Amusing Irishman Post RE Vegans

dynastygal · 16-02-2010 09:56PM #1

For some reason, someone on my boards who lives in Ireland believes it's hard to be vegan in Ireland, which I find very amusing as Ireland has pretty much the same stores as we have in England (I'm half Irish and was born in England but my family comes from Ireland).

trust me you have to be very committed to be a vegan in Ireland because restaurants and the like just dont carter for them neither do supermarkets sure you get specialty stores and restaurants in the city's but the vast majority of the population in Ireland leave in towns and the country side and up to the late 90's people in Ireland didn't have much to eat so the majority of the population was raised on a diet of milk, potatoes, stew and bread

I don't know, I just find it amusing and thought I'd share it with you.

Censorsh!t · 16-02-2010 10:28PM

Hahaha was that actually a serious post?!

If so....then...:eek:

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5 · 16-02-2010 11:27PM

It's probably harder. I know that any American vegans I talked to missed walking into healthfood stores the size of the average tesco here and picking up vegan sausages, vegan rashers, arrowroot, vegan cream, etc. That wouldn't be a diet I'd be inclined to follow anyway though. But when I google recipes and come up with ones that sound delish except for I have no idea where to go to get some of the ingredients and all the comments are like "Oh wow, what a totally easy recipe, thanks!" I do get a bit sad.

Still though, it's not that hard. Maybe for eating out, but not otherwise

smellslikeshoes · 17-02-2010 02:47AM

To be honest even though he put the point across badly I kind of agree with him. In the 80s/early 90s a lot of families did struggle to put food on the table here and a lot of people like myself grew up with a diet not that far removed from what he described.

And yes it is harder to be veggie/vegan in Ireland, any Irish person who has ever spent some time in the UK will know this. There is a bigger veggie selection in most UK supermarkets. The market here in ireland was very sheltered and with very little competition for a long time. Compared to the competition in the supermarket industry UK we are still lagging far behind. In the last 10 or so years the like of Tesco/Aldi/Lidl opened up here which have improved things but we still aren't caught up with the UK.

ztoical · 17-02-2010 03:29PM

I actually agree with the OP even if he presented it badly. Went to college with a lot of people from mainland europe who bitched all the time about how few choices there were food wise in shops in Ireland. I lived in the us for ages and found it easier to be veggie there then in Ireland but figured we have a different enough culture from the us but I've recently moved to the uk which is very close to us product wise and have found it sooooooo much easier to be veggie here with tons more options. Food is marked "suitable for veggies" much more clearly in the uk. Alot of that has to do with the higher number of religions in uk with dietary restrictions and several need to avoid certain meat products and will look for veggie products so they are more clearly marked.

It's not so big an exaggeration to say we lived on "milk, potatoes, stew and bread" I remember growing up bananas and grapes were the big strange fruits and you only saw things like coconuts and certain nuts around halloween - now you can find everything and anything in Irish stores all year round.

Censorsh!t · 17-02-2010 07:07PM

Now that I reread, I realise it sayd "vegan".
I can imagine that being quite tough. But...people living on milk, potatoes, stew and bread up til the late 90's, bit of an exaggeration.

tman · 17-02-2010 07:22PM

He's spot on about not being able to eat out unless you live in a city, but that's the same no matter where you are tbh (are there even any vegan friendly places in Galway?)
You can't really compare London with Galway, but any tesco I've been in over here has had far more to choose from when it comes to health food and veg than back in Ireland...

Seemed like a slightly accurate post, with some pretty wild exaggerations...

Getwellsoon · 18-02-2010 05:13PM

Seven years ago, this would have been true! I moved to Ireland, from the UK and I just had to give up being vegan because there were hardly any health food shops, restaurants or supermarkets that catered for vegan needs *compared to* the UK. Where I used to live there was an amazing health food shop just around the corner. They stocked EVERYTHING you could even think/dream of, it was so easy! They even had a pick'n'mix style cereal/grain/dried pulse/nut/seed arrangement where you just bagged how much of whatever you wanted! They had vegan pasties, salads, quiches, sandwiches, pies, cookies too, freshly made. It was like a huge amazing health-food store crossed with a bigger version of Blazing Salads!! Imagine going from that, to somewhere where there were hardly any health food stores. Sure, you may think you can get everything you want in the local supermarkets - but no, even soya milk, butter, tofu, fake meats, tahini, etc. was not common back then.

