I once posted about Ivy austerity, in the sense of neither drinking or smoking.  The vegetarian diet, it seems to me, is both clean and wholesome.  They certainly don't seem to get it in France.  In Italy, on the other hand, you can live like a prince on rice and pasta dishes.  I've tried it, twice - three times even - and have failed miserably each time.  One of my favourite meals is the vegetable biriani from the excellent Bangladeshi round the corner.  £5.50 including bhajees and there's enough for three people.  Vegetarian kosher food in the Venetian ghetto is also superb; eaten with their home-made iced tea in the company of the strictly Orthodox. 
Then the carniverous side of me demands salt beef with horse radish, roasted lamb on a Sunday, sausage sandwiches from the van. 
Then there's the difficulty of the 'veggie' who eats fish and chicken...