Difficult to be vegan in France

Question

As a Frenchman, I would like to share to you how difficult is to be vegan in France. Excuse me for my English, I do not practice it very well. 

There are here strong resistances to vegan way of life because of its incompatibility with a national economy focused on milks, cheeses, meats and other products which involves animal torture (“foie gras”). Hunters and animal products workers represent a very important lobby : they receive lots of subsides and they put pressure on vegans by the law (by forbidding use of words “milk”, “steak” etc. for vegetal products). I live near Calais, in northern France, where a vegan festival has been forbidden by the municipality because of hunters threats. These last months, some butcheries have been sacked by “vegan activists” (even though nobody had been caught). So, they wanted to revenge. Fortunately, administrative court ruled against the municipality and permitted to the festival to take place on September 8th. But hunters will organize a demonstration against it.

Hunter lobby is very powerful here and president Emmanuel Macron is the most hunting-friendly president who has been elected these last decades. Hunting with hounds is still legal in France, although many Western European banned it.

I travelled a bit in Europe and I find it is much easier to supply vegan food aboard. For instance, chocolate is often made with milk in France in order to support producers. German “Nutella” (brand hazelnut cocoa spread) has a higher concentration on cocoa than the French one. Moreover, there are less vegans in France than in any other Western European country.

You may confront a similar situation in your country but if you have travelled in France, let me know about your experience !

Jujubes · Answer

Hi CasusBelli,

I'm truely sad about the vegan state of affairs in France. Thanks for explaining to us why your country is so meat (and cheese) minded.

I have a burning question and hope you can help me. In about a week me and my family will be traveling to Disneyland Paris. Now, I've read some disturbing blogs about the food there being cooked in meat broth (yes, the veggies also).

Do you think that might be true? Is this a French custom?

Vegan greetings,
Jujubes

FredericLavender · Answer

Hey there nice message and good effort for trying to write english :) 

I visited Paris earlier this year and found so many options, I was amazed! Maybe the limited options near Calais are only a local issue there? Would you consider moving locations?

Ricardo · Answer

Hello,
Thanks for sharing. Let me add a bit more info about the vegan scene in France.

I live in Paris, and here it's not a problem at all to find vegan food or to do your vegan groceries. In other relatively large cities (Marseille/Nice/Toulouse/Lyon) you can still find vegan options relatively easy.
But unfortunately in small cities like Calais it's still a hazzle.

So, for whoever is planning to visit France; if you're coming to Paris, don't worry about being vegan here! But if you're planning to travel somewhere else, you'd better check HappyCow in advance.
And, sometimes, when there's just one or two places in town, it's better to call and make a reservation (many places even take reservations through their Facebook page). Like that you'll make sure they're open, and you'll get a table.

If anyone wants info about Paris or the vegan scene in France, feel free to drop me a message. I'd be glad to help.

Ricardo

falafffel · Answer

Same experience here. I am not French, but have travelled there often, most of the time for the outdoors so to small, rural places. Compared to any other country in the world I have visited, France seems to be the most difficult for vegans. I even speak French well enough to make my point clear, and still I often have to ultimately say that I ask all this because I have an allergy for them to take it serious. 

Without speaking the language, just with a printed out translation of 'I'm vegan which means I don't eat ...' I was feeling very respected in places like rural Russia, China, Poland, Czech Republic, Spain, Greece. Pretty much anywhere. But French food providers seem to hate veganism notoriously.

Just look at the happycow map along the French-German border. It is amazing how the options stop immediately.

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