However, things have really changed over the last 3-4 years, especially in Dublin. It's so easy to be a vegan here now!

monellia · 18-02-2010 06:07PM

I suppose it depends on how creative you want to be. It's true that if you live in a small Irish town you wont be able to get "trendy foods" like, I dunno, vegan ice-cream and egg substitute. There also aren't that many restaraunts outside of Dublin city which cater for vegans, so he's got a point there. You can easily be a vegan if you only have access to Tesco. They have everthing basic there, and now they're starting to stock more specialty foods. Dunnes too.

I don't know about the rest of ye, but as a child growing up in pre Celtic Tiger Ireland, milk and butter were dietary staples in our household

Not much variation.

Fajitas! · 18-02-2010 07:22PM

Tbh, it can be as hard to come across vegetarian/vegan places in many a place in the UK aswell as Ireland - And the States, it just depends where you are - Of course London is going to have more choice than Galway, and places like NY are going to have even more choice, but if you head to a wee village towards the North of the UK or tiny town in the southern states of the US, you're going to have even less choice than you'll have in Galway. It's down to culture and population at that stage.

Besides that, if you're a vegan and living in the countryside in Ireland, you've no reason not to be growing your own. :pac:

19-02-2010 04:09AM

ztoical wrote: »

Food is marked "suitable for veggies" much more clearly in the uk.

I wouldn't always believe labels. I have found discrepancies in the past.

ztoical wrote: »

It's not so big an exaggeration to say we lived on "milk, potatoes, stew and bread" I remember growing up bananas and grapes were the big strange fruits and you only saw things like coconuts and certain nuts around halloween - now you can find everything and anything in Irish stores all year round.

We might have alot less variety before the lovely foreign people introduced us to a love of veggies. :P
But the quality of our food was so much better when I was growing up. Everyone around me, grew their own veg, milked their own cows, baked, ate their own chickens. And things like turnips are actually exciting when you have them fresh from the ground. :P
To say that "up to the late 90's people in Ireland didn't have much to eat".
Is tremendously ignorant. I imagine this person is very young, or american

.

Getwellsoon · 19-02-2010 09:42AM

The world used to be a much better place when more people grew their own veg and owned their own cow/hens! I'm going to grow some veg in the garden this year, I've given up on ever doing anything to it to make it look nice, so it may as well have a function! The boyfriend is quite excited about the whole thing and we've been discussing what to grow... can't wait!

ztoical · 19-02-2010 01:31PM

Moonbaby wrote: »

I wouldn't always believe labels. I have found discrepancies in the past.

True but it's also easier to get answers out of people in the uk then Ireland. I've seen a few people [Muslim rather then veggie] asking about labels on some food and people in the shops actually being able to answer unlike in Ireland were I've just got a shoulder shrug and a blank stare.

Moonbaby wrote: »

We might have alot less variety before the lovely foreign people introduced us to a love of veggies. :P
But the quality of our food was so much better when I was growing up. Everyone around me, grew their own veg, milked their own cows, baked, ate their own chickens. And things like turnips are actually exciting when you have them fresh from the ground. :P
To say that "up to the late 90's people in Ireland didn't have much to eat".
Is tremendously ignorant. I imagine this person is very young, or american .

I was taking about variety and choice not quality. Frankly when I first moved to Dublin I thought the quality of the food was poor compared to down the country and was bring milk and vegg up with me - still think the milk you get in Dublin is rubbish but from a vegan view point I never saw rice or soy or any other diary subs in my home town until a year or two ago. The OP was worded very poorly but the jist of what it was saying isn't far off.

Thoushaltnot · 19-02-2010 10:05PM

ztoical wrote: »

Frankly when I first moved to Dublin I thought the quality of the food was poor compared to down the country and was bring milk and vegg up with me - still think the milk you get in Dublin is rubbish..

There's an organic farmer who brings pasteurized, non-homogenised org milk (ie. cream on top) to Dublin, of a Saturday. She supplies a few places but I get it at the Food Co-op. Totally different animal. Almost a bit biscuit-ey.

Totally thwarted attempts to go vegan

Mentalmiss · 03-03-2010 06:21AM

Things have changed so much now.
When I first became a raw Foodist i struggled to get enough organic greens but now some of my U.S. friends are jealous when I tell them what I am eating. I buy at the farmers market and can get organic berries and mangos and things like that when some of them are struggling to get decent fruit.

Amusing Irishman Post RE Vegans

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