INTERNATIONAL TRADE JOURNALFOR THE HOTEL, RESTAURANTAND CATERING INDUSTRY

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EDITION 4/2011www.food-service-europe.com

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Special Feature: 40 Years McDonald’s in Europe

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increased from 250 to around 550, in-cluding 120 on the terrace.Rolf Hiltl’s main objective is to make thecompany name relevant for future gener-ations. The former completely full-ser-vice concept has given way to a morevaried and flexible blend of offers forwhich the cook & chill solution previous-ly used has been supplemented by an in-creasing range of fresh dishes cooked à laminute. The ground-floor lounge isaimed specifically at younger targetgroups. The multi-optional, all counter-service section with a separate entranceaccounts for around 70% of receipts and,depending on the time of day, is also acafé, bar, club and take-away zone – from6 in the morning until 2 or even 4 atnight, depending on the day of the week– in other words, a place for breakfastand snacks, for a quick lunch, aperitif ora nightcap. The buffet, an island with acircumference of around eight metres, ispositioned at the interface betweenlounge and restaurant. A choice ofaround 50 vegetarian and vegan dishes –

Although things looked different some years ago, vegetarian and veganrestaurants are still a niche market – primarily because most ‘normal’

restaurants have upgraded and increased their range of meatless dishesto cater for mixed groups. Although the number of (part-time) vegetar-ians is increasing, there is still not enough of them to counteract the ve-to of the omnivores. However, the idea of going without meat is shifting

out of the eco-freak corner into mainstream society, thanks chiefly tofood scandals and greater nutritional awareness. Restaurateurs wantingto promote a vegetarian lifestyle must attract meat-eaters with creativeand, first and foremost, tasty recipes. Part 1 of our pan-European overview.

Out of theEco-freak Corner

FOODSERVICE EUROPE & MIDDLE EAST 4/11

Switzerland

Swiss veggie pioneers: The Frei brothers Christian, Daniel and Reto (left to right) withRolf Hiltl (r.).

Hiltl

tibits

Switzerland

Europe’s oldest vegetarian restaurant,Hiltl (www.hiltl.ch), was founded inZurich 113 years ago. Since 1998, thefamily business – now in its fourth gener-ation, has been run by Rolf Hiltl and hiswife Marielle. In 2007, the venerablerestaurant was fully renovated and ex-tended with the seating capacity being

FOODSERVICE EUROPE & MIDDLE EAST 4/11

cold and hot, the emphasis de-pends on the season and weather– is available from 10.30 to 23.00hrs. Hiltl is particularly renownedfor its Indian cuisine, which hasbeen supplemented by a variety ofother Asian specialities in recentyears. At lunchtime, 100 g fromthe buffet cost CHF4.90 and theprice rises to CHF5.50 in theevening. For guests with a particu-larly large appetite, there is anall-you-can-eat offer, includingdessert, for CHF57.Daily and lunchtime table d’hôtemenus are available in the à-la-carte restaurant and the pricespectrum for main dishes rangesfrom CHF15 to 30. Incidentally,restaurant guests are also wel-come to serve themselves at thebuffet. The menu includes, for ex-ample, Hiltl-Tartar in accordancewith a secret recipe (CHF16.50),‘Züricher Geschnetzeltes’ (Emincede veau ‘Zurichoise’) made usingseitan instead of veal (CHF32.50)and vegan gnocchi (CHF25.50).

