No meating of minds  Gorgeous scenery, secluded beaches and
historic places are all very well, but when I go overseas I like
to do one thing in particular: eat. But this simple pleasure has
been troublesome of late; ever since, in fact, I started going
out with a vegetarian.  Perhaps we're spoiled in Britain, where
virtually any eating place has at least one meat-free option on
the menu. It's often less easy abroad: yet it was only recently
in nearby, free-thinking Paris that I realised I was dating a
member of a bizarre social substratum, as waiters responded to
vegetarian requests with a haughty incomprehension not seen at
home for decades.  Does my desire to find my girlfriend a decent
meal abroad make me, as one reader accused, a cultural
imperialist? I like to think not.  In many poorer countries such
as India and Thailand, vegetarian cooking dominates. So what's
Europe's excuse? Spain is, by and large, beyond redemption. Even
in comparatively vegetarian-friendly Italy, I've had to
discreetly divert a pi