Veggie-friendly Venice by Lucy Fellows

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I love going to Italy as it's more veggie-friendly than a lot of other European countries. Even though you’ll mostly eat pizza and pasta while you're there, a wide variety of toppings, sauces, fillings and salads are available to enjoy. My family has been to Italy several times, and we have mainly stayed in Venice and the surrounding area.

Venice is one of the oldest cities in the world, and is a very popular tourist destination. It is a uniquely beautiful city of canals, lovely old buildings, bridges, churches, open squares and markets. It's sometimes nice just to get lost amongst the little back streets and to discover secret places and lovely little restaurants.

The two main food-related problems to watch out for are non-vegetarian cheeses, such as Parmesan, and anchovies which are small, salty fish that are sometimes added to dishes. It is much easier if you learn some Italian words for different foods so that you can work out the menus and tell the waiters that you are vegetarian.

One of my favourite Italian dishes is the “Verdure” pizza, which comes with a lovely topping of grilled vegetables. A nice thing about dining in Italy is that you often get free bread sticks (“grissini”) and water as soon as you sit down, this is good if you're feeling very hungry!

A great Italian cuisine treat is the gorgeous ice cream, which comes in a huge variety of flavours. It can be served in multi-coloured cups or a wide variety of cones. Little ice cream parlours are around every corner in the main streets, so you're never too far from one. My favourite flavour is mint (“menta”).

The shopping in Venice is great too! One of the most traditional souvenirs sold are masks. Venetian masks are worn at carnival time, they come in different sizes, shapes and characters and are very beautiful. There are lots of places selling them, so shop around. They are a wonderful keepsake from a wonderful place!

Veggie vocabulary:

Sono vegetariano/a: I am vegetarian (male/female)
Lo non mangio carne, pollo o pesce: I don't eat meat, chicken or fish
Verdure: vegetables
Avete un piatto vegetariano?: Do you have a vegetarian dish?
Senza Parmigiano: Without Parmesan
Gelato: Ice Cream

Ones to avoid:
Carne: meat
Prosciutto: ham
Pollo: chicken
Pesce: fish
Acciuga: anchovy

Lucy’s Top Venice Tips:

Do make sure you get a Tourist Travel Card for the “Vaporetto” - the water buses that go all around the city’s canals and waterways. A trip up and down the Grand Canal is definitely worthwhile!

Don’t go to the Rialto Fish Market, which is huge and smells very fishy!