What do you first think of when you try to imagine yourself eating a cool snack in the beautiful countryside of Panama?
There’s only one right answer! It’s fruits, fruits and even more fruits!
For us two German vegetarians who are also used to a rather boring fruit situation at home, Panamá seamed to be an easy country to live a vegetarian lifestyle!
1. Fruits
Papaya, mango, pineapple, passion fruit, banana… The fruit options in Panama are just endless!
But even after weeks of straying through all the local farmer’s markets we always managed to find a new type of fruit that we hadn’t tried yet.
Alongside to the more common tropical fruits like mangos and pineapples you will soon realize that your body has been craving for pipas, rambutans (sweet-sour with a grape like texture), guave (fruity and slightly floral, like a strawberry mixed with a pear), or guanabanas your whole life and you just had never known it!
For every vegetarian but also for any other human being this is like fruit-heaven on earth!
2. Common Panamanian street food
When you walk through the Streets of Panama, looking to the left and right you will notice that the average menu of the restaurants, bars and street food trucks are pretty much ruled by different dishes with “pollo” (Spanish for chicken).
Meat
Not only chicken but also other dishes with “carne” (meat) are very well known and served in the streets of Panama City, David, Boquete, Santiago, and other major cities.
Especially the interior communities in Panama are majority Latino communities based in agriculture, so next to fruits and vegetables they enjoy mainly livestock (cows and pigs), chicken, rice and beans.
When we were walking through the city trying to find a fast snack on an empty stomach, we were at first a little bummed because there didn’t seemed to be many great options to chose from if you are a vegetarian and you are looking for a nutritious meal. However the “basic meal” rice with beans and meat was served on every corner.
Fried food
Apart from all the meat we noticed that the Panamanian guys have a tendency to prefer fried food over boiled. Everything seemed to be fried: from yucas to patacones (bananas). For breakfast it is very common to eat “hojaldras” (fried simple dough, not sweet).
Don’t get me wrong, this does not mean the food is no good! You should definitely stop at the little food places to try a little bit of yucca root or to get a bag of the famous patacones.
3. Eating outside: Vegetarian/Vegan friendly restaurants
Even though the common Panamanian cuisine doesn’t include a lot of vegetarian or even vegan dishes and many restaurants barely have vegetarian options, we found some amazing places you should definitely consider visiting!!
Fortunately, the vegetarian/vegan lifestyle is a trend that’s finally also reaching Panama little by little. The number of people who are interested in an animal-free diet is increasing and restaurants include more and more vegan options in their menus. Still, it is not as easy as in Berlin or London to find good vegetarian food spots so a little research before going out to eat might be helpful.
The following recommendations are all in the surroundings of the Lost and Found Hostel. Both David and Boquete can be visited in a day-trip and especially Boquete offers great vegetarian and vegan food.
Beside these places, you can surely find amazing restaurants in big cities like Panama City (you should definitely try Purolove and Loving Hut but there are many many more) and in touristic places like Bocas del Toro (try Leaf Eaters Restaurant and Azul Restaurant).
Eating Recommendations: Boquete
Boquete is definitely a good place to go if you’re looking for vegetarian or vegan restaurants and a must-see place in Panama anyways! It’s a very cute little town just at the bottom of Volcán Baru which is influenced by European/American immigrants and tourists. Therefore, you can find everything from Italian Pizzerias to Seafood, American Burger places and even a German bakery.
The Garden Restaurant and The Rock are only two of many restaurants that we’d like to recommend. If you have more time in Boquete, you should go for a walk, explore the town and discover all the other food spots as well!
The Garden Boquete
The Garden Restaurant has a beautiful interior setup, however because of Covid you can only dine outside currently - still a nice atmosphere. They have Pizza, Hamburgers, Fries and homemade bakery stuff and you can tell that everything is prepared with a lot of love. Don’t miss the desert though! The cheesecake is claimed to be one of the best in Panama or even the world. We tried the vegetarian Burger, onion fries and the sweet potato fries. 10/10!!! You can also put together your own salad with all the ingredients and dressing you want, which we loved!
Sugar and Spice
Our personal favorite! Their variety of freshly baked pastries, cakes, muffins and pies is amazing. Makes it honestly hard to chose. If you are a coffee lover you will find yourself loving the cappuccino, latte, mocacchino and so on. They also have a vegan milk option and the pricing of the goods is very fair and actually not expensive at all. Our very first order was the pecan pie and we’ve been dreaming about another slice of it since then. On our last day we noticed that they even sell freshly made sourdough bread so we’ll definitely come back there for another visit.
The Rock
The Rock is also a great restaurant when it comes to vegan food. Although, it might be a bit expensive in my opinion, the location and the quality of the food make it definitely worth a visit!
Eating Recommendations: David
Unfortunately, David doesn’t offer as many great food options as Boquete. However, it is easy to reach from the hostel, taking the bus for about an hour.
Restaurante Vegetariano Taiwanés
This restaurant is a nice, small place in David, the closest city to the Lost and Found Hostel. Even though, it doesn’t look like the fancy place you might expect, the food is super delicious and reasonable priced. Moreover, the owners are very lovely and will fulfill all your wishes. You will definitely love this place, even more if you’re traveling on a low budget!
Healthy Burger
Healthy Burgers offers a variation of vegetarian/vegan burgers as well as rice dishes, soups and fruit and milk shakes. Everything looks and sounds so good! We were having trouble making a decision and we will for sure come back to try all the other options.
After a while, we realized that we might not have to live off only fruits and vegetables while traveling through Panama.
There is actually a decent amount of great restaurants where you can find all the tasty food your body is craving. Thanks to the influence of different cultures the cuisine is quite diverse and offers a culinary adventure. Make sure to try out our recommendations when being in town and enjoy!
Love, Tabea and Paulina