We are now in Stockholm for a couple of months. THe last time we were here was in 1994 and veggie options then..
well here are a couple of examples
First eve in Stockholm June 1994
Me : Lets looks around and find a good place with some veggie options
Hubs : Sure Hon
walk around and find this menu card with a section that says 'vegetarian' and I say 'wow' this is great. On closer look they are Gröna med biff - 'greens with beef', grönsaker med kyckling - 'vegetables with chicken' you get the picture, the vegetarian section stood for stuff that had vegetables served with the meal :) .Well lets keep walking...
Hey here is Pizza hut and while the pizza is about three times the cost in aus, they have the special and for 20 Krn ( about 5 dollars those days) you can have all you can eat, it also includes vegetarian pizza. Hey we can do that. BUT why is there such a long queue. hmmm Everyones waiting for the 'veg pizza' So hubs goes to sort it out...
Hubs: Hey looks like everyone wants veg pizza, the supreme and havian are accumulating while the veg is gone even before it arrives' can you please put out more veg ones please'?
Manager : Sorry sir, it is order , its is 1 Supreme, 1 Havian and 1 Veg'
Hubs: BUT no ones taking those they are piling up, and we are vegetarians, so have been waiting in the queue for the last half hour.. and no food.
Manager : sorry sir it is 1 supreme, 1 havian and 1 veg'
Me : its ok its our turn now so come back
Hubs: grrrrrr , well at least we are getting afresh one, lets clean it out, So we clear out the family size pizza between the two of us.
Now 15 yrs down the line ... we are back and this time not on such a tight budget. Arrive at 12 noon and after hibs has organised his business meet to after lunch off to search for a quick lunch eat.. Lo and behold, here is a sandwich place 'sandy' and they have a veg option listed for panini, wrap and salad. Hurray Stockholm has changed. So we get our veg sandwiches and feel good.
Evening meal, again struck gold, found this place 'ortagarden' and they had a buffet that was predominately vegetarian. well not bad at all, a bit too healthy ( all steamed and only brown rice and such stuff) but hey we could eat vegetarian meal for 125 Kr each ( about 20 dollars each)
So now that we knew we could eat vegetarian food, albeight very bland, as they seem to equate veggie meals to 'I am detoxing' got greedy and started looking for a mexican or italian that has veg options. This is when I say 'hmm glad we are in a hotel only for the first 4 days. Cant wait to move into the serviced apartment, so I can rustle up something.
Why is it that while I can see spinach ravioli in the fridge section of supermarket (semi prepared meals) there is no such thing in any of the italian restaurants. The only options are 'pizza' and 'penne arabiatta' . The mexican option is worse, the only veg option was nachos.
Swedes must think we are health fanatics, I would love to get them over in one of our true blue fun gatherings with a feast that will add inches to your waist line just looking at it. Check out any indian party :-)
I am not sure of how it was in 1994, but the supermarket ICA is great now. They have a choice of pastas, as well as green and red curry paste that is fully vegetarian. Even found basmathi Rice , red lentils, a variety of spices. So if you can mange to find a serviced apartment, being vegetarian in Stockholm now is easy and I can get my spice fix as well. Hopefully in another 10 years Stockholm will even have some really good veg options in restaurants that is not meant for detox :)
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