Rick Steves Cautions Travelers To Pay Attention To This Term At Restaurants In Europe

Travel pro Rick Steves' advice has helped people figure out the best ways to travel around Europe for decades. Some of that advice is for dining out while traveling, like the clever trick to avoid paying for tap water in restaurants and how to eat like a local. However, for some diners, there is more to eating than just saving money on an authentic meal. If you're a vegetarian, Europe can be a bit of a minefield. Luckily, Steves has a simple tip for meat-free travelers as well. On his website, the travel guru says, "Very often, Europeans think 'vegetarian' means 'no red meat' or 'not much meat.' If you are a strict vegetarian, you'll have to make things very clear. Write the appropriate phrase, keep it handy, and show it to each waiter before ordering your meal."

You may want to write down or learn to say phrases like, "I'm a vegetarian, and I don't eat meat, fish, or poultry." If you don't speak the language at all, you can use a tool like the Google Translate app to have a live conversation if you need to ask about ingredients. However, there is a bit of prep work that you can do to make things even easier for you when dining out in Europe.

In another post, Rick Steves recommends eating a big breakfast at your hotel, including dishes like eggs, oatmeal, and other veggie fare, particularly at buffets where you can see each item separately. He also says to keep snacks on hand — hit the store and grab trail mix, energy bars, and veggies to keep in your backpack. The guidebook author also suggests street foods (like falafel at kebab stands), tapas bars, and cafeterias for budget-friendly meals. Steves adds, "Most guidebooks, including mine, make a point of listing at least one local-favorite vegetarian place in each city, where possible."

Another thing you can do is research restaurants before you go; most have menus online. Steves suggests the website Happy Cow, which has listings for veggie and vegan places around the world. If you're vegan, it can be a bit harder to find food, but one commenter on a post in Reddit's r/vegan suggests the app V Cards, which gives you text explaining that you're vegan and what you can and can't eat in over 100 languages.

Another option for eating vegetarian is hitting the local grocery store and having a picnic lunch in a park. Picnics are something Steves recommends for saving money, and you can find some interesting local foods this way. Additionally, many vegetarian and vegan products use the V-Label (a "V" mark to signal an item is vegetarian or vegan), so you don't have to read every ingredient unless you have allergies. However, you can also use the Google Translate photo feature to hover over an ingredient list and have it translated if you want to double-check. Finally, while you're searching for the best vegetarian restaurants and trying to narrow down your options, you can also take Steves' advice and dine in European market halls to save money.