Bologna in Italy has plenty of excellent options for the vegan traveller, a fact that added much to my enjoyment of this unpretentious and friendly city. Here are a few places I tried – and can thoroughly recommend – during a visit a couple of weeks ago. Everywhere I went, I was struck by how warm and helpful the staff were, perfectly happy to talk in English in the face my idiot Italian.
The guilty pleasure
Pappare’ (Via De’ Giudei, 2d, 40126 Bologna; website)
I was on holiday – definitely not on a healthy eating mission – and this place was where I got my outlandishly sweet breakfast every day. Located in the shadow of the city’s Two Towers, it’s not specifically vegan, or even vegetarian, but there is an excellent selection of plant-based food.
Well, by food – in my case at least – I mean to say filled croissants. I had them loaded with chocolate and with crema, a lovely rich custard-like concoction, and also enjoyed an apple strudel-style slice one morning. In addition to the standard blonde vegan croissant, one of the specialities here is a black version. It looks a very unlikely treat – like something the baker burnt (and they are indeed kissed by charcoal) – but they are lovely, with a slightly breadier texture than the regular croissant.
There was a bit of a queue every morning, but definitely worth it. There was a good vibe lining up watching the staff putting it all together, followed by tasty, reasonably priced croissants. You can eat in or outside, but I took my heavy bagful (to share with my family, honest) back to my apartment.
The posh place
Botanica Lab (Via Battibecco, 4c, 40123 Bologna; website)
I was travelling with three foodies who really appreciate the good stuff, but me, I’m an animal, and would probably be at home kneeling in front of a trough. So visiting this place – which is fully vegan – was a little unnerving. It feels upmarket as you walk in and the food, when you see the pictures on the menu, looks what might be described as fussy.
But it turned out to be a wonderful experience. The waitresses were really friendly, going out of their way to make you feel at home. And once I was seated and got over myself, the atmosphere was warm and welcoming. I soon stopped feeling like a peasant who’d wandered into a palace by mistake.
The food was delightful. I had the simply named but spectacularly presented red roll – a roll of thin tomato-infused pastry stuffed with fresh, crunchy vegetables – and shared side orders of salad and fried vegetable chips, followed by a vanilla cheesecake and red fruits. It was really good eating and, to my surprise, very reasonably priced for what felt like a high-end experience (my main was €12.50). I, with my limited palate, was super impressed, as were my foodie peeps.
Down-to-earth soul food
Fram Café (Via Rialto, 22, 40124 Bologna; website [Facebook])
After a tricky journey from Florence, which appeared to be at the centre of an Italian rail meltdown on the day I left, this was the first place we walked into in Bologna, weary and hungry. It was the perfect welcome to the city.
It’s a relaxed, homely vegan café with a range of down-to-earth daily specials. The waitress talked us through the options, unpreachily suggesting a mix of food groups (protein, carbs, etc) to build a nourishing meal. I had a bowl of seitan curry with polenta and salad; it was simple, tasty and satisfying. And also the first time I’ve actually enjoyed polenta. I couldn’t resist a bit of cake to accompany my coffee afterwards; both were excellent (as an aside, I found the coffee served all over Bologna consistently good).
All of us were so impressed with this little gem that we initially thought we might revisit it during our stay; it was only the fact that there were so many other places to try that we didn’t get a chance to do so.
The magic cake shop
Missbake (Via Marsili, 1c, 40124 Bologna; website)
The sky was blue and the sun out after a rainy night, and I was in an excellent mood ambling up down side streets savouring the atmosphere, when Missbake’s tiny shop front caught my attention. It wasn’t just my cakedar; I was taken by two rows of Scrabble tiles stuck on the front promoting love and harmony.
Walk into a cake shop, particularly one that offers creamy-looking cake, and the assumption is usually that there’ll be nothing for my kind. But here there was. Missbake had an extensive selection of vegan cake, as the woman behind the counter showed me. She had this crazy baker’s hat on and smiley eyes; indulge me, please – she had the vibe of a mysterious character in a magic-realist story. Cool welcome.
I had a bit of carrot cake and my partner a strawberry and coconut cake; they were both excellent, as was – as usual in Bologna – the coffee. We took some lavender and lemon biscuits home for later; also very good. Missbake was a lovely little pit stop on a day of idle wandering. It’s kind of easy to miss, but it’s worth making a point of visiting if you like cake (they do other baked goods too).
The vegan Italian
Uno Caffé Olistico (Via Guglielmo Oberdan, 27a, 40126 Bologna; website [Facebook])
This was the last place where I ate out in Bologna. Again, we were warmly welcomed, even though we’d clearly walked in at the end of the lunchtime period when the frazzled-looking but friendly staff were preparing to slow down. It’s widely listed as a vegetarian place with some vegan options, but in fact it is almost completely vegan, with a couple of vegetarian options. It’s a trend I’ve observed a fair bit, that; and a good one, losing the secretions of the barbaric dairy industry from menus.
This was my only traditional Italian meal of the visit. I had mezzelune – a form of pasta I’d never come across before – stuffed with potatoes and pesto, and served with a pear sauce, vegan parmesan flakes and pepper. It seemed an odd combo, but it was absolutely fantastic. Not the hugest portion I’ve ever had, but satisfying none the less, and it was a pleasure to have some food that felt authentically Italian. My partner had gnocchi, which she declared excellent. I finished with coffee and a muffin-style cake, which were both very good indeed.
It wasn’t all eating out
We stayed in an apartment in Bologna and did a fair bit of cooking ourselves. There were lots of supermarkets scattered around the city centre where we stayed, with all the food a vegan could hope to find.
One decent place with a good range of tofu-type stuff was NaturaSì (Via de’ Toschi, 5/e, 40124 Bologna) but I have to give a special mention to Cenerini dal 1946 (Via Santo Stefano, 12/a, 40125 Bologna; website), an excellent fruit and vegetable shop selling high-quality, fresh produce at very reasonable prices right in the city centre. I’m still missing their tomatoes.
Bardo Burner 