The restaurant is regularly fullybooked up in the evening and,counting all parts of the oper-ation, Hiltl welcomes an averageof 2,500 guests a day.In the restaurant’s cookery school,Hiltl fans of all ages can learn howto prepare creative dishes withoutmeat but with an interestingblend of spices. The explicit aim ofthese courses for 15 to 20 peopleis to promote the vegetarian wayof life. Then, transformed intoClub Hiltl, the lounge provides thesetting for regular parties withDJs and live music. At the bar,guests can also obtain everythingthey need for a vegetarian mealat home – from a Hiltl cookerybook and kitchen utensils toHiltl spices. Since 2009, Hiltl hasalso been represented by fast-delicatessen specialities in ‘NewWave’, the gourmet departmentof the Jelmoli department store.There, shoppers can choose fromover 50 fresh salads, chutneys andhot dishes at the grand Hiltl buf-

� � � Business Characteristics � � � � � � � � �

� Vegetarian restaurants are a niche market. This applies to bothfullservice and quickservice operations. So far, only a few at-tempts at establishing chains have been successful, individualoperators are dominant. Hiltl in Zurich, opened in 1898, is theoldest vegetarian restaurant in Europe.

� Out: regarding vegetarians as ‘cranks’. The aim now: reverse thenegative image that meat-free food cannot be enjoyable. Fact:good vegetarian cuisine needs very good chefs.

� In most European countries, well below 5% of the populationare vegetarians. Considerable increases in the wake of the BSEand foot-and-mouth crises. For girls and young women, kind-ness to animals is often the reason (no dead animals on theplate), rather than dietary considerations.

� Being vegetarian is not the same as eating only organic foods orwholefoods. Those in the latter two groups may also be vegetar-ian. However, many consumers automatically make the followingassociation: vegetarian=organic=healthy.

� Typical best-sellers: salad bars, vegetable dishes, juices.� Target groups: 1. Vegetarians, and 2. Meat eaters, who do not

eat meat in some situations (= part-time vegetarians). The sec-ond target group is at least as important as the first. It is import-ant to realise that the recent scandals in the food industry re-sulted in an increase in turnover of 10-20% for vegetarianrestaurants. However, the demand for vegetarian dishes in ‘nor-mal’ restaurants has increased, rather than the demand for morevegetarian restaurants. Amongst others, top dishes are pasta-vegetable combinations.

� By the way: It is not unusual for operators of vegetarian restaur-ants to be meat eaters themselves.

VEGETAR IAN RESTAURANTS

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Apart from this, more and more Ger-mans have a critical attitude to meatconsumption. Just on two thirds (65%) ofall women and 38 % of the men even nowclaim to be part-time vegetarians, mak-ing around 42 m ‘flexitarians’ altogether.Their number is evidently on the rise,and already accounts for the majority ofthe German population.Many caterers’ assortments and menusare now reflecting this trend more strong-ly. There is scarcely a restaurant thatdoes without vegetarian offerings. Afterall, in heterogeneous groups, it is usuallythose who refuse to eat meat that decidewhere to eat. In most of the bigger townsand cities, there are rather few exclusive-ly vegetarian restaurants, but thanks to aloyal regular clientele, these few restaur-ants have been well-established formany years. Altogether, the theme is stilla niche. Truly innovative concepts thatraise vegetarian dining to new epicureanheights remain the exception.A restaurant that deservedly attractsa great deal of attention is ‘Chipps’(www.chipps.de) in Berlin. The young cas-ual concept featuring greens as its cul-inary leitmotif addresses many more din-ers than a mere niche clientele. By offer-ing meat and fish as optional side ordersto vegetables, it stands out as a creativeand intelligent contrast to its competitorsin Germany’s vegetarian capital, wheremeatfree restaurants have long sincebeen a familiar part of the cityscape.The ‘Chipps Plates’ mix & match systemoffers guests a choice from among fivebasic components (pasta sheet, potatorösti, mashed potatoes, dumpling or riceroll) as the basis for their meals selectedfrom one of four categories (‘The Garden-er’, ‘The Bowl’, ‘The Sun’, ‘The German’).For each category there are dishes pricedat c6.50, c8 and c9.50. Fish or meatsuch as zander with horseradish sauce orroastbeef with tomato-caper butter canbe ordered in 80g portions, served on aseparate plate. In the ‘Chipps Select’ sec-tion, guests are free to create their owncompositions to their own taste frombasic components and vegetables/top-pings. They can put together their ownsalads, which come in three sizes (c4.50,c8.50 and c10.50). The lunch menu in-cluding starter (soup or salad) and maincourse costs c8.50. The average tagcomes to around c10.50 at lunchtimeand c16.50 in the evening.For more than three years now, chefStephan Hentschel has also spent time

