Vegetarian

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Vegetarian
Feb 24, 2008 12:17
guest12972	Nihao! I will be going to Beijing or Shanghai for college in the fall, but I'm a vegetarian. What are some very healthy dishes I could order just about anywhere? I will eat eggs on the occasion, though...

Feb 24, 2008 19:49

TOMSPENCER
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Join Date: Feb 8, 2005
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Beijing has a fair number of vegetarian restaurants (with a reasonable number of Budhists in the population, the concept of vegetarianism is not alien to the Chinese), and you would do well to look-up one or two before you travel. In standard, non-vegetarian restaurants, the staff would not generally expect to meet a vegetarian customer and I've seen many an amusing encounter when vegetarians have tried, through broken Chinese and the power of mime, to explain the concept.

If you are not a particularly strict vegetarian, then there are plenty of dishes in just about every restaurant that will suit. The Chinese diet is largely based around vegetables, noodles and rice. Fish and meat, though increasing in popularity, have traditionally been expensive, luxury items for many, and, as such, you'll find plenty of dishes made without either.

I said "if you are not a particularly strict vegetarian", because in small, street-side restaurants in particular, you cannot guarantee that your meat-free food will have been cooked separately from the the meat, or that the pan and cooking utensils used for cooking meat will be cleaned before being used to cook vegetables.

It is possible to get some dishes that normally include a little meat, to be made without meat, but it can be hit-or-miss. Restaurants will usually try to make food to your specifications, though I must say that some restaurants are better at this than others. At some places the staff just look confused when you tell them you're a vegetarian, that you don't eat meat, that you don't want any meat, and please don't put any meat in the food. "How about chicken?", they'll say. "No, that's MEAT". "A bit of fish, then?" - it can go on for hours. A vegetarian friend of mine (who speaks quite good Chinese) used to order his food and add a list of things he didn't want: "I don't want chicken, I don't want lamb, I don't want fish, I don't want beef, I don't want pork..." - the restaurant staff always listened patiently and 9 times out of 10 he'd get meat-free food.

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