3 Food you have to Eat in Bologna if you are Vegetarian (and where to find them)

Bologna is a difficult place for vegetarians, apparently.
​Most of the classic dishes of Bolognese cuisine have meat as the main ingredient.
And if you walk around our food markets you will see salami and mortadella on every corner.

So if you don't eat meat, how you can survive here?​

Follow my lead and prepare your fork.

1. Friggione

Onion (cipolla) is an essential ingredient in Bolognese cuisine.
It's cheap and always available in the kitchen and it's produced all over Bologna countryside (Medicina's white onion has a very good taste and reputation).

Many traditional preparations involve the use of onions, such as tagliatelle, and they are one of the bases of meat broth.

Onions are also the main ingredient of friggione, a sauce made with tomatoes, sugar, lard and salt, whose official recipe was registered in 1886.
Like most of the bolognese recipes, it takes a while to be prepared, and it changes from town to town (in Modena they use peppers too) and from grandmother to grandmother.

Nowadays it's not hard to find it in the lighter version with olive oil instead of lard and, even if the purists will look away, I'm sure you will love this simple sauce on a slice of hot bread.

Where to eat it
You can find it in almost all the classic osterie in Bologna since its fame.
At Trattoria Collegio di Spagna it's quite delicious.

Trattoria Collegio di Spagna
Via Collegio di Spagna, 15, 40123
Tel. +39 051 6448825

2. Tortelloni

Pay attention to the 'O'. Tortelloni are a filled pasta with ricotta cheese, egg and parsley usually served with butter, sage and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.

The second 'O' makes the difference: don't confuse tortelloni with their smaller brother tortellini. They have meat inside and they are cooked and served with meat broth.

​As it's common for most Italian recipes, this one shows some changes according to the place where it is cooked: so you can find tortelloni filled with pumpkin and amaretto cookies in the area of Mantova and Ferrara, or with spinach in Modena.

Where to eat them
Oltre, near Mercato delle Erbe food market, serves tortelloni handmade by Monica and Daniela, real masters of fresh pasta.

Oltre
​Via Majani 1, 40122 Bologna
Tel. +39 051 006 6049
www.oltrebologna.it

3. Piadina

Do you know that all our food tours in Bologna and Modena are great also for vegetarians?