of London-based designer Tricia Guild.Although the concept is highly success-ful in Switzerland, the move to Britainwith two restaurants in London was noteasy. The outlet in Westfield White Cityopened in 2008 and had to be closedshortly afterwards. Subsequently, all ef-forts have been focused on the city-cen-tre unit near Regent Street where smallerplates and lower prices are matched toguests’ needs and expectations.Ten years after the launch, the Freibrothers are forging new plans for expan-sion. They would like to open outlets inSt. Gallen or Luzern, as well as new loca-tions in London, and make a move intoGermany.

Germany

Thanks to the food scandals of the lastfew years plus a greater awareness of theproblems posed by the growth in theworld’s meat consumption, the vegetar-ian lifestyle in Germany is gaining

ground. In 2010 alone, the membershipof the German Vegetarian Society (Vege-tarierbund Deutschland – VEBU), an as-sociation whose aim is to promote a vege-tarian way of living, went up by 20% to3,400. VEBU puts the number of vegetar-ians in Germany last year at 6 m, whichwould be equivalent to 8% of the popul-ation. According to the society, around600,000 people are vegans and do com-pletely without foods of animal origin.As far as a meat-free diet is concerned,the rule is also: no trend without anevent. The first ‘VeggieWorld’, a trade fairdedicated to meat-free living under theaegis of VEBU, was held in Wiesbadenfrom 11 to 13 February this year. Witharound 40 exhibitors, it attracted morethan 20,000 visitors. There are plans torepeat it in February 2012 at the latest.

fet. As in the restaurant, food is chargedby weight. And, of course, there is arange of fruit juices, iced teas and ‘home-made’ soft drinks.The influence of Rolf Hiltl also extendsto another vegetarian concept – a fast-food formula called ‘tibits by Hiltl’(www.tibits.ch), which is now to befound at five locations in Switzerland (inZurich (2x), Basel, Winterthur and Bern)and one in London. All are places wherelovers of vegetarian food can find tasty,uncomplicated and, above all, meatlessdishes.With their idea for a fast, fresh and at-tractive restaurant, brothers Daniel, Re-to and Christian Frei won Venture 98, abusiness-plan competition organised bythe Swiss Federal Institute of Technology(ETH) and McKinsey, with their conceptfor a high-class, fast-food vegetarianrestaurant. Rolf and Marielle Hiltl heardabout the brothers and got in touch withthem. Together, they implemented theplan and opened the first outlet in

Zurich’s Seefeld district on 6 December2000. Others followed in Winterthur,Bern and Basel. The London restaurantopened in 2008.Subtitled ‘Vegetarian Fast Food’, theconcept comprises a restaurant, bar andtake-away with counter service (soups,sandwiches, patisseries) in a casualatmosphere and open daily from 6.30to 24 hrs. The bestseller is the buffetwith 40 homemade salads hot dishesand snacks for CHF4.20 per 100 g. Thereare also desserts on the buffet boat. Theyare also charged by weight (CHF3.30).Take away is cheaper and everythingcosts CHF0.50 less. Food is weighed andpaid for at the counter. Incidentally,60-70% of the 6-7,000 daily tibits guestsare women. The interior design is mod-ernised every two years and is the work

