Being a vegetarian or a pescetarian (a seafood eating vegetarian) in Serbia is certainly not easy. It doesn’t make you popular at Serbian restaurants, especially in meat-loving Serbia. For example, last year an American student went into a Belgrade restaurant and asked the waiter to point the vegetarian options on the menu. The waiter replied “No meat – no eat”. That said, it seems that it’s pretty easy being vegan in Serbia with a bit of forethought and research.
Simran Sachdev, an American volunteer from New York working for the Women in Black Network in Serbia put up a blog post last week discussing Serbian food and vegetarian options. “Many people have asked what I, being a pescetarian, have been eating in Serbia so I thought I would write about it. The first few days I was here, it was quite difficult to find vegetarian options on the go, especially since I couldn’t comprehend the Serbian signs listing food and was also unable to ask for meatless items in Serbian. But over the past few weeks I have learned how to say “nay meso?” meaning “no meat?” and have found a few good fast food options that I can pick up on the way to work.” Being a vegetarian – or even a pescetarian – in Serbia is not as difficult as it seems!
Then, Simran Sachdev went on to talk about Serbian food noting that Serbian food includes a lot of meat and organic vegetables. “While I haven’t tasted the meat here, I have heard that it is a lot better than ours in America. And I can say from personal experience that the local tomatoes and various fruits and vegetables are full of flavor.” She even posted a little video from the Belgrade Zeleni Venac City Market. “wish I had something similar back home, without it costing an arm and a leg.” Check out the little video right here:
