Veg in Germany

“Good luck finding veggies in the land of wurst,” one of my friends scoffed just before I moved to Germany.

“It’s going to be tough,” my vegan German husband agreed. “They even cook French fries in lard.”

How bad could it be? I thought. Many famous vegetarians—including Wagner, the 19th century composer, and Dr. Albert Schweitzer—had once called Germany home. I felt certain my vegan lifestyle would be nicely accommodated in my adopted homeland. In a country with 51 members of the current parliament registered Green, where some of the strictest recycling laws on the planet are enforced, how could my diet not be catered to?

Fortunately, a quick trip to the former West German capital city of Bonn confirmed my hunch. Directly across from the central train station, located off one of the main pedestrian thoroughfares, sat the Cassius Garten and Café (cassiusgarten.de), an all-vegetarian bistro and buffet with several vegan offerings. Walking into the restaurant at 3pm on a Monday, I was amazed at the crowd inside. No less than 50 people, from college students and professors to elderly couples, scattered throughout the two-story atrium, their trays weighted down with colorful build-your-own salads and scoops of seitan stir-fry. My hopes for a strong vegetarian community in my new homeland grew.

We discovered Oekoma (oekoma.de), a commune in Duesseldorf where the residents are so dedicated to the ideals of a peaceful lifestyle that they run a small organic foods store (known in German as either Naturkost or Bioladen) and offer daily vegan macrobiotic lunches. They require reservations with at least two hours’ notice to keep food from going to waste, so we didn’t get to sample the fare, but the intimate, family-like atmosphere helped us to finally feel at home.