Germany

FOODSERVICE EUROPE & MIDDLE EAST 4/11

Heinz ‘Cookie’ Gindullis, Stephan Hentschel (Chipps) Chipps

VEGETAR IAN RESTAURANTS

12

food. Since 2004, the student-servicecanteens have been certified under theEU organic label. On the Veggie No. 1’sfirst anniversary at the beginning of2011, canteen manager Eva Grundmannwas very positive: “The response to theoffer is excellent. At the beginning wehad 600 meals a day and now it’s already1,000. The location is more than workingto capacity.” This promising experiencehas prompted people in the capital totake a further step. Since mid-April 2011,all larger canteens have been offering aso-called ‘climate meal’ in addition tothe vegetarian dish on their daily menus.The climate meal is completely vegan,because the production of foods of ani-mal origin like meat, butter and cream isresponsible for most of the greenhousegas emissions in the food sector.One positive side effect is that the daily,purely plant-based, dish also satisfies theneeds of the growing target group ofpeople with lactose intolerance.Ethically motivated, enjoyment orientedand profitable on a modest scale: thisis the approach on which the veganrestaurant Zest (www.zest-leipzig.de) inLeipzig’s dynamic Connewitz district isbased. With seating for 32 people in anarea of 60 sq m indoors plus 24 on the ter-race, the restaurant owners have everyreason to be pleased about a fully bookedhouse almost every evening. At 6 pm, thedaytime menu makes way for the eveningmenu. Both menus are changed twice amonth. With few exceptions, all offers arevegan. Imaginative cross-over creationsbring together influences from SoutheastAsia, North and South America, and Cen-tral and Eastern Europe. To give just twosamples: bramata polenta roulade withonion seed crust and nettle cream filling,bellpepper chipotle confit and sauteedMay turnips forc14.80 or puff pastry witholive oil pistachio potato puree and kingoyster mushrooms, pimientos de pardonand sage Madeira jus for c15.80.It is part of the philosophy of the fourfounders of the concept to ensure that alldishes are as fresh as possible, includingthe handmade production of sauces,bread and patisserie. And a great dealof creative thought has gone into thedrinks menu as well: the melon-pepper-smoothie, pineapple-spinach-soya yog-hurt-shake or kumquat-star-aniseedlemonade leave no room for boredom.To raise vegan food to new heights ofculinary enjoyment was the ambitionof the Coox & Candy restaurant

room, which can seat 60 people. The pi-lot location, opened in April 2010, wassoon followed in February 2011 by a sec-ond unit with seating for 75 people onthe Friedrichstrasse, a popular touristhaunt. Here the emphasis is mainly ontakeaway options marketed under theirown takeaway brand. Recently, Gindullisalso teamed up with the Clicquot cham-pagne label to send the Clicquot RollingDiner out onto the streets for the BerlinFashion Week and serve star-qualitygourmet streetfood ranging from vege-tarian doners to curried sausage withtruffles.Also opened in Berlin in 2004, YellowSunshine (www.yellow-sunshine.de),which claims to be Germany’s oldest or-ganic fast-food restaurant and can seatjust about 30 guests in an area of 100 sqm, is proof that even a traditional snackcan do without meat. The self-servicediner offers its guests traditional fastfood ranging from burgers to curriedsausage to gyros made of soya, seitanand vegetables. Prices range from c3 toc7. 90% of the range on offer is certifiedas organic.And Berlin can provide yet anotherinnovative example: ‘Veggie No 1 – dieGrüne Mensa’ (www.studentenwerk-berlin.de) was opened in January 2010and is Germany’s first exclusively vege-tarian university canteen. A canteen ofthe Freie Universität Berlin that in needof rehabilitation has been turned intoa modern campus restaurant wherevegetarians, and those who are soinclined, can enjoy food in a pleasantatmosphere.The menu features dishes like carrot andginger soup, celery with chickpeas,kohlrabi patty with herb sauce or breaddumplings with mushroom-apple ragout– some of organic standard – that areproof of the possibilities of vegetarian

