Are looking for a vegetarian restaurant in Salerno or vegetarian restaurant on the Amalfi Coast? Are you planning a dinner with your family and friends and some of them have decided to follow a plant-based diet? Re Maurì is the perfect place for you.
Here you will find dishes that suit everyone’s needs: our mission is to pamper and please every single customer.
Surveys show that 7% of Italians, 13% of Americans and approximately 11% of Australians follow a vegetarian diet. Percentages are lower in Europe; Germany is ranked first with 9% of vegetarians. And 22% of the world’s population are estimated to be vegetarians
Vegetarian restaurants in the world (source: Reddit)
More and more people choose a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle, mostly because of the positive effects that non-animal foods have on our health.
Most of them say that they have become interested in vegetarianism because of their love and respect for the animals. Whereas a minority explains that their dietary preferences are due to a dramatic change in their lifestyles.
As a consequence, every single food service activity has had to adapt to this change in people’s lifestyles.
Let’s analyse together what it means to be a vegetarian or a vegan, the differences between these two diets, what to eat and the essential requirements that a vegetarian restaurant must have.
What it means to be a vegetarian
The word “diet” comes from the Greek term δίαιτα (diaita) which means “way of life”; some sort of philosophy of life applied to our current eating habits. As a matter of fact, the word “diet” more and more frequently doesn’t necessarily mean deprivation but rather a customisation of one’s eating habits, which can have different reasons: the need to get healthier, the search for a psychophysical well-being or the commitment to a specific ethical cause.
The vegetarian diet, as mentioned earlier, is one of the most adopted diets. It consists in not eating red and white meat, nor fish, including shellfish. Vegetarians though do consume milk, eggs, butter and cheeses, as they are animal derivatives. A more restrictive diet is the vegan diet, which basically consists in excluding animal products completely. Moreover, vegans refuse to wear leather garments or accessories and don’t use cosmetics unless they are 100% plant-derived. This peculiar diet also aims at preventing all of the problems and diseases caused by systematic meat consumption. Scientific and anthropological studies have indeed shown that some communities around the world only eat plants and they were proven to be immune to specific diseases and to have a longer life expectancy.
There is also a raw diet. Those who follow this diet are usually driven by health reasons and only eat raw foods of any kind as long as they are cooked below 40 degrees. The ingredients are obviously not all consumed raw but they undergo drying or marination. It’s well known that foods, when cooked, lose most of their important nutritional properties such as vitamins and minerals; another benefit is that raw ingredients are easy to digest, not to mention the fact that this diet has got a great detoxifying power. And finally, the fruitarian diet is perhaps the most extreme: fruitarians only eat fresh, organic and ripe fruit; in fruit you can find the vitamins, proteins and minerals that our bodies need.However, be careful not to make mistakes. As the old saying goes, you can have too much of a good thing: exaggeration, in this case applied to food, can have the opposite result to what you wish to get. It’s true that vegetarians don’t consume meat and that they are supported by ethical reasons, but it’s also true that you must be aware that this could lead to an unbalanced diet, such as an excessive intake of pasta, bread and flour-based products, thus risking not to follow the right food combinations. So it’s necessary to be careful and follow a balanced diet and, especially in the beginning, to consult a dietician or a nutritionist who can give you valuable advice for your health.
What to eat at a vegetarian restaurant on the Amalfi Coast
Eating at a restaurant is one of the pleasures one cannot just give up. Therefore, all food service activities are rapidly changing their menus to be able to offer a pleasant alternative to those who choose to stop eating meat.
However, some cafés still don’t have soy nor rice milk. And sadly many restaurants are reluctant to introduce separate menus that don’t include meat nor fish. Let’s take a vegan as an example. They don’t consume anything that comes from animals, such as eggs, milk and derivatives.
What will they eat? Plant-based alternatives to meat and fish are numerous and for all budgets. First of all, the nutrient and protein-rich legumes are excellent substitutes for meat and eggs, and you can eat them in the form of pan-cooked “meatballs”. And then there’s seitan, a food made from wheat gluten, and tofu, the “plant-based cheese” which is used to make delicious fillings for savoury pies or ravioli.
Vegetarian restaurants | Salerno, on the Amalfi Coast | what Re Maurì has to offer
First of all, a vegetarian restaurant must have the raw ingredients, that is to say pasta, bread, fresh seasonal fruits and a great quantity of vegetables, such as aubergines, tomatoes and peppers which will add flavour to the dish. The chef and the restaurant owners must be familiar with the vegetarian and vegan cultures, and insert in the menu dishes that meet the taste of their customers. For instance, it’s preferable that fruits and vegetables are locally-sourced, so one must focus on fresh and local products.
Some restaurants, without being labelled as vegetarian restaurants, thanks to the chef’s talent, creativity and will to experiment, have a say when it comes to pairings and combinations. It’s the case of Re Maurì in Vietri sul Mare (Amalfi Coast), in the province of Salerno, that offers dishes made with raw ingredients and able to amaze the customer who’s oriented toward vegetarianism.
Chef Lorenzo Cuomo, who has got a profound knowledge of the products of the territory, revisits and adds value to them within a food & wine vision which won’t let down those who search for a cuisine that is open to influences and diversification.
Re Maurì’s cuisine goes beyond labels and labelling, and offers a sensory experience of taste and flavour, even to those guests who prefer a more aware and natural food consumption.
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