On Being Vegetarian

If you are a vegetarian about to embark on some sort of long-term stay in Germany, a lot of your American friends & family will lecture you on how you cannot be vegetarian in Germany.  The longer I stay here, the more these people annoy me.  Let's place these people on the scale of things that annoy me.

The star is where these people lie on the scale.  Why is this so annoying to me?  Because it's so wrong!  Have you people even BEEN to Germany recently?  This is a country where the Greens hold a little more than 10% of the seats in the parliament and you think there's no vegetarians here?  

Although Germany is known for it's bratwurst, Leberkäse, and other meat dishes in the states, there are lots of things that are "typical German" that are either naturally vegetarian or can be made vegetarian.  Fake meat is also widely available in grocery stores and even at my school cafeteria.  Some of my favorite things to eat are Klöße, Maultaschen, and Spätzle.  

In fact, I would almost argue that Germany is more vegetarian-friendly than the US.  I have a pretty concrete way of measuring vegetarian friendliness of restaurants and cafeterias.  I have sort of a ranking system going that I've used for the last couple years.

3) No meat at all on the menu

2) Multiple vegetarian options and/or markings on the menu indicating that the food is vegetarian

1) At least one naturally vegetarian dish, but no marks on the menu to help you find it

0) No vegetarian dishes, but at least one menu item that can be altered to remove the meat

-1) No vegetarian dishes and nothing that can be altered to resolve the situation

The US is a big country, so your mileage as a vegetarian varies.  In my town in Illinois, most restaurants score a 0-1.  Back when I was visiting North Carolina often, most restaurants scored 0, with some -1s & 1s in the mix.  Living in Boston, restaurants normally scored a 1-2.  3s are rare in general, but as far as I'm aware there is a completely vegetarian restaurant in my hometown and I know for certain there are a few in Boston.  

So where does Germany score?  Usually, places get a 2.  It is fairly easy for me to eat healthy here without breaking the budget, especially since I have access to the university cafeteria.  I should note here, that I have only lived in two cities in Germany.  Germany is about the size of Montana, so there are definitely regional differences and it's possible other areas could be different.  However, I have had no issues in Köln or Heidelberg.  As an added bonus, Germans are generally less intrusive about my eating habits.  I've been more or less vegetarian since I was a sophomore in high school and generally don't care to talk about the reasons why anymore.  Because of this, I do not tell people I'm vegetarian until it's something they have to know about me.  Americans who I have only just met often feel it is appropriate to drill me on why I choose not to eat a whole food group, where Germans are either uninterested or think that question is too personal for someone they barely know.  Regardless of the reasoning, I appreciate the lack of questioning.  I just want to enjoy my brussel sprouts in peace.

One word of warning to vegetarians who want to come to Germany.  You may want to be specific when telling people about your diet.  I have run into people who interpret "I am vegetarian" to mean "I don't eat red meat" or any number of things.