Hiking the E5 (Germany, Austria, Italy)

[dormouse]

My boyfriend and I have plans to hike part of the E5 trail in Europe this summer from Lake Constance on the German/Swiss/Austrian border to Verona, Italy. He's attempted to do this once before, but his hiking partner got shin splints and he had to stop. What's nice about this trail is the existence of alpine huts along the way that serve food and beer, in addition to providing shelter. I like that there's no tent camping involved.

Does anybody here have any experience with doing something like this as a vegan? Vegan tips for any of the countries involved, in addition to alpine hiking, is certainly welcome! My boyfriend is a vegetarian and said it was no trouble to get vegetarian food, but that the vegetarian food often features cheese quite prominently.

I already obtained vegan hiking boots at least. So that's one concern off my list.

 

[Andy_T]

Wow, that sounds pretty awesome! Never knew there was such a thing!

My personal limited experience with hiking in the mountains in Austria last August was that you better pack some vegan snacks. The beer, dry bread rolls and French Fries are often the only vegan alternative in alpine huts.

True, they might have sauerkraut that is not prepared with animal ingredients, if you are very lucky (likely it might have bacon or some other weird ****), but other than that, the food in alpine huts does not really cater to vegans

However, if you come to a village, watch out for the "Billa" chain of supermarkets, they normally have a sortiment of vegan food (e.g. Wilmersburger cheese and Vegavita mock meats), and there is normally one in every village that has 500 inhabitants in Austria. So I typically stopped there and bought some bread rolls (those are awesome in Austria) and made my own sandwiches.

 

[Second Summer]

It's a good idea to try out your hiking boots in the wild closer to home before you go. That way you have a chance to get new ones if they are completely unsuitable, or to adjust them or make adaptations if necessary.

The same goes for the food you will bring as well as any cooking equipment. I have heard about vegans who live well on very simple foods, including "grazing" on lots of nuts and seeds. Also, I think nuts can be made more palatable / digestible by soaking? Not sure whether that is practical while hiking, I've never tried it.

Anyway, key to success is obviously going to be planning and preparations, including learning relevant languages.

 

[Andy_T]

Hmm ... this might be helpful, if worse comes to worst...
OK, changed the link....

Google

 

[Second Summer]

Hmm ... this might be helpful, if worse comes to worst...

Hmm, that embed/link doesn't seem to work ...