Vegan Eating in Colombia

Minca; Bogota; Cali; & San Agustin, Colombia

Before heading into our trip, I was mildly curious about what vegan options would be available at restaurants. I knew it wouldn’t be easy and that I’d have to compromise at times, but in some countries I’ve been pleasantly surprised at the number of vegetarians & vegan restaurants available! Colombia was one of those countries. Vegan eating in Colombia wasn’t that hard – especially considering the abundance of vegetarian/vegan restaurants! Below I’ve highlighted some of my favourite places from our time in Colombia.

Minca

Before mentioning the restaurant in town, I have to mention the “restaurant” at our hostel. Casa Loma runs a full vegetarian kitchen and makes dinners for willing guests at the hostel. Guests must notify the staff before 4pm if they would like dinner that night and then at 7 or 8pm, everyone gathers around the big dining table to eat together. Our first of two meals was roasted potatoes with a spinach chimichurri-esque sauce, a tomato & cucumber salad, and one of the most flavourful wedges of tofu I’ve ever had! Our second meal (which was equally delicious) was couscous with mixed vegetables, roasted eggplant and sauteed vegetables, and a soy meat curry. The power was out on our first night there, and on the second night I forgot my camera, so unfortunately there are no pictures of either of these meals. You’ll just have to go there and try it yourself! 🙂

Location: Casa Loma – up the hill in Minca. Go left after the church.

Cost: 12,000 pesos (~$4.80USD) per person

On our way out of Minca, we stopped at the vegetarian restaurant, Mama Ina. There, they had a ‘menu of the day’ option for lunch. The starter was a bowl of patacone (plantain) soup followed by a huge plate of: rice & chickpeas, avocado & green tomato salad, a huge falafel salad, and a baked potato. Super filling and quite delicious!

Location: Mama Ina – on the main street in Minca. Turn right from the road coming from Santa Marta.

Cost: 8,000 pesos (~$3.20USD) per person

Bogota

We had an amazing menu del dia for lunch at a restaurant in Bogota called Quinua y Amaranto. It started with 2 fresh juices (maracuya & watermelon). Then we had a chickpea & carrot soup. Our main course was a salad with shredded beets, pesto rice, and a curry tofu-filled pastry. Dessert was poached uchura (grape-like fruit) in a sweet syrup.

Location: Quinua y Amaranto – 95 Calle 11 #2, La Candelaria

Cost: 15,000 pesos (~$6USD) per person. (Our hostel had a deal with this restaurant and we got a discount of 3,000 pesos. So we only paid 12,000 pesos each).

Cali

We found a vegan restaurant with a menu of the day that was so good that we went twice!! El Buen Alimento is a vegetarian restaurant in the San Antonio area of Cali. Both times that Mac and I went, we chose their set menu of the day. The first day was a cream of carrot soup, gluten faux meat with salsa, rice, a salad, maduro (fried ripe plantains), and broccoli & cauliflower. For dessert was strawberries in a simple syrup. We also got our choice of drinks – I had blackberry, and Mac had mango.

Our second lunch was similar in format to our first one. Guanabana & grape juices to start. Followed by a fava bean and carrot soup. Our main dish consisted of fried quinoa bites with a hoisin-y sauce, salad, brown rice, and a baked potato. Our dessert was the same as the previous day: strawberries in syrup.

Another awesome feature of this restaurant was the fact that they sold vegan cakes by the slice! We tried both flavours: banana chocolate chip, and a prune, coconut & walnut cake. Both were equally delicious!

Location: El Buen Alimento – Alquimia Vegetariana – Calle 2 #4 – 53B (near San Antonio Park)

Cost: 10,000 pesos ($4USD) per person. A slice of vegan cake was 4,000 pesos.

San Agustin

For a fairly small town, I was pleasantly surprised to find a fully vegetarian restaurant on the main street! Tomate offers a complete selection of food on their full menu, as well as a reasonably priced menu of the day. I opted for el menu del dia and was able to pick from two separate options. Naturally, I got one of each for Mac and I to sample. My lunch consisted of a vegetable soup, beet falafels, a salad, and fried potatoes. Mac’s lunch was a cream of spinach soup, homemade raviolis with pesto, and a salad. They both came with freshly made strawberry juice.

Though not a vegan restaurant, they were quick to provide me with egg & dairy-free options for which I was very thankful!

Location: Tomate – Calle 5 #16-02 (on the main street, towards Parque Arqueologico)

Cost: 8,000 pesos ($3.20USD) per person

As you can see, Colombia was bursting with vegetarian & vegan options! To save money, consider getting the restaurant’s menu of the day. We also had quite a bit of success at non-vegan/vegetarian restaurants. Mediterranean restaurants are quite popular and falafel wraps/salads/sandwiches are always delicious! Pizza is always another great meal. When Mac & I split a pizza, we’ll get a vegetarian pizza, half with cheese, half without.