Ghent is Belgium’s vegetarian capital

Ghent has been singled out as Belgium’s most veggie-friendly city by celebrated British vegetarian food writer Jane Hughes. “There's no history of meat-free eating in Belgium – even the chips are often cooked in lard,” she writes in the Guardian’s Word of Mouth blog. “Belgian vegetarian food makes frequent use of seitan, a surprisingly realistic meat substitute made from wheat gluten. Against all odds, the Ethical Vegetarian Alternative has persuaded many cafes and restaurants in its home town of Ghent to adopt Paul McCartney's Meat-Free Monday idea and serve vegetarian food one day a week – in this case, Thursdays. Ghent also has more vegetarian restaurants per capita than most cities (13 for a population of 240,000)”.