cooking in the Cookies Cream sisterrestaurant (www.cookies-cream.de) run bythe father of the concept, Heinz ‘Cookie’Gindullis. Here, however, it is purelyvegetarian, with Hentschel cooking outof conviction but with understanding forpeople who do not share his view: “Wedo not want to exclude anyone. We areno fundamentalists when it comes tovegetarian cuisine! For us, however, it isthe healthier and also more sustainablyreasonable diet. But we are not going tomake a dogma out of it.”Just serious eating: this is the claim of theformula that sees itself as belonging to thefast-casual genre and which serves main-ly non-vegetarians from 8 in the morningto late at night. – Hentschel reckons thataround 80% of the guests are not per separt of the anti-meat faction, but like to dowithout it from time to time.The food components are presented be-hind a glass counter and produced in theopen kitchen in the middle of the dining

Germany

Yellow Sunshine

Yellow Sunshine

Zest

FOODSERVICE EUROPE & MIDDLE EAST 4/11

(www.coox-candy.de) when itstarted up in Stuttgart in February2011. Located in an old listedbuilding, the restaurant has seat-ing for 60 guests on two storeysand a further 16 places outsidefor people taking a break atlunchtime or enjoying a relaxeddinner. The green upholstery in-side is not the only indication ofthe owners’ love of nature; there isalso a 4-m-high tree in the hall. Alldishes are completely vegetarianand are suitable for vegans. Thekitchen’s philosophy is good plaintraditional food newly interpretedand influenced by internationalvegetarian cuisine. There are alsoraw-vegetable dishes and macro-biotic food on the menu. In theevening the menu includes disheslike herb-polenta-slices on rata-touille or veggie ‘chicken’ on a bedof vegetable rice and is offeredfrom Wednesday to Sunday from5 pm onwards. Tuesday is PizzaDay with six different offerings;the restaurant is closed on Mon-days.

France

In France, it would seem thatthere is no single well-establishedchain of vegetarian restaurants.No reproducible concepts definedby any kind of ‘charter’, as onesees in other European countriesor in the United States. Vegetari-ans and vegans pass on the namesof favourite restaurants by word ofmouth, get advice from commu-nity web sites and exchange tips.To get information about the sub-ject they have to keep their eyesand their ears open!At the Veg Festival on the Placedes Innocents in the centre ofParis, a square with a very sym-bolic name, vegans were demon-strating recently against theslaughter of farmed animals.Many of the people there werefollowers of non-consumerism,‘Goths’, seemingly pretty radicalnon-omnivores. That is probablyone of the explanations as to whythis sort of restaurant is not wide-spread in the French market. Intheir absence, these consumersgive the impression of operating

in a closed world. Veganpatissiers, vegan caterers and veg-an bakers provide food for them,discreetly, and for the most part asa side line. According to SébastienKardinal who writes on veganrestaurants and products forwww.vg-zone.net, “there are thir-ty or so vegetarian restaurants inParis, four of which are suitablefor vegans, as well as one bed andbreakfast, which also provides anevening meal.”Located in the Boulevard Beau-marchais in the 11th arrondisse-ment, Loving Hut (48 seats)seems to have found a consensusamongst the vegan community.The restaurant is 100% vegan.Hugues Rivard gave up his job as aspecialist engineer in green build-ing in Canada to devote himself tofood, which is, according to him“the most immediate lever in thefight against climatic warming”.He opened this restaurant twoyears ago with his Vietnamesewife, Thi Huong Rivard, and otherassociates. There is another estab-lishment of the same name locat-ed in Menton in the South ofFrance. Two hundred Loving Hutsexist worldwide. The franchisor,based in Taiwan and who stylesherself as ‘Master’, purveys a mes-sage of ecological redemptionthrough the food we eat. Therestaurateur has adopted the logoand the basic colour scheme fromthe franchisor. Hugues Rivardserves 70 to 80% organic produce,since some proteins are not yetavailable as organic. “I also wantthe prices to remain affordable,”he explains. The soya protein, ex-truded at high speed and fastdried, is the central ingredient on

