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christinebaden · Joined: 07 Feb 2004 Posts: 15 Location: Cairns, Australia

Hello everyone,
I am still going to Mexico, hoping to leave in about 8 weeks.
Scared but excited.
Have been reading some of the topics in the forum and wondered about the things I like to eat.
Thankfully they have health food stores in most places. When there for one week last year, I really had a hankering for the raw vegies of the street vendor, as I am not into tortillas and cheesy things, but someone told me not to go there. Does anyone else eat that stuff? I hated what they did to corn. Corn is my favourite, but here in Australia we have lovely yellow juicy corn, and not that colourless corn I found on the street. And, mayonaise and chilli? Eek!
I ended up buying some carrots and washing them with some drops someone gave me. There was a vegetarian restaurant where I went to but I didn't actually eat there.
I am wondering how I will get by with the food. Breakfast was great as I eat eggs, but I will just have to experiment I guess. From reading all the mail about 'Montezuma's Revenge', I am waiting with baited breath for the first case of that! Argh!
Bye for now, love to read your letters, and think that when I get to Mexico this site will be my lifeline.
Christine

M@tt · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 473 Location: here and there

hi,
it's natural to worry about food and health before coming here, especially if you're picky (you sound pretty picky to me, and i'm more or less the same way). you will find things to eat, especially if you live in a big city. there is a great chain in mexico city called "super soya", which is like a healthfood store/restaurant/snack bar, incredibly cheap, healthy, and pretty tasty. if you live somewhere small, like i do, there is still plenty of chicken, eggs, and sometimes tuna that you can count on. i think the main problem in mexico is that there just isn't that much variety (outside the big cities) and you will end up eating the same stuff over and over and over. thankfully it tastes pretty good, or it would get old. well, it gets old anyway. i grew up in a small town in indiana but there are about 25 ethnicities represented in the restaurants, and it pains me not to have decent indian or thai or even chinese food nearby. oh, and forget about pizza in mexico. it's almost inedible.

in general, i would say the mexican diet is fairly unhealthy. they fry half of their food and eat lots of beef and pork. the unfried, unmeaty food is still good, the produce is fresh, so that's nice. i guess i'll just say that if you are afraid of diarrhea, you shouldn't' bother traveling anywhere in the world. you WILL get it sooner or later, and then it goes away. no big deal. the farmacias are cheap and helpful when this stuff happens. mexicans get the same stuff, just not as often. you could cook your own food to avoid some problems, if you have the time. it won't save you any money to cook, though, because restaurants are so cheap. i haven't cooked yet and i've been here since august.

don't worry too much. i worried constantly before coming here but the adjustment has been much easier than my first unhappy trip to france, which is a "developed" country with it's own share of problems like old buildlings, old plumbing, old heating, and lots of other treats that make life more difficult than it should be. anyway, mexico isn't as bad as you may have been led to believe by movies and magazines.

well, i gotta go work. good luck
matt

Ben Round de Bloc · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 1946

I imagine not only the size of the city or town but the region of Mexico would influence how much variety you'd find for a mostly vegetarian diet. In the city where I am, it would be pretty easy to have a varied menu while avoiding meat.

Most of the common vegetables (lettuce, cabbage, squash, beans, potatoes, carrots, celery, peppers, tomatoes, etc.) can be found here along with excellent fresh fruits (mangos, papayas, oranges, grapefruits, strawberries, watermelons, and pineapples along with several kinds of tropical fruit that I hadn't heard of before moving here.) Good apples are a little hard to find, however. They're often dry and mealy.

Unlike where Matt is, we can find good Italian pizza here, including vegetarian pizzas. Even the franchised chain pizza places (Domino's, Pizza Hut, Papa John's, etc.) have pizza that tastes just like pizza "back home" to me.

Some local Italian restaurants have excellent meatless pasta dishes on the menu. Good seafood restaurants are plentiful. Also, there are lots of excellent fresh bakery products (one of my weaknesses. Embarassed

)

I'm not a vegetarian, but I find that I eat far less meat here than I did back in Midwest USA, simply because there's such a good variety of other things to eat.

MELEE · Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2004 11:32 pm Post subject: Re: Almost Vegetarian

First of all, congratulation on taking the plung. Don't worry, remember my favorite fortune cookie "Stay calm cool and collected and everything will fall into place."

In every major city you can find vegetarian restuarants. But you will probably find that most people don't "get" vegetarianism. If you ask for something without meat, a chicken dish will be suggested. If you settle down in one place and like to cook for yourself, you will have no problems in Mexico, because there is always wonderful fresh produce available. But if you don't have the facilities to cook for yourself, you may find you have to relax your dietary rules a bit.

Since you said, "not quite vegetarian" I assume you won't freak out if you eat chicken stock. It is a stapple of Mexican cooking and can be found in things as inocent looking as boiled beans. Also, if you eat fish, consider settling near the coast.

M@tt · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 473 Location: here and there

maybe i AM in the wrong part of the country. i really really really miss good pizza, and i apologize for suggesting that it doesn't exist in this country.

lozwich · Joined: 25 May 2003 Posts: 1536

impala_street_scraper · Joined: 04 Mar 2004 Posts: 8 Location: brisvegas australia

best pizza i've ever had was in puerto escondido from italian people. not much topping - in true italian style, but topped with tastiest sauce you ever had!! was in mexico for a month with ex g/f who was vegan and she never had a problem that i can remember. there was a cool little family run vego restaraunt in mexico DF. think it was on 16 de septiembre near zocalo. would be in lonely planet.

Julieanne · Joined: 18 Mar 2004 Posts: 120

I am not sure if ant eggs are considered vegetarian and /or if it might seem like something off of Fear Factor but I have to admit, they are the best aphrodisiac you could ever have!!! Laughing

You must try them

Kitegirl · Joined: 02 Jan 2004 Posts: 101 Location: Lugdunum Batavorum

MELEE · Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2004 12:00 am Post subject:

Kitegirl · Joined: 02 Jan 2004 Posts: 101 Location: Lugdunum Batavorum

Agreed MELEE, the lime juice helps very little. I wasn't very clear, I wasn't referring to the big nasties - most of us have regular boosters of all those innoculations. But washing your veg are the same precautions anybody should take anywhere in the world - for natural fertilisers and pesticides.

saraswati · Joined: 30 Mar 2004 Posts: 200

MELEE's right about the pizza in Oaxaca! El Sol y La Luna has great ones!

I agree that lime juice isn't all that helpful and if you don't like the drops, you can always use water with salt, so much salt that no more can dissolve.

I am pesco-vegetarian and have lived in Mexico for almost 14 years and I've found that the majority of vegetarian restaurants are cleaner than others. A rule of thumb in Mexico is not to eat at places that seem to have no other clients.