Ghent and Brussels have been ranked among the top cities in the world for vegetarians. The ranking was carried out by German company Nestpick, which arranges accommodation for expats.
The rankings are based on the number of vegetarian and vegan restaurants in a city, as well as the prices of vegetarian food in restaurants and shops. The list started with 200 cities, but inadequate information in different categories led to a final list of 75. London comes first with a maximum score of 100, and indeed UK cities figure in two other spots in the top ten – Glasgow (5) and Bristol (9).
Ghent comes in at number 24, despite low scores for prices, made up for by high scores for restaurant prices and the number of restaurants. The student city finishes on a score of 94.78 out of a possible 100.
Brussels is at number 34 on the list, one place below Amsterdam. Brussels does substantially better than Ghent for overall prices and especially protein prices, but does less well for the quality of the top ten vegetarian restaurants, as well as the percentage of all restaurants that are vegetarian-friendly. And Brussels scores less that 10/100 for the number of vegan-friendly restaurants.
The compilation of data was made during the pandemic, when restaurants have been hit to a greater or lesser extent in different countries. As the study points out, however, home cooking has always been important for vegetarian and vegan eaters, so pricing of foodstuffs is considered a weighty factor.
“With more and more people looking to reduce their meat consumption, cities must cater to these needs with diverse vegetarian offerings if they want to attract young talent, particularly Millennials, Gen Z, and the even younger generations to come,” commented Omer Kucukdere, CEO at Nestpick.
“We hope this index can inspire vegetarians looking to move abroad to pick the right city for their needs, or even offer travel destination ideas for those searching for the best plant-based gastronomic spots.”
Alan Hope
The Brussels Times
