Vegan in Spain: Barcelona & Madrid

Hoorah! The final installment of our travel food report... with just a few pics of note from Barcelona & Madrid. It's funny, looking at these pictures I find myself thinking "oh, there was lots of good stuff to eat..." but somehow I really spent a LOT of time in Spain being hungry. I even lost 7 lbs on this trip, so I know I wasn't making it all up. I think I usually got one good meal in, but there was never any breakfast - and I'm definitely a breakfast person, and exactly when I might find that one good meal was usually an unknown. Nonetheless, there were a few special highlight meals...

Oh, Maoz Falafel, how very very grateful I was to find you. Bread! Protein! Fresh Veggie! Cooked Veggie! All in one! Mmmmm. I went to Maoz twice in Barcelona and once in Madrid. Maoz is like a salad bar, but it's a falafel bar. You get a big pita, stuffed full with falafels, and then you get to pick from a big buffet of all sorts of goodies what you want to have added to your falafel sandwich. It is all vegetarian and about 90% vegan.

I liked mine with the chickpea salad, fresh tomatoey salsa, and the 5-star roasted cauliflower! Oh, and the green olive tapenade! Mmmmm.

Barcelona has a few really great big markets, full of stalls selling fruits and veggies and candies and nuts and various other non-vegan things that I won't acknowledge! So, there was definitely no shortage of nice fruit available.

Also in Barcelona, we discovered some of the small neighborhoody bakeries sold these great little pizza-type numbers - with no cheese!! Score! Being such a fan of baking and baked goodies, I loved looking at all the beautiful displays of baked goods... but there was almost never anything for me (other than the infamous plain bread). So, finding these pizza treats was very nice. I don't think I could emphasize how GREAT it felt to eat a hearty savory snack, with veggies and spices and flavors (ie. not plain crackers or plain bread or a ClifBar)... Or how so super sad I was when I dropped my slice of the zucchini one on the rainy street. I was very nearly reduced to tears. Sad, hungry Amey.

I also found this great little pizza deal with roasted bell peppers and roasted eggplant strips - it was great and I'm looking forward to recreating it sometime soon here at home. To my surprise, it had a little bit of sugar sprinkled on it. ! Unexpected, but not entirely unwelcome. On the left is a non-vegan, but delicious-looking, chocolate-filled treat belonging to Mr. Vegan Eats & Treats. Next time you are in Barcelona, definitely check out the bakeries for these pizza dealies, as they are definitely yummy! Also, eating this pizza thing will help you feel not so down in the dumps about not being able to find a vegan version of whatever Mr. VE&T is getting to eat!

We were only in Madrid for a couple of days, and generally I ate a lot of bread and fruit... but we did have one really truly delicious meal at Yerba Buena. Wow! It's in all-vegetarian menu with LOADS of all-vegan options, and also many gluten-free options!! I don't remember what Mr VE&T had, but I know he absolutely loved it. I ordered the paella, and it was very lovely. Fresh and flavorful, rich and full of veggies, and by the end of the meal that whole plate was CLEAN as a whistle, even all those little dots of green sauce were gone! Also, it's worth mentioning that they brought some really great (and big!) dark, whole-grain rolls before the meal and they were wonderful. I'm not a total healthnut, and I can definitely get behind eating loads of bread made with plain flour. But the bread here was hearty and substantial, and had a really great flavor, and I was very grateful for it.

Of course I ordered dessert! What do you take me for?! Chocolate ice cream with cornflakes (?!) - again, not something I would have ever thought of, but not altogether wrong either. The little wafer cookies weren't vegan, just to be clear, so Mr. VE&T took care of those for me. It's not a low cost spot, but the servings are generous at YerbaBuena and you would be crazy to skip this spot if you are in Madrid.

And last, but not least... airplane food!! You know you've had a less-than-perfect foodie travel experience when you are genuinely thrilled about your airplane meal. Sad, but very true. Delta Airlines brought me this "vegan" meal, and despite the "pure Irish butter" and the abundant feta cheese on my salad, I was totally stoked. Seriously, that little mound of spinach went down the hatch in seconds flat. How did they know that I was missing greens and beans more than anything else on this whole trip? I think I could have eaten four of those little entrees if they had let me.

Of course it's always nice to come home and see our pets and get back into our own little groove at home, but it was especially nice to get home the night before my favorite farmer's market here in Santa Cruz. You can bet I was down there the next day, spending wads of cash on fruit and greens and veggies and dreaming of piles of vegan food that I could cook up for myself. Ahhhhhh... home sweet home!