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Crock & bio

FOODSERVICE EUROPE & MIDDLE EAST 4/11 15

that you need to get people to discover,”says the owner. At lunchtime, the restaur-ant has around thirty customers andmore in the evening. “They are vegans butnot exclusively. Some people appreciatebeing able to eat lunch and not to feelheavy afterwards. They come once aweek,” Hugues Rivard also points out.In France, where ‘good’ local products –cheese, milk, meat, butter – are favoured,farmed animals are an essential part oftraditional cuisine. The fact is that a

to the current state of the food producingand processing industries where veganproducts are concerned.There are no set menus; all dishes are soldà la carte and are very good value: fromc5to 7 for starters,c8 to 13.50 for main dish-es and c5.50 to 9.50 for desserts. On thedrinks front, there is no alcohol andHugues Rivard provides water micro-fil-tered by reverse osmosis for his cus-tomers. “Veganism is awayof life. There isa lot of potential in this market; it’s food

his menu. Imported from Taiwan, this iswhat replaces animal proteins. Whencooked, it is found in the garnish for theburger (one of the restaurant’s best sell-ers) and in the breaded escalope... Themenu’s composition gives an insight in-

Guenmaï

Exki Exki

France

Italy

V EGETAR IAN RESTAURANTS

FOODSERVICE EUROPE & MIDDLE EAST 4/1116

Convinced of the necessity to promoteFrench cuisine and the pleasures of food,Stéphane Seebaruth and Peter Aigneropened the Potager du Marais in thecentre of Paris in 2003. “We providemeals based on French cuisine and usingthe names of traditional dishes,” ex-plains Stéphane Seebaruth. The vegetar-ian menu, which is 100% organic, offersmushroom pâté, chile sin carne, nutroast with mushroom duxelles and saf-fron cream....The menu costs c25 for a starter, maindish and dessert. A year ago, the ownersincreased the size of their restaurant bybuying the neighbouring shop, a for-mer... butcher’s-cum-charcuterie! Ac-cording to Stéphane Seebaruth, the 40-seater restaurant is full for at least oneservice per day. Those in the know ring tobook. Their range has expanded to in-clude gluten-free dishes and veganrecipes, particularly when it comes totheir patisserie. The owners have takenon an American specialist pastry chef.“There are several cross-currents to benegotiated,” the restaurateur continues,“there is health, ecology; vegetarianismgives direction to the way we eat.”

Italy

According to statistics and estimates,there are between 6 and 7 m Italians(that is, one in ten) who profess to bevegetarian and 600,000 who are vegan(ie, one in a hundred). In any case, ‘vege-tarian’ in Italy has a wide meaning: somethink that it is enough to omit red meatand eat fish... Anyway, the vegetariandiet is undoubtedly gaining followersespecially among the younger gener-ations, both for ethical, healthandenviron-mental reasons. 70% of vegetarians arewomen, mainly aged between 25 and 54years (62%) and mostly living in thenorth and in the centre. Projections esti-mate that in 2050 there will be 30 mvegetarians in Italy.Despite these numbers, wholly vegetar-ian restaurants are still far and wideapart. Most of them are either ethnic(Indian, etc) or macrobiotic or annexedto yoga centres, organic shops, healthspas or gyms an the like.The truth is, to cater to the 6 m vegetar-ians an increasing number of ‘generalist’restaurants have veggie menus or op-tions – and without much trouble too, asItalian cuisine naturally has a lot of vege-tarian and even vegan dishes to choose

