Healthy (and plant-based) eating while you’re on vacation in Corfu, Greece? The land of gyros, souvlaki, and where they prefer to throw everything in the fryer? No worries, it’s perfectly doable! Tessa spent a long weekend on this beautiful island and this is what she ate.
Breakfast:
Just like in almost all Mediterranean countries, you’ll find shops everywhere in Corfu with the tastiest fresh fruit. Watermelons for less than 50 cents per kilo and such delicious ripe peaches were available! So you guessed it, our breakfast was fruit!
Lunch and dinner:
The temperature on the island? Around 30 degrees+, making it unbearable in the sun between 12 and 3 PM. Every day I enjoyed a long lunch in the shade on a terrace. When we asked about vegan dishes, the waiters looked at us slightly puzzled, but then started proudly telling us how many vegetarian dishes they had. Vegetables are a big thing on the menu here! Okay, you need to be a bit careful because they like to fry them or stuff them with cheese. But there are also plenty of dishes with grilled vegetables or mushrooms with garlic, for instance. And a Greek salad without feta is no problem. Some pita bread with hummus or olives and we were happy! Even just the tomatoes and cucumber here were so much more flavorful than in the Netherlands!
We usually shared a few different dishes. A pizza (without cheese) or a pasta with vegetables and tomato sauce, and then a large salad on the side. As a dessert, many restaurants offered a complimentary piece of fruit or baklava. Not entirely vegan (due to the honey), but incredibly delicious!
Two favorite hotspots
Gran Aladino – Main road, Paleokastritsa
Paleokastritsa is a place on the west coast where the first inhabitants of Corfu settled. There are many beautiful bays and beaches, and you can take boat trips to the caves where you can snorkel. On the main road, you’ll find the Gran Aladino restaurant. The owners are incredibly hospitable and very positive about vegan food. Not everything on the menu is vegan, but there is a whole list. And they even have vegan and gluten-free desserts! So if you want to eat a real Greek moussaka, but vegan, you have to go here! They also have delicious salads and a vegan mushroom risotto made from wild rice. For dessert, we had a chocolate mousse made from avocado with (soy) whipped cream.
Bohotis Pastry Shop – M. Theotoki 25, Corfu town
In the mood for ice cream but fed up with the sorbet variants? Lucky you, in the capital of Corfu, there’s an ice cream shop with various vegan ice cream flavors! Honestly, you would book a ticket to Corfu just for this ice cream. I’ve never tasted such delicious ice cream! They have about six different vegan ice cream flavors. I went for a scoop of vanilla-chocolate (yes, that’s two flavors in one scoop!). It’s like eating a dame blanche, but even better!