Vegetarian/Vegans outside of North America -- What's your experience?

I live in North America, but go to Cyprus every summer because that's where my family's from. Last summer was the first time I went being vegan, and I must say, I was really nervous about it. If you don't know where Cyprus is, it's an island under Turkey that's associated with Greece. And Greeks, for the most part, love to eat, and love their meat. I'm not a huge fan of salads and fruit, so that didn't exactly help.

But, surprisingly, it wasn't that bad. In Athens, when I was with a friend, the supermarket by her house didn't even have veggie burgers. I was lucky enough to not only find them, but vegan ones. And soy milk, too. It's not exactly that close to my house, but it's not that far, either, so I don't complain. Eating out may or may not be a problem, depending on where you go. But pizza hut makes pizza hut without cheese... oh, yeah.

And i Cyprus, a lot of people are into the whole entire beans-lentils-potatoes thing (not all together), so that's good.

So, it's more difficult than it is in NY (not very shocking), but definitely not impossible. Extremely unpopular; I don't even think I've ever seen a vegetarian in Cyprus. People tend to either bother me or ask stupid/annoying questions. But, then again, I get that everywhere I go.

Jezebel - did you see my answer about Skittles a couple of weeks back?

In answer to THIS - I am in Scotland, and it is only as big a deal as one makes it. I'm not really sure exactly what you are trying to find out...?

I find it hard to believe you're going to hear from people who *have* to eat meat. I doubt those people are sitting in front of computers. ;)