but his menu offers several Spanish char-cuterie items – the result of a ‘comprom-ise’ reached with Sandra Rexach, his‘omnivore’ Spanish girlfriend. He hascompletely come to terms with this mixon the menu. The young chef is the son ofSophie Dauniac, who has run the Guen-maï in the Saint-Germain des Prés quar-ter for the last thirty odd years, one of justtwo macrobiotic restaurants in Paris. Onthe restaurant’s façade the message isclear: ‘Health through food’. 80% of theclientele is made up of regular customers.“At the moment, I’m seeing a new clien-tele keen to eat organic produce. They’renot particularly familiar with macrobioticfood but just want to eat healthily,” ob-serves Sophie Dauniac. “I make organicrecipes but don’t advertise them as such.I don’t want to be stuck if I can’t get a par-ticular ingredient.”Sold at c12, the dish of the day (on week-days) consists of a plate of cereal prod-ucts, cooked vegetables, pulses, raw veg-etables, seaweed and a protein. No meat,but oven-cooked fish which is not organ-ic, as the restaurateur does not want touse farmed fish which she considers “tooclose to the consumer.”With an average bill of c17.50, therestaurant, open only for lunch and with20 seats inside and eight outside, serves60 or so covers per service. A range oftake-away dishes, a grocery section andbeauty products round off their businessactivities.

meal is a celebration and its compositionvaries depending on where you are. Evenmore so nowadays when reduced foodmiles are all the rage. To sum up: “youeat your region”. Indeed, vegetarians areconsidered rather sad people, veganseven more so. Against this background,it is not easy for a chef to take advantageof this gap in the market. Whilst lots ofvegetarians and vegans are unhappyabout the absence of vegetarian, not tosay vegan, restaurants. There are con-cepts that focus on vegetables, but theyare ‘omnivore’. Exki, created ten yearsago, promotes the organic vegetable ofthe month (celery in April, courgettes inMay...) which they offer in salads, soupsand sandwiches; in addition to which,they provide information on ecology andthe environment.In a few months, all the recipes will dis-play a new item of information: their wa-ter footprint – i.e. the cost of their pro-duction in terms of water used. Whichgives rise to some confusion for vegetari-ans as to how they can nevertheless findsomething to eat among the variouskinds of food on offer.Will the young generation of chefs takeup this challenge? Tom Dauniac hasopened a rather up-market organic fast-food restaurant in Paris, which he hascalled Crock & bio. His patisseries con-tain no eggs, butter, sugar, or dairy prod-ucts. He serves grain coffee. It was a nat-ural step for him. He does not eat meat,

Il Margutta VegetarianoAlce Nero

Joia

from -, so that vegetarians can eat outwith non-vegetarians. For the same rea-son, mainly vegetarian restaurants mayoffer non vegetarian dishes.It’s a thorny issue and even the web site ofa vegan association carries a link to a siterecommending “places where you caneat vegetarian, too” (but not exclusively).The Montali country house in Umbria(www.montalionline.com) is 100% vege-tarian. It is the brainchild of a vegetariancouple, Maria Lucia Simoes da Cunhaand Alberto Musacchio, who in the 90’sdecided to open a gourmet vegetarian re-sort in the countryside. “We try and cooka colourful, intriguing vegetarian cuis-ine, natural and fresh,” says Maria Lu-cia, “with lots of flavour and taste. Wewant to show that vegetarian cookingcan be fun, too. My main inspiration istraditional Italian regional cuisines,which I mix with spices and flavoursfrom other parts of the world. In fact, wemix vegetarian and Mediterranean cuis-ine, that’s why we’ve coined the term‘vegetarranean’ cuisine and have pub-lished a book of our recipes under thistitle”. At Montali they produce their ownolive oil and herbs, and vegetables, fruitand cheese are sourced locally. Morethan 90% of resident clients come fromabroad, mainly from Northern Europe,but in the last few years Italians are in-creasing. Montali also organizes cookingcourses and specialist vegetarian cours-es for other cooks.In Rome we find one of the first Italianvegetarian restaurants, Il Margutta Vege-tariano (www.ilmarguttavegetariano.it).Opened in 1979 by vegetarian owners, itsits in a street famous for its ateliers,craftsmen workshops and art galleries, ina very popular tourist district (the Span-ish Steps are a few minutes away). The

