The Prado Museum in Madrid now offers a vegan tour, which is followed by a glimpse of Spain’s plant-based tapas in a local tavern.
The “vegan look at Prado” tour highlights 15 animal-friendly pieces of art located in the world-famous Spanish national art museum. The tour is led by art historian Jaime Sánchez and Diane Esteban—the founder of Madrid Vegan Travel, a plant-based tour and travel company.
“Animals and their fantastic legends and mythologies are the protagonists of many of the museum’s masterpieces,” explains Madrid Vegan Travel. “Let’s discover a different Prado, much more enjoyable, real and humanistic.”
The tour takes approximately three hours and involves 2 kilometers of walking. It also safely guides visitors past particularly bloody images—including depictions of hunting and other cruelty—in favor of more animal-friendly artwork.
The vegan Prado tour includes specific paintings by Cerquozzi, Meninas, Goya, and El Bosco. Madrid Vegan Travel says: “many paintings and stories will connect you to a Vegan world,” says the company “Where words like justice, emotions, conservationism, planet, and animals are the main ideas.”
According to Madrid Vegan Travel, the tour then takes visitors to a typical Madrilenian tavern in Lavapies for vegan tapas. The meal includes five different varieties of tapas, including a Spanish omelet called de patata, croquet, calamari, patatas bravas, and olives.
Madrid Vegan Travel donates five percent of its dividends to various projects that save and rehabilitate abused animals. The company also offers a full tapas tour of Madrid, vegan cooking classes, and other experiences.
Veganism in Spain
In Spain, even the government is now investing in vegan alternatives. The government-supported NEOTEC technology fund recently announced that it will finance Foods For Tomorrow. The Barcelona-based startup is the creator of the popular vegan meat brand Heura.
As reported by El Pais, consultancy firm Lantern carried out a survey of 2,000 people living in Spain 2017. It found that 6.3 percent of participants self-identify as flexitarian, while approximately 1.3 percent of this group are vegetarian. Vegans make up 0.2 percent. The survey also found that the majority of those who identify as vegans are aged 20-35.
Globally, millennials are one of the leading demographics consuming vegan and plant-based foods. According to a 2018 report by Ernst & Young, around 30 percent of young Swedes are swapping animal products for plant-based alternatives to minimize their environmental impact.
