Vegetarian's in France. What to look for on menus?

Hi,

I am a vegetarian but i eat fish sometimes as well. What are the quintesential vegetarian dishes (no fish) should I be looking for. I really want to look out for the special vegetable dishes that one wouldnt want to miss when visiting France. although I am sure they arent big on vegetarian dishes, they must have some signature things like eggplant or artichoke dishes.

My Husband is a meat eater so we will be dinning at regular (non vegetarian restaurants) and i would LOVE to know what to look for.

thank you

-Christina

|||

Vegetarian dishes are really not easy to find in regular restaurants. Part of the problem will be that even seemingly vegetarian items (eg, onion soup) will be made with a beef stock. Pommes boulanger (basically, scalloped potatoes)will be made with chicken stock. If you can stretch to fish, you will have enormous selections available nearly everywhere. You will probably love the falafel at L%26#39;As du Falafel on rue des Rosiers in the Marais.

|||

Truffaut, curious to know whether French chefs steer clear of using flour when making soups. Reason I ask is because I think that flour tends to diminish the intrinsic value of most soups.

|||

I had a meatless lasagna at Cafe Tribeca in the 7eme that was outstanding. Cafe Roussillion, also in the 7th, had cheese pasta with a cheese and cream sauce that was very good. La Varangue restaurant, in the 7th (can you tell what area my hotel was in?) had a wonderful tart au legume (vegetables in a pastry). Mostly I had to resort to fish.

|||

I%26#39;m not vegetarian but look for more veg/less meat in general... have eaten good salad plates (maybe with tuna), that would include a %26#39;salade nicoise%26#39;, and I%26#39;ve had a mound of %26#39;haricots vert%26#39; (green beans) with my grilled fish.

|||

Hmmm, flour in soups.... I really hadn%26#39;t thought about it. Hopefully, AnneParis will see this post and weigh in.

Let%26#39;s see, for soup thickeners you could use flour, starch, arrowroot, cream, or potatoes. Certainly, the French use flour to thicken sauces with a basic roux. I suppose most cream soups could be thickened just by reducing the liquid after the cream is added. Alternately, you could remove a portion, puree it, then add it back into the pot as a thickener. This would work well with vegetable-based soups. Using flour shouldn%26#39;t hurt a soup, as long as the flour is adequately cooked and made into a roux or slurry before adding to the hot liquid. Many cooks don%26#39;t figure this out and that%26#39;s why they get a raw taste and lots of lumps in soups, gravies and sauces.

|||

Many thanks, Truffaut. Actually, I prefer the chefs who do not use flour in soups. I think flour can often be bad news not only from a texture perspective, but also from the point of view of tatse, in many soups.

|||

Christina, my dear, you are in the country that of all the world takes cheese very seriously. No restaurant waiter would be the least bit surprised at a request to create a cheese plate after or with your salad. (I prefer goat cheese with walnuts). My wife had an enormous starter at a bistro of warm goat cheese on grilled french bread with greens on the side. Extend your taste buds and enjoy!

|||

Hello Truffaut,

How are you ?

To answer your question, I have never seen someone thicken a soup with flour. Thickening a sauce with flour is another story and is very common.

To thicken a soup I personnally use potatoes or cream or both!!!

|||

Many thanks AnneParis for your insight into soup-making in France. Also a useful piece of knowledge for those with Coeliac disease (gluten/wheat intolerance) who would like to enjoy a tasty bowl of soup in France without worrying whether the addition of flour is going to cause an inflammation of their intestines !

|||

I am a vegetarian living in Paris. I often get stuck with a salad at %26quot;french%26quot; restaurants but I have been very lucky with Italian places. Also there are plenty of really good vegetarian restaurants (especiall in the 4th). My favorite is Picolo Teatro. You can do a search for vegetarian paris and see quite a few.

Since you eat fish there should really be no problem with finding something. Almost every menu has salmon of some sort. Also, I have had great luck calling ahead for a reservation and requesting a vegetarian menu. This is especially nice when going somewhere fancy and not wanting to get stuck with a salad while everyone else has multi course meals. Some of the better restaurants can do some amazing things without meat.