restaurant is rich in art itself and regular-ly hosts exhibitions and live music. Here,too, the accent is on fine food. No blandvegeterian options here, but colourfuland tasteful dishes, here too directly in-spired from Italian tradition. 70% of theingredients used are from organic pro-duction. For instance, fresh egg pasta isprepared with organic flours and cakes,bread and desserts are also made on thepremises. At lunch the focal point is thebuffet with over fifty different dishes pre-pared with organic products and cookedin technological ovens to preserve theirnutritional qualities and exalt their taste.Prices vary from c12 on weekdays, c15on Saturdays and c25 on Sundays andpublic holidays. Dinner menus changeseasonally and always carry vegan op-tions. There are a few set menus, fromc26 to 60, and many a la carte dishes.Milan boasts Joia (www.joia.it) the firstand still the only vegetarian restaurantin Italy to gain a Michelin star. Joia is thebrainchild of Swiss chef Pietro Lee-mann, a serious scholar of antroposo-phy, ayurveda and Chinese philosoph-ical doctrines which he has digested andassimilited into his own highly personalidea of natural cuisine: healthy and wellbalanced food, made with the freshestingredients, either raw or cooked ac-cording to its nature, to maximise their“vitality” and nutrition for our body.Above all, his food must be honest: heconsiders it as his mission to respect thesacrality of food and to cook it in the bestpossible way for his clients so that ineating it they can both feel pleasure andbe healthy and maybe even glimpse thebeauty of life, the natural world and thespirit. Despite his serious philosophicalapproach, Leemann likes to play in thekitchen, and his dishes are never boring

but always surprising as well as wellconstructed. Reading the menu requiresa bit of imagination, for dishes carrypuzzling names such as “Under acoloured (snow) blanket” and “On theleft bank of the river”.Joia opened in 1996 as a wholly vegetarianrestaurant, but Leemann was ahead ofhis time and to stay in business he addeda few fish dishes to his menu. Two yearsago, finally, he was able to get back to theorigins and now no fish is to be found inhis kitchen.In Milan vegetarians have many otheroptions to eat in restaurants and cafésthat have banned meat and fish. One ofthese is the Biobar opened in April 2010inside one of the shops of the CentroBotanico organic food shop chain(www.centrobotanico.it). The Biobar hasabout 30 seats and is open during shophours o the focus is on lunch and takeaway. Here the approach is fundamen-tally vegan and raw, though, as explainsrestaurant manager Marcello Rohrwass-er, “we also include milk, cheese andhoney in some recipes for our vegetarianclients.” The biobar kitchen, though, is a“raw food workshop”, where they experi-ment with ever new recipes with rawfood (which is not always really raw butcooked under 45°C), such as the ‘semi-cold’ and ‘raw’ soups, hummus, and araw lasagna made with apples andzucchini. Prices vary from c29 to 33 perkilo for the buffet and take away food,and there is a ‘botanical dish’ for c10.50.On the drink side, one can choose fromorganic fruit juices and squashes madeat the moment and tropical fruit juicessourced from a farm in Sicily.Apart from wholly vegetarian restaur-ants, there quite a few chains spe-cialised either in organic or green foodthat cater to vegetarians and vegans too.Insalateria is a chain of salad restaurantswith outlets in urban hotels in Milan(www.insalateria.it), specialized in sal-ads of all types, mainly vegetarians butalso including meat, cold cuts and fish.Alce Nero is a chain of organic and fairtrade food shops with a couple of cafés inBologna and Cesena (www.alcenero-caffe.com), mainly vegetarian but serv-ing also fish and honey, as the chain hasstrong ties with organic farmers and beebreeders.

Contributing AuthorsSwitzerland/Germany: BMFrance: Lydie Anastassion

Italy: Flavia Fresia

18 FOODSERVICE EUROPE & MIDDLE EAST 4/11

Italy

Montali