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Less than two weeks before our first camping trip to France - yay!  I've started a grocery shopping list for food items to take with us, but I'm wondering if the French supermarkets cater for special diets.  My husband for health reasons can't eat dairy products and doesn't eat meat.  He eats fish/shellfish and will eat chicken if there isn't anything else he can eat.  For obvious reasons we will be doing our own cooking instead of eating out, plus it will be cheaper.  Does the supermarkets stock items like soya milk and quorn type products? It doesn't have to be British brands.  I will be taking some soya milk but unsure how much due to lack of space.

I know we will get by with what the supermarkets have to offer but any help and advice will be appreciated.

We've never found Quorn or other pseudo-meat in supermarkets. We've never looked for soya milk because it is only this year that my wife has moved on to that from milk. - so it's good to find that it's available.

Other links and phrases at http://french.about.com/od/culture/a/vegetarianism.htm 

Quote: Originally posted by Newoverseascamper on 23/5/2011

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Less than two weeks before our first camping trip to France - yay!  I've started a grocery shopping list for food items to take with us, but I'm wondering if the French supermarkets cater for special diets.  My husband for health reasons can't eat dairy products and doesn't eat meat.  He eats fish/shellfish and will eat chicken if there isn't anything else he can eat.  For obvious reasons we will be doing our own cooking instead of eating out, plus it will be cheaper.  Does the supermarkets stock items like soya milk and quorn type products? It doesn't have to be British brands.  I will be taking some soya milk but unsure how much due to lack of space.

I know we will get by with what the supermarkets have to offer but any help and advice will be appreciated.

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Quote: Originally posted by chrissie7 on 24/5/2011

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We have never had difficulty finding soya products. We don't look for Quorn as it contains egg, and so would not be acceptable to the vegan in the family. Soya milk, yogurt and spreads seem easy to find, and we have found a good variety of vegan products in the 'dietique' section, along with products for people on special diets (gluten-free, diabetic etc). Having said that, it might be worth taking a few basics just to cover for the odd day, in case you find yourself unable to get to a big supermarket.

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Thanks everyone, I was aware that the French don't really cater for special diets very well.  We experienced problems in the French area of Canada a few years ago, I think they thought my husband was from another planet!

My husband isn't vegan, most quorn products only contain egg white and he can safely eat that.  I know he won't starve as he eats plenty of fish.  I'm going to take two cartons of soya milk and hope they last for 9 days otherwise he can do without for a couple of days (it won't hurt him)