cuisines similar to vegan diet?

[xjohnx]

hey, lately i have been out of town and been in many situations where there are no vegan options at restraunts and maybe one vegetarian option. i've been mainly to american places that do burgers and steaks and all that jazz and one chinese restraunt where it was less difficult (even though they considered dishes with oyster sauce or shrimp to be vegetarian). i was wondering if there is any specific cuisine that offeres much in the way of meatless food. any help would amazing.

[Seaside]

That's what is so ironic about ethnic restaurants. In countries like Mexico, China, India, for example, where most of the people are too poor to afford "meat" every day the indigenous cuisine is largely vegan or vegetarian. When restaurants are opened in wealthy nations, where everyone is accustomed to eating dead animals at every meal, the restaurant owners must adapt the recipes to this or go out of business!

[mophoto]

i rarely eat out but i have found a few thai places that can accommodate me - the one place i used to go to for thai would always write no fish sauce on the carry out box, to let me know. i got to thinks about cross contamination and just stopped eating at any thai restaurants. my pad thai is getting better- not as good as the restaurants!

i trust no one:)

[Artichoke47]

Mediterranean

[harpy]

South Indian restaurants and Lebanese ones are good stand-bys here but I don't know if you would have any of those where you are...Pizzerias will often make a vegetable pizza without cheese on request, but whether the result is vegan is a moot point as some put animal products in their dough and tomato sauce.

[DianeVegan]

Indian, but ask them to use vegetable oil instead of ghee.

[twinkle]

In the UK they still call it ghee - it's vegetable ghee or butter ghee these days :)

[tipsy]

the thai, indian, and chinese places around me have little to no animal products,

and the restaurants are very willing to work with me...

like at a chinese place, the "white sauce" will usually be vegan... the brown sauce is usually oyster sauce...

ask if you can sub white sauce.

the thai place i like to go has grilled eggplant.... mmmmm.

[Tigerlily]

Lebanese/Middle Eastern/Arabic. :)

The following should be vegan but always double check: hummous, the pita bread, falafel (especially check about the sauces, some less traditional places might use mayonaise or something crazy instead of the seasme seed paste tahini!), tabooli salad, m'juddera (I have no idea how to spell it but it's a lentil and bulgur/rice dish...once again, ask if they might use butter or animal broth for flavourings :(), babaganoush, fatoosh salad, lentil soup (ask about the broths), hmmmmmm. There is a lot of vegan/vaganize-able Arabic dishes but a lot aren't served in restaurants. :)

[ConsciousCuisine]

Lebanese/Middle Eastern/Arabic. :)

The following should be vegan but always double check: hummous, the pita bread, falafel (especially check about the sauces, some less traditional places might use mayonaise or something crazy instead of the seasme seed paste tahini!), tabooli salad, m'juddera (I have no idea how to spell it but it's a lentil and bulgur/rice dish...once again, ask if they might use butter or animal broth for flavourings :(), babaganoush, fatoosh salad, lentil soup (ask about the broths), hmmmmmm. There is a lot of vegan/vaganize-able Arabic dishes but a lot aren't served in restaurants. :)


MMMM, Mjedra! I LOVE it! I make it with lots of lemon, lentils and rice :)

Also, ask if the falafel is cooked in a separate fryer! I have been at places in the past where they passed all other checkpoints but when I got to the place of asking where the vegan falafel was cooked, it came to be known that it was fried in the same place as animals and animal fluids :(

Really, so many cuisines can be totally vegan but it is common for people to use bits and pieces of animals in everything... animal useage is so prevalent that people put them in the most unlikely of places... It's so sad :(

[sylkan]

hey, lately i have been out of town and been in many situations where there are no vegan options at restraunts and maybe one vegetarian option. i've been mainly to american places that do burgers and steaks and all that jazz and one chinese restraunt where it was less difficult (even though they considered dishes with oyster sauce or shrimp to be vegetarian). i was wondering if there is any specific cuisine that offeres much in the way of meatless food. any help would amazing.

Ethiopian food!!! Every Ethiopian restaurant I've eaten in offers a fully vegan menu as an alternative to the meat dishes including vegan sambosas. The food is fantastic!! I could actually eat there every day I think. I've learned to make some of the dishes but the injera bread eludes me yet.

sylkan

[Tigerlily]

MMMM, Mjedra! I LOVE it! I make it with lots of lemon, lentils and rice :)



Make a salad and mix it with the mjedra! All mixed up, it's so good!

[Mystic]

[QUOTE=Tigerlily]Lebanese/Middle Eastern/Arabic. :)

QUOTE]

I just had a pita wrap w/ baba gannouj, hummus, chilli sauce and tabbouli. Then I had 2 date and almond rolls YUMMMMMMM

[indianvegan]

Ofcourse, Indian Vegetarian menu, just ask them not to use Ghee,Butter,Curd and Paneer(animal milk tofu).Simple you will enjoy.

You can also go for South Indian Menu(Idli,Sambhar,Dosa,Vada,Uttapam a lot)

In Indian restaurants getting Vegan food is not tough.

Manish Jain

[indianvegan]

Ghee :- Animal Milk based is called as " Pure/Desi Ghee". Vegetable Oil based (i.e.Hydrogenated one) is called as vegetable ghee or Dalda also in part. Vegetable ghee is bad for health.

Instead, ask them to use Vegetable Oil. In most restaurants here, Soyabean Oil is used..But at home mostly, Peanut Oil,Sunflower Oil,Coconut Oil,Mustard seed Oil is used.

Manish Jain

[mophoto]

thanks for the defination on ghee- i have never been to an indian restaurant but i plan to soon.

i love mjedra- i get it often at the only vegan friendly place near my work. today was awful, the food is usually so good. my sister got lentil soup that was cold, a salad that had way too much garlic (we love garlic) and my damn mjedra sandwich smelled like meat. i took one bite of it and wanted to throw up. no one else at my work wanted the sandwich because they think "my food" is nasty. i hope the pigeons and squirrels enjoyed it! it disgusted me so much - i am done with eating at restuarants. i will make my own mjedra- but i may get their hummos because no place on earth can beat it!

[ConsciousCuisine]

Ethiopian food!!! Every Ethiopian restaurant I've eaten in offers a fully vegan menu as an alternative to the meat dishes including vegan sambosas. The food is fantastic!! I could actually eat there every day I think. I've learned to make some of the dishes but the injera bread eludes me yet.

sylkan


Injera can be tricky as it requires Teff flour and a special pan to get it just right. I have a recipe if you'd like it!

[harpy]

Turkish food tends to be vegan-friendly as well, and is delicious - was in a Turkish restaurant last night.