A vegan in Montenegro

A series of posts where I share my exprience as vegan, in the hope to help other vegans to gather information about a certain country

I was in Montenegro in September 2021.
I traveled through all of Montenegro but the northeast part.
I traveled in a van equipped with a cooker and fridge.
I spent some time on farms where people grew their own veggies and I did eat outside several times.
Based on these pieces of information here is my experience:

Supermarkets in Montenegro

In Montenegro, there are different kinds of markets.
There are local markets, there are many small shops that sell a bit of everything, there are small to medium size supermarkets and there are big supermarkets.
The ones that you will mostly find around, are the small shops or small supermarkets.
The big supermarkets are a bit less common but within 30mins drive, you will likely find one.
I personally didn't find many vegan products in small shops or small/medium supermarkets.
What I found everywhere is:

• vegan milk
• bread-related products, also local products like Burek and a kind of voulevant thingy empty inside but make a yummy-snack
• some vegan sauces (there is a local sauce which is mostly made of tomato and peppers)
• vegan protein bar (This was a big surprise!)
• nuts
• veggie
• fruits
• pasta, beans, rice, and these kinds of classical non-animal food.

If you want something specifically vegan you need to go to a big supermarket.
The one where I found more vegan products is Iper.
Then there is Voli which has slightly fewer options and sometimes different options than Iper.

In Iper I found:

• vegan cheese. Two types
• vegan yogurt - just in the southwest part of Montenegro. In the rest of Montenegro, I couldn't find any!
• lost of vegan cookies, cereals, energy bars, sweet snacks of different kinds
• different seeds
• bulgur, quinoa
• hummus
• sometimes vegan burgers.

Was to me a surprise to find vegan cheese but not tofu or seitan.

Bio shop or other alternative shops

I must admit I didn't search extensively but in my search, I couldn't find almost any bio shops. Maybe 2 in the whole country.
I visit one in Cetinje but it had not much interesting stuff, at least for me.
Mostly was stuff bio alternative of what I could find in any supermarket like beauty products, products to clean, protein powder/bars (what is that obsession with these bars in Montenegro? :D ), and so on.
Food-wise was mostly bread products, cereals, and so on.
I found a vegan pudding which I instantly bought and stored in my van (haha). But unfortunately no yogurt or tofu :(
The woman was also not speaking English and was a bit difficult to ask for vegan products or recommendations.
Looking at apps like Happy Cow I couldn't find any vegan restaurant or shops. Mostly vegetarian-friendly places or maybe some vegan ice cream (which means: we have ice cream made just with fruit but no creamy ice cream.)

Restaurants in Montenegro

Eating outside is ok-ish, in any restaurants I found:

• pasta and pizza
• different kind of salads (you can ask to modify some of them, like removing the cheese. Is still yummy)
• grilled vegetables
• potatoes cooked in different ways (french fries, oven, ..)

Often I found:

• vegetable sandwich (if there is not, you can ask and they will probably make one for you)
• rice (here the rice is not just white rice, in my experience was yellow, probably cooked with onion and tomato. Was indeed satisfying.)

Pros about eating vegan in restaurant in Montenegro:

• Most people understand what is vegan or can understand it easily if explained.
• Probably they start to get used to tourists asking for vegan dishes, so more touristic is the area, more likely they know what a vegan is and how to cook something accordingly
• They are open to modifying a dish. Most of the time I asked for a dish without cheese or to combine two dishes (like rice + veggie or so) and people had no problem making it for me. When they thought what I was asking didn't make sense, they propose me an alternative.
• The dishes are relatively big! One dish of rice plus a tomato salad can be enough also after a day of wonder

The place where I was more satisfied eating outside was Stari Bar or the old town of Bar.
Stari Bar is a beautiful place to visit.
Has a lot of small restaurants, a bit touristy but they kept their authentic and traditional style.
Many of them offer some kind of veggie tapas and I found many yummy dishes. Was the only time I had more than 3 complete-dishes choices on the menu! Me happy :D
Two restaurants I can recommend are: Konoba Bedem and Kaldrma. Most of the guides to Montenegro restaurants will recommend those two and I personally think they are worth the reviews.

Farm and street food

In Montenegro, you can always stop at some local farm and ask for products they grow in their garden.
It will not be cheaper (unless you already establish some kind of relationship with the farmer) but is genuine.
You can find also local markets (I got suggested to go to some but I never have been so I cannot say anything about them).
People also sell fruits and veggies on the street.
The ones I tried were good. Not very cheap but ok good.
I have camped in different farms and I ate and bought veggies from their garden.
I liked that I have accommodation and food in one place and the food was grown with love.

My personal sum up:

I didn't find it difficult to eat as a vegan in Montenegro, I always had something to eat and I never worry I couldn't find food.
I did find it a bit more difficult to keep a balanced diet mostly because of the lack of tofu, thempe, seitan, vegan processed food like burgers or nuggets,... those are the food where I usually take most of my protein intakes.
While eating outside I often end up eating bready thingy like pasta, sandwiches, bruschetta which basically resolved my day in 90-100% carbs and no proteins.
The other choice while eating outside was veggies. Better than 100% carbs but still not enough proteins and variety in the diet.

For me was an overall ok experience since I could balance between eating outside and cooking in my van a meal with a more balanced intake.
Since I have a fridge and I could store all the stuff I wanted whenever I was going to bigger supermarkets.