Last year, at the beginning of my senior year, I decided to become a pescatarian. I saw a few documentaries that compelled me to do so. It was a tough transition, not just figuring out how I would substitute meat, but also realizing how much I was giving up. Don’t even get me started about how long it took me to get my family to take me seriously and realize it wasn’t just a phase!
By the time I had become a ‘pro’ in preparing and eating the right foods for myself, I knew I was going to Ireland in a few months. The foods that came to mind when I thought of Ireland were meat and potatoes… Okay that might be a problem. All my friends laughed at me and said “good luck eating only potatoes!”
The whole meat and potatoes thing is clearly a stereotype, but I was still quite worried about how difficult it would be to keep up my eating habits over here.
To my surprise and my benefit, there are so many vegetarian options here. When I go out to eat, there are always vegetarian sections of the menu, nearly every starter soup is a vegetable soup, and there is a lot of salad! It was a smooth transition from the States to here.
The most difficult meal is breakfast. I can’t tell you how much I miss egg and cheese sandwiches on bagels. Breakfast sandwiches here are meat in a roll, hold the eggs- pretty strange. Even the traditional Irish breakfast is centered around meat. Egg white omelettes are pretty hard to come by as well. But it’s okay because I’ve mastered making my own veggie omelettes in my kitchen, which makes up my morning routine.
As a pescatarian, I can eat fish, so if you’re wondering whether I can eat fish ‘n chips or not, the answer is YES. And man have I had some good ones over here!
I will say that I was probably blessed to be put in Dublin because I think that makes my life a little easier with a plethora of food options. Had I been put somewhere more in the countryside, there might be fewer vegetarian options- or so I’ve heard! But Dublin is the main city, so I have a lot to choose from.
Even though I miss some of my typical snacks or meals from back home, eating here has been so good and easy! I can now confidently say that Ireland is not just the land of beef stews, chicken pot pies, and potatoes. Though, they definitely do have quite a bit of those things!
