A vegetarian in Spain

Some people have asked me if it's difficult finding good vegetarian food in Spain.  This is a perfectly legitimate question, considering Spain is known for its ham/pork and seafood, but the answer is definitely no.  In fact, one of the signature dishes of Spain, Tortilla Espanola, is vegetarian. Tortilla Espanola, also called Spanish Omelette, is like a pie made with eggs, potatoes, and usually onions.  It tastes amazing and makes me really happy to eat.  When we go out to eat, if we tell the waiter we are vegetarian, they are always really great about it.  In a restaurant in Madrid, we wanted to get "El Menu del Dia," where you pick from a list for two courses, a drink, and a dessert for only 10 Euro.  There wasn't anything vegetarian listed for the second course, so they made us an egg dish special.  When I went out for lunch in Toledo, I didn't understand what half the items on the menu meant, so I just asked the waiter which ones didn't have meat, and that's what she gave me.  And when we go for tapas, when you order a drink you need to tell then you're a vegetarian (which is kind of awkward, because you are only ordering a drink, but it is assumed that you will get food too.)  Then the waiter will present us with an option (like an eggplant dish, or a bread and egg dish) and ask us if we want that.  Which is really nice, because if you don't specify, you just get what they bring you.

Even eating at home, I am learning a lot about what it means to be a vegetarian in other cultures.  In general, the food is more healthy in Spain, because it isn't as processed and greasy, and dishes are more balanced with vegetables and other things.  For this reason, health isn't a big motivation for becoming a vegetarian for Spaniards.  My host mom told me that when she became a vegetarian, her mom just didn't understand why, so every day for a week, she made cabbage for her, and steak for her brother. Yesterday, this same mother of hers decided to treat us to a lunch that she made: pastel de pescado (fish cake). Now, I don't eat fish, and my roommate only eats shellfish, and only once in a while.  But of course we had to try it to be polite.  So I took a little bite.  It wasn't absolutely horrible, so I took another, slightly larger one.  When I say this was a fish cake, I mean it was literally a cake of pure fish.  Imagine just eating about six of those cans of tuna, completely plain.  It was disgusting.  Our host mom didn't like it either. She said: "my mom is usually a really good cook, but the flavor is a bit too strong."  In Spain, you never say that you don't like something that someone cooked for you, (The polite thing to say if somebody serves you something you really can't stand is "It is good, but I prefer other things.") so this was really saying something.  So she went into the kitchen and made us some egg omelettes really quick.  That was kind of an adventure.  But her mom also made us a normal cake, which was delicious.  It was a bit like English bread pudding, but Spanish.