vegetarians on the road

[rick.hannah]

How easy is it to stay true to one's vegetarianism on the pilgrim's route? From my reads on this subject, it may be a bit difficult especially on certain parts of the trip. Please share your experiences in this regard.

[Covey]

Spain is not renowned for its vegetarian credentials!!

Walking the Camino Frances from St Jean to Santiago will take the average walker 4 - 6 weeks and in round terms is 800kms or an average of 25kms a day. That means the body has to burn a lot of energy every day which needs replacing.

The food along the trail is mostly "bar" food. Breakfast is coffee and a croissant, lunch is a bocadillo (bread stick with meat or sausage or egg) and the evening meal is usually the Pilgrim Menu which is salad/soup followed by grilled meat and chips or pasta and meat sauce followed by a tub of ice cream or fruit.

None of the above has a high energy factor and therefore the pilgrim needs to supplement with chocolate, fruit, dried fruit and lots of bananas.

Added to the energy burn of 25kms a day is the heat factor. Walking 25kms a day at a reasonable pace causes the body to sweat (or ladies to perspire!) so the body is constantly losing salt which has to be replaced.

Constant energy burn can also cause those with low sugar levels to have similar problems with those whose salt levels fall too low. Twice in the last 3 Camino's I have come across ladies who have collapsed at the side of the trail with low sugar levels, which is why I always carry a couple of Mars bars and boiled sweets.

In short the body needs a lot of energy input and minerals, and there is a deficit on both in the basic pilgrim food intake which needs to be made up. This is why people like me will lose 10-12kgs on the walk.

Occasionally one comes across a vegetarian on the Camino and they can just about manage to get enough energy in them, but I would suggest that if your veggie habits extend to the more extreme forms, you might have a problem.

Most official albergues have some form of cooking facilities. Some are excellent with fridges and pots and pans. Some are very very basic!. Self catering is very difficult on the Camino. Cooking oil is only sold in 1ltr bottles in the shops and who wants to carry that weight. Occasionally the albergue will have oil, salt, pepper etc left behind by others, but don't count on it! If you are traveling solo, trying to cater for one is almost impossible given the pack sizes for food in the shops.

[nicola]

Depends how much you like chips!! I walked from St Jean to Leon in Sept/Oct & commented on how hard it must be to be vegetarian as all the menu del dias have meat as the main course!