The mapping of restaurants that offer vegetarian and strictly vegetarian meals was started by Association of Greek Vegetarians (HellasVeg), with the first “stop” in Thessaloniki.

The Association’s finding is that there are not enough vegetarian options for main dishes in our country’s restaurants, with the result that flexitarian* consumers (flexible vegetarians) cannot avoid eating meat, even if they wish to. Also, purely vegetarian restaurants are still limited and usually only in the big cities of Greece, with the consequence that vegan and vegetarian consumers have limited options, and often the inability or difficulty to dine with their non-vegan friends.

For this purpose, as stated in a related announcement, HellasVeg has decided to highlight restaurants that have vegetarian and strictly vegetarian main meals in their menus (and not just appetizers and salads), and to encourage vegan, flexitarian and non-vegan consumers, to try them. At the same time, this can also be a tool for visitors to our country to discover what vegetarian main meals are offered.

“We decided to start mapping from Thessaloniki, where HellasVeg is also headquartered, and there are already six strictly vegetarian restaurants and 55 restaurants that offer vegetarian and strictly vegetarian main meals in their menu,” Maria Hamilaki from the Association of Greek Vegetarians tells APE-MBE. As he estimates, the six purely vegetarian restaurants listed are few for the population of Thessaloniki and also for the number of its visitors.

“The need is huge and people are looking for purely vegetarian restaurants that offer main dishes and not just vegetarian appetizers because most of the time, vegetarians end up eating only appetizers since they can’t find anything else on the menu,” explains Ms. Hamilaki.
The search for restaurants by the Association was done by secondary research and their registration was completed after relevant communication with them, to confirm that they do indeed offer vegetarian and strictly vegetarian main meals in their menu. However, according to HellasVeg, there is always the possibility that some of them will stop offering these meals, as of course many other restaurants will also decide to include them in their menu.

“HellasVeg welcomes any attempt to include vegetarian meals and urges restaurants that wish to do so to inform us in order to participate in this list. It also urges consumers who visit one of them, if they find that it does not correspond to the information that there are vegetarian main meals, to also update.”

The list of veggie restaurants has already been posted on the HellasVeg website on the occasion of today’s World Vegetarian Day.

“Our aim is to register vegetarian restaurants in other cities as well, with Ioannina as the next stop as we see that, in general, the needs are increased” says Mrs. Hamilaki.

What is HellasVeg

The Association of Greek Vegetarians (HellasVeg) was founded in 2021 with the aim – according to its website – to highlight and promote the vegetarian lifestyle to all citizens, without exclusions and dogmas, and to inspire them to take on their part of the responsibility modern man towards himself, the planet and the ecosystem. HellasVeg’s belief is that each individual’s small steps can and do make a difference in the big picture of human evolution on Earth.

“Regardless of everyone’s reasons (improvement or prevention of general health, dealing with specific health problems, ethics towards animals or our fellow humans who live on the edge of poverty, protection of the environment), we can contribute in a positive direction, by changing some of our lifestyle habits” emphasized in the objectives of the Association.

* Flexitarianism is not total abstinence from a certain food, but its reduction. In short: more fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts and seeds, sometimes combined with meat or fish and dairythe.