If I had to choose three words to describe this past weekend, I would choose chaotic, charming, and not-vegan-friendly. I knew that traveling around Italy was not going to be the easiest thing, but I definitely overestimated the amount of food options that I would have available to me. This is not to say that I didn’t make it work, but I can safely say that I do not want to eat another fig any time soon!
If I had known that my options were going to be so limited, I would have kept a count on how many figs that I consumed last weekend. When I first arrived in Agerola, I was ecstatic to find that there were three massive fig trees on the property of our hotel. I spent the next 15 hours that we were there leaning over the railings to attempt to reach the ripest figs on the trees. I shared them with all of my friends and stuffed myself silly. We were in a very remote village, so it was no surprise to me that the vegan options at the restaurant we ate at were limited. I bit the bullet and ate a salad and French Fries for dinner with the hopes that I could find something more substantial the next day.
Our hotel provided us with breakfast, and yet again I was not surprised to find a very limited vegan selection.
When we arrived to our next destination of Tovere, we made plans to go to a restaurant in Amalfi that had vegan options on the menu. However, there was a wildfire that was raging on the side of the mountain near our Air BnB that caused the roads around us to be closed off. We ended up meeting a couple from Canada that spoke English and Italian that communicated with some local Italians for us to see what roads were open. While we were standing there trying to figure out where we could go, the Italian women brought us out a box of figs that she picked fresh off of her tree.
By this point, I had eaten a salad, potatoes, figs, fruit, and coco puffs in about 48 hours and I was NOT feeling good. Luckily, the roads to Positano were open so we headed there for lunch! I ordered pasta puttanesca and it did not disappoint.
This pasta was so satiating and I was so grateful for such a tasty meal.
We spent the rest of the day walking around Positano and found a restaurant that had vegetables and tofu as a menu item. I quickly ordered it and was excited to have some protein in my body. However, I was soon let down. There were three inch-long pieces of tofu with maybe a cup of grilled vegetables. I was so hungry that I ate it without even taking a picture. To finish off that meal, I ate a deconstructed vegan cheesecake.
All in all, the beauty of the area made up for the lack of vegan food. I got home and made myself a nourishing bowl of potatoes, beans, avocado, broccoli and tempeh, so all is well that ends well! 🙂
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