what did you guys eat?

veg chinese. justin was there too. east coast partied hard til 9:30 pm.

I'm always weary of "vegitarian chinese"...

Overheard in Chinese restaurant:

customer: "Does this have pork in it?"
waiter: "Oh yah yah... pork? Yah, it got pork..."
customer: "Oh, cuz we're Jewish and we can't eat pork..."
waiter: "Yah, it no pork!!"
customer: "What?"
waiter: "Yah yah... you like it!"

precicely why i don't order '"fake meat" items. all veg, sauce, rice for this girl.

What Missy left out: "He was sitting at a different table, and he didn't know we were there, but we were all eating simultaneously and we had him in view the whole time, so I consider this having dinner together."

I repeat: STALKERS.

;p

On the subject of vegetarian Chinese food: there is a restaurant near me called Veggie Heaven (answering the question, "Where do vegetables go when they die?"). They have a big menu, and some of the dishes would fall into the "fake meat" category, but it's all very tasty.

Anyway, up by the front door they have some pro-Falun Gong newspapers and other literature, including some pamphlets about vegetarianism that have some rather non-appetizing material. I remember the first time I went there, making the mistake of flipping through one of these and then spending the meal trying to get the slaughterhouse photos out of my memory.

I think we should just keep this thread going forever.

I am a vegetarian and I always seem to have a rough time when I visit Japan.

Me: "Does this have meat in it?" or "Niku wa haitte imasuka?"

Waiter: "No there is no meat in it."

Me: "Then what is this in my noodles?"

Waiter: "Fish"

Me: "Isn't fish meat?"

Waiter: "No, seafood is not meat."

I dealt with that at every restaurant I went to in Japan........ ahhh, the life of a vegetarian.

that is ALWYAYS my fear about japan, I think I am going to live on7-11 noodles there.

Ah I know those worries all too well....

For Chinese vegetarian food, it simply doesn't get any better than Taiwan. There's a large population of vegetarians (for religious reasons) and there are some incredible veggie places.

In terms of Japan, well, the options aren't that numerous, and there's meat or fish in nearly everything, but it can be done. One thing we were bummed about is how tough it is to find steamed or boiled veggies at a lot of the cheaper places. Of course at more $$$ places you can order a side of veggies or a nice salad. But it's kind of surprising that veggies don't seem to be a big part of the regular cuisine. Mind you we were mostly eating at places that cost 1000 yen or less per person. Only way to stave off bankruptcy when traveling in Japan for 2 weeks....

Anyway there are a bunch of staples that will get you through the day: soba, cold udon (the hot noodles are in a soup that's typically laced with meat broth), yasai (veggie) tempura (but make sure they don't include ebi (shrimp), and tamago (egg) dong, which I recently discovered. It's basically a runny egg on rice. The best I had was at a small place next to Charactics - one of those places where you buy a ticket from a machine and give it to the server. Not only is the tamago dong delicious, but it only costs around 280 yen!!!!

Of course there are also bagels, sandwiches (Subway makes the best we found, for a good price too), and that sort of thing.

Oh yeah, if you want veggie ramen BRING YOUR OWN. That's what we had to do. There's ramen in every 7-11, but it's fish, pork, etc.

Then there's fruit and fresh veggies at supermarkets. PB&J is always good in a bind...

Koji is a veg living in Japan. He might have some good tips.

Like ratcrtur was saying, a lot of people will understand "bejetarian" or "sho jin" but may still think bacon or ham are OK. So even if someone says something doesn't have meat or fish, make sure to ask if there is bacon, ham, or fish flakes (kitsue, I think...can't remember off the top of my head).

Hey Missy did Ramos bring any Pies for desert?

Im a bacon-atarian....you could classify me as a porkivore.

I love mammal flesh, bird flesh,crustecean flesh and fish flesh...and I do like me some gator meat once in a while....and back home back in the day plenty of rabbits
and horsemeat snausages...o yes oh my....yummy little baby lambses too.

Are you friends with Ted Nugent?

I'm not a vegetarian, but I can imagine how rough it would be to travel there if I was one. One thing you might want to try is an om-rice, basically an omelet stuffed with rice with some sort of tomato sauce. I'm pretty sure they're meatless.

On the flip side, things I've eaten in Japan: horse, whale, chicken tail, pig's tongues. (there's a poem in there somewhere)

i may be not be a recent traveler to japan, but i'd certainly avoid omelettes if i were still a vegetarian and all.

seeing as they are made from egg.

Many vegetarians eat eggs.

Vegans avoid dairy.

There are many levels to being a vegetarian.........

I don't eat meat but I do enjoy dairy. Not that hardcore, but hardcore enough.

Vegans (which are really hardcore) exclude all animal products from their diet and clothing, whether or not this involves the actual death of an animal.....

.....and they have also been known to hug a tree.

hullo

ovo lactos eat eggs and milk products. (please use the appropriate terminology if you are going to be picky about it)

ovos eat eggs

lactos eat dairy

REAL vegetarians don't pussyfoot around the difference. they don't eat animal, ovum, or dairy. that shit is left to the people who can't decide.

no offense, but theres really no pussy footing around for REAL vegetarians.

I'm not trying to sell anyone anything, so I'll just go ahead and call myself a vegetarian (going on 15 years+) and walk happily through life, m'k?

Being vegetarian in Japan is tough, as people here do not know the meaning of the term. As some people have mentioned before, ham, bacon, fish, and seafood are often considered vegetables here. If you're veg and coming to Japan, I would recommend looking for vegetarian or macrobiotic restaurants. These are getting popular recently, and they are all of course safe. Italian and Indian are also very popular here, and they usually have a few vegetable dishes. If you're strict, you should avoid any kind of noodles, as the soup is made from either meat or dashi (fish base, usually bonito). Believe it or not, yaki niku (Korean barbeque) restaurants sometimes have a lot of vegetable side dishes, some of which you can cook yourself on the bbq. I'd be happy to help any vegetarians with food advice in Japan if you're ever planning a trip. Just get in touch.

Koji

Good info. How about cold soba and udon w/out soup?

Most types of Japanese noodles are made with eggs, too, right?

Hey, I've been a vegetarian for years and didn't know it...

ham is definately one of my favorite vegetables.

We have the same Veggie Heaven in Austin, for some reason they love selling their shirts at 5 bucks a pop. The Protein 2000 dish for the chain is probably the best. There is one in Dallas but they do not go by 'Veggie Heaven" The pic of the lady looking at you as you eat is freaking nuts. Has that Scooby Doo effect. I have seen her on cable access talking...

Actually, I don't think so. Soba and the clear rice noodles definitely aren't - at least not the ones I've bought over here.

One of my favorite places in NYC is House of Vegetarian on (I believe) Mott St. Huge menu, all vegetarian. The seaweed soup is great.