat anything from an animal, not even cheese'. As long as they don't think you're vegan by choice, the French will usually try to help you out.
At least, that's the way it used to be - I'm going there tomorrow for the first time in a decade and will see if things have changed. We've got a place with a kitchen, and may spend most of the time sorting out our own meals.
kl-
At least, that's the way it used to be - I'm going there tomorrow for the first time in a decade and will see if things have changed.
Where abouts are you going? Allergies have always been your safest bet to avoid things over here but it's way better than it was 10 years ago.
If you haven't already, check out the fork site, it's the best for finding restaurants here.
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I'm not a vegan nor have any allergies but have had to translate for friends who are when in France and, for the most part, I think that normal restaurants are no more unhappy than they are anywhere else. Sure, if you turn up to a restaurant in a tiny village, on a Monday lunchtime you get what you get but in a city or decent size town they'll have awareness as much as anywhere else.
I would say, though, that I've seen a restaurant in France decline to take an order when someone said they had allergies as they weren't sure they could guarantee that there was no chance of cross contamination. That said, that feels like a good thing, not a negative
Gewürzt
atz
One of my old bandmates is vegan, by choice, animal by-products won't kill him or make him sick. Twenty years ago, whenever we played in France or Spain the salad would always come out with a garnish of duck gizzards, lardons or some kind of fish. He'd send it back, it would come back out with the offending flesh carefully picked off hoping he wouldn't notice.
Tony would then pull a tube of mushroom pate out of his suit pocket and have at the bread basket. Things are much improved these days but I felt so bad for him back then.