I am a vegetarian. It came about because I was stuck in a traffic jam on my way home from a Spurs match when I was a teenager. The car I was a passenger in (belonging to Steve Silk, whatever happened to him?) was trundling along the North Circular road (the 1960's/70's equivalent hell on earth to match the M25 of today) and a cattle transporter was alongside us for too long for me to feel comfortable. I could see the complete terror in the eyes of the cattle on board, presumably on their way to their death. I find it hard to imagine how anyone could fail to have been moved by the sight. I went home to my family, announced I was going to become a vegetarian and have lived a vegetarian lifestyle ever since.

Travelling as a vegetarian is complicated because so many of the world's cultures find it hard to understand why someone would choose not to eat meat. It's possible to tell how easy or difficult it will be to find a nutritious vegetarian meal just by the country's name.....

USA - very mixed
Italy - easy
Turkey/Middle East - easy
Greece - middling
France - impossible
Germany - getting easier
Spain - dire!

This is really odd because this photo was taken in one of the most abundant fruit and vegetable markets I've ever come across and yet Spanish meals in restaurants seem to consist of slabs of meat or fish and, if you are lucky, a few potatoes! This market is heaving with Catalans buying great bags of glorious, unusual vegetables that are as fresh and wholesome as it is possible to imagine yet they don't end up on plates in restaurants which leads me to believe that Spanish home cuisine is much better than what they eat out.

On this visit, I have detected a small organic movement and we did enjoy a splendid meal in an organic vegetarian restaurant that was certainly not there in my last visit.

It's so frustrating that you see all this wonderful produce yet find it very difficult to sample this style of food.