Carrefour seems to have one of the largest varieties of vegan products, assuming it’s a big supermarket and not an express one.

You can find the whole lot of alternatives to dairy products: milk, milk coffee, yogurt, cheese, cream, tofu, margarine. One thing I haven’t really seen in other countries but here are abundant are the vegan pâtés and salami made with mushrooms, soya, olives, peppers, spinach or green onion. I’ve never tried any of them since they are highly processed foods and I try to avoid them, but they can be a better alternative to the meat products.

There are vegetable hot dogs, sausages, schnitzels, burgers, lasagna and of course falafel, humus and tofu spread that can be eaten as quick snacks.

Another food specific to Eastern Europe is zacusca (a vegetable spread made of eggplant, sauteed onions, tomato paste and peppers). Traditionally zacusca used to be made at home in large quantities and consumed over winter, but lately because the whole process is time consuming, it’s became commercially available and people buy it ready made. Another traditionally home made snack that was introduced in supermarkets is the eggplant salad.

In terms of desserts, there aren’t many specifically vegan options, but you can find some vegan sweets scattered throughout the store: they have vegan ice cream from Das Eis, frozen vegan fruit and chocolate cakes, a frozen apple pie from Linco (a Romanian brand) that you can just pop in the oven, peanut butter, chia, quinoa and humus chips, protein bars, halva (a popular dessert in many eastern European and Asian countries. In Romania it’s made from sunflower seeds and can also have vanilla, cocoa or pistachio nuts), simple biscuits, pretzels, jams.