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Are they still card only?

Cote d'Azur

Tbf, that's a pretty long côte. I'd be amazed if you can't find anything vegan especially in the big tourist spots. Plus there's so much Mediterranean cuisine round there that will either be vegan already or will be with the cheese taken out.

I wouldn't worry, you're not in butter country.

Yeah, I'm not too bothered, if I end up with some bread and a side salad a few times it's fine. Just interested to see if there is a material difference to the France of a decade or so ago.

To give an idea what the French think of vegetarianism/veganism/allergies, I’ve sat and ate nothing but bread at a family gathering because “it’s no problem, he can push it to the side”.

Last summer I was in Paris with my vegetarian partner and we found it much better than previous visits. We didn't get served any salads described as veggie with bonus bacon garnish on this trip.

Don't worry, I think it's going back the other way. some restaurants are using the term 'plant-based' for something that is mainly not animal-sourced. I was very fucking surprised by this, but apparently Harvard agrees with them

Never heard the term persil mum before

You'll be under 50 then!

i feel we need willmellings take on the whole allergy, eating out issue. that would almost certainly resolve any issues we may have.

I agree, only will in full flight could effectively satirise the inanity

I don't think that's because they're French mate, they're just arseholes.

You haven't experienced a sandwicherie not want to sell sandwiches(that you can clearly see on the rear counter) at 3pm because we don't sell sandwiches at 3 as no one wants them.

I ate an acorn once. It was fucking rank.

Acorns aren’t edible unless processed. Nixtamalization is how indigenous tribes in the Americas made ground acorns into an edible meal. Presumably one could boil nixtamalised acorns and derive a brew, but I’ve never heard of it being done.

Acorns aren’t edible unless processed.

Best processed by pigs

I thought German wartime ersatz coffee was made from acorns ?

https://www.inthekitchenwithmatt.com/acorn-bread

Hah, maybe so.
I’ve got no issue with ‘free from’ brownies, but prefer the taste and texture of brownies, and most other treats and pastries with butter and wheat in them.

I am glad that cafes and restaurants are catering for a huge variety of dietary needs and choices. I was just observing how sometimes all the dietary restrictions are put into one dish/product with no alternatives. Such as the meat-free, cheese free burger, as opposed to a vegetarian burger. Or a tasteless, powdery brownie on the menu as a check box exercise.

Such as the meat-free, cheese free burger, as opposed to a vegetarian burger

If they can't add the cheese from the meat cheeseburger to the vegan burger on the menu you probably don't want to eat there anyway...

I think the general French disinterest in dietary requirements, that don’t line up with typical French cuisine, definitely contributed to the experience.

But I agree, I was a bit put out at the lack of trying to make me welcome on first time of meeting that particular branch of extended family, which I accept is not something to be attributed based on nationality!

The bread lunch was at a restaurant in a private function room, but don’t worry dinner back at their home saved the day - that was a vegetarian salad with lardons…

That’s true, but a mock meat plant based burger with cheese added is often not the same as a good veggie burger.
The veggie option is now often the vegan option, which is now often also the gluten, nut and allergen free option.

I HATE those meat like meat free things. I’m more a knit your own lentils type.

Ray Mears and his mate Gordon, (who is most definitely not a moron), processed acorns into an edible meal years ago.
Shelled, roughly broken up, into a net, into a stream to allow the fresh water to wash away most of the tannins,
then slowly roasted, at the lowest heat possible from a fire,
then ground up and made into a paste/dough,
formed into rough flat breads and cooked over the fire on a griddle.

There are rumoured to be groves of Oaks in Italy,
from a very local sub-species that gives rise to tannin-deficient acorns that
are edible without all that above.

Edited to add link to Ray & Gordon making acorns edible
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=w0hlZIxqSaY

Funnily enough, a few years ago, when I was writing human interest pieces for the Catholic Herald, I was meant to spend a month touring Europe, embedded with a troupe of avant-garde mime artists. Three of them were vegan, quite a few vegetarian, several pescatarian and a couple of them were on a paleolithic eating regime. Which would have made ordering food bad enough but they took their art with an almost Trappist seriousness and refused to speak at all, not just when on stage. The only one who wasn't a fussy eater (indeed he was a trencherman of some repute) was doing ok until he developed a morbid fear of cutlery after an incident in Calais.
I don't know if you have ever tried to mime the words "three vegan vol-au-vents please" but if you have then you'll know it's easily misinterpreted. There was more than one surly French waiter who thought he was being offered a night of passionate, if silent, congress.
After a week and with the thought of Germany and it's abundance of slaughter-house sausages in mind, the tour was cancelled.

If you search acorn coffee, it's readily available to buy online

Compliments to the chef

You are Douglas Adams aicmfp