REVEALED: Spain’s Top 10 vegetarian and vegan cities

GRANADA has been declared the most vegetarian city in Spain, according to a new study.

It is joined by Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Palma de Mallorca in the Top Three of Spain’s ‘most veggie’ destinations.

Barcelona beats Madrid for the most non-meat restaurants and is also the fourth most veggie city overall.

Meanwhile, Catalunya and Valencia are Spain’s top veggie regions, according to research by vegan and veggie website www.happycow.net. and Holidu.

Salamanca is the fifth most anti-meat metropolis followed by Santiago, Girona, Tarragona, Valencia and Alicante.

Calculations were made by comparing population sizes against the proportion of city eateries with vegan or veggie menus.

Granada has one of these restaurants per 17,905 inhabitants, which according to researchers is a ‘pleasant surprise’, given the city’s fame for meaty delicacies.

Researchers also found that 7.8% of Spaniards claim to have reduced their meat consumption.

They discovered that 6.3% of the country claims to be ‘flexitarian’, meaning they opt for a plant-based diet with the merest nod to their carnivore origins.

It comes as just 1.3% of those polled said they were vegetarian, while just 0.2% identified as vegan.

The report also highlights changing Spanish food habits, such as plant-based snack foods like cabbage chips and seaweed products.

Research was conducted for World Vegan Month in November, when thousands of carnivores take the Veg Pledge and switch to plant-based diets.