30 years ago in France I remember ringing up a local restaurant to ask if they did/would cater for vegetarian friends. I was told well no, but they could eat the vegetables (whatever came with the meat dishes), couldn't they?
Here in this part of rural Portugal, being vegetarian is still very unusual, but the difference is that most places are delighted to knock up something. At a relatively posh local place, we all had our food, but my friend, who had ordered a salad, was still waiting. In this part of Portugal, a salad is always lettuce, tomato and sliced raw onion. When her salad arrived, it was in a gigantic bowl, enough for about 4 people, with every sort of veg you could think of, cooked and raw, a real triumph. We still talk about it. This is the same place that, when my MIL ordered a pineapple juice, and it still hadn't arrived after about 15 minutes as we were tucking into our wine, we asked where it was. They were super apologetic. It then arrived.....a freshly squeezed whole pineapple, served with plenty of ice and mint, in a jug, all for her!
My mother has coconut oil on her shopping list. Its not for veggie/vegan reasons. She uses it as a hand cream!
