Goodbye schnitzel?

The planned vegan cooking apprenticeship divides the catering industry

Is the schnitzel threatened with extinction?

(Bild: Lauber/laumat.at Matthias)

(Bild: Scharinger Daniel)

Swap roast meat for tofu and hash for vegetables: a meat-free cooking course is to be offered from next year. The restaurateurs in Upper Austria are divided and vacillate between praise and concern. In any case, there is plenty of discussion surrounding the whole issue.

Until now, the "Bratl obligation" has applied: Anyone doing an apprenticeship as a chef has to prepare roast pork, schnitzel and the like, i.e. handle meat. This is now set to change: In fall 2025, a vegan cooking apprenticeship is set to start for the first time, as reported. What do Upper Austrian industry representatives and restaurateurs have to say about the planned three-year apprenticeship, officially called "Specialist in Vegetarian Cuisine"?

Ines Wozniek runs a vegan restaurant in Wels.

(Bild: Lauber/laumat.at Matthias)

Yes, BUT
"We are happy when there are new apprenticeships and modernizations," says Gerold Royda, chairman of the tourism and leisure industry in Upper Austria, who sees a big but: There are still no standardized recipes for vegan dishes. But that is exactly what is required for an apprenticeship. "Everyone who learns to cook knows what a sauce tartare or a hollandaise sauce is. That doesn't exist in vegan cuisine. I can't just say, cook me a vegan sauce, but I don't care how," says Royda.

There is still no explanation of the curriculum, there are no locations for the vocational schools and no documents for the exams.

Gerold Royda, Spartenobmann Tourismus- und Freizeitwirtschaft in OÖ

The industry is booming
Bernhard Falkner, who has been running the Front Food burger store in Linz for ten years, one of the few purely vegan restaurants in the country, sees things differently: "It was very hard to survive for the first four years. But now we have four times as much turnover as in the first year." Falkner is delighted about the meat-free chef apprenticeship: "This enables many young people who have a problem with cooking with meat to still do an apprenticeship in gastronomy and will help to combat the shortage of skilled workers."

Ines Wozniek, a vegan landlady in Wels, also welcomes the planned law: "I think it's great that Austria is being so brave and offering the apprenticeship. We could become a pioneer."