Lone vegetarian cafe provides refuge for city´s progressives

Florianopolis vegetarians find difficulties with the lack of restaurants catering to their dietary needs

BY Nicole Signoretti

Florianopolis, Brasil (June 26, 2007)- Brasil is a country that is well known for its tradition of barbequed meats and other meat cuisines, but a growing number of people on the Brasilian island of Florianópolis are mocking this tradition by giving up meat altogether in favor of vegetarian diets.

"I gave up meats mainly for ethical reasons," journalism major Murilo Mellio says.

According to Mellio, the small island and college town of Florianopolis is a very progressive and liberal city, especially compared to the rest of Brasil.

Many students and residents alike are opting for vegetarian diets rather than carnivorous ones for reasons similar to the ethical ones Mellio mentioned.

The problem with this progressive movement is that due to Brasil´s strong meat-eating culture, it is difficult for vegetarians to find nutritious, meat-free meals, even in liberal Florianopolis .

UFSC gastronomy student Pedro Enrique says, "Meat is such a big part of our meals, I usually don´t cook without it."

This appears to be the overall mentality of most restaurant owners in Florianopolis as well. A typical buffet in Florianopolis consists of salads, fruits, French fries, rice and beans, which sounds like it should be a sufficient and nutritious vegetarian meal. The downside however, is that most of the food items have hidden meat products in them.

For example, black beans usually contain pork products and by-products and many rice dishes are cooked in various animal based broths.

This can prove to be most distressing for a vegetarian trying to eat out in Brasil.
Mellio says that he usually avoids this dilemma by cooking most of his meals at home.

But for those who are either too busy or unable to cook their own meals all of the time, there aren´t very many options for Brasilian vegetarians in regard to eating out or on the go.

One exception to this is Hong Ka Vegetariano Restaurant just south of the UFSC campus.

According to UFSC journalism student Felipe Monteiro, the Vegetariano Café is very popular amongst locals trying to find a decent, meat-free meal.

The restaurant is buffet style, similar to many other restaurants in Florianopolis , but all dishes are completely meat free.

The café provides a wide array of Asian foods, such as noodles, fried rice, dumplings, soy orange chicken, tofu and many other fulfilling and nutritious dishes.

The owners of the café were not available for comment due to language barriers.

Aside from the vegetarian café, being a vegetarian in a largely meat-eating society can be a difficult endeavor. For those who are vegans, persons who do not eat any type of animal products including dairy and eggs, eating out can prove to be next to impossible.

Monteiro expresses hope that if more Florianopolis residents opt for vegetarian diets and the demand for vegetarian friendly restaurants increases, then maybe restaurant owners will respond to that demand.

Until then, residents must either cook all of their meals, go back to being carnivores, or just plain starve.