Vegetarians in China

I have been asked what the food is like here, and how I, as a vegetarian, am getting on whilst travelling through China...

Its not easy! First of all, very few people understand English, and most menus are only in Chinese. Some restaurants have a picture menu, which is great to give a rough idea of the dish, but useless when it comes to deciding if it is safe for a vegetarian to eat. It is therefore vital to carry a small note that explains exactly what you can and can't eat. The Vegan Society in the UK produce a very useful Vegan Passport which explains, in every language that you can think of, what vegans do and do not eat, but if, as a vegetarian, you want to include eggs or cheese in your diet, you will need something different. Unfortunately the UK's Vegetarian Society doesn't do anything similar - perhaps YOU can email them and suggest that they do?

Let's talk now about vegetarian eating in practice. Here's the big problem: in China there is a general idea that whilst vegetarians don't eat meat, there's no trouble if the sauce or stock that the dish is cooked in has meat or livestock origins. Therefore, you will need a note that states that not only do you not eat meat, chicken, fish or seafood, but that you don't want the dish to contain any meat stock or juices of any animal, bird or fish origins either. Armed with such a notice, you are more likely to get the restaurant to understand you. It is also useful to have the following translated into Chinese:

RICE
NOODLES
EGG
RICE with EGG
VEGETABLES
MIXED VEGETABLES

You can then point to these words, and see what the reaction is. Sometimes the restaurant will be happy to suggest something, or to ask the chef if he will help, but quite often restaurants will not deviate from their set menu. They may suggest items on the menu that will fit in with your requirements, but they won't make a special dish for you, even though its obvious that they already have all of the ingredients.

I have often found that requesting 'mixed vegetables' gets no results. Why is this a problem? Well, the way food is normally served in China is in a situation where a group of people will order a number of dishes, then everyone will try a bit of each dish. If you are by yourself it means that you are unlikely to be able to eat more than 2 dishes, each of which will be based around one item. You'll thus find yourself eating, say, rice and a big dish of spinach with mushrooms. This is rather monotonous, no matter how much you like spinach and mushrooms. Mixed vegetables would be more fun. What a pity the Chinese haven't thought of the Indian 'Thali' concept, where a single diner gets a bit of everything. It is possible, sometimes, to ask for a half dish of whatever, but unless you have that request written down, or the waiter speaks english, it can be hard to get the concept across.

Although lunch and dinner can be chosen quite easily by the above method, breakfast can be much more problematic, and I have found that apart from some grated raw vegetables, there is unlikely to be anything on offer that I can eat, even if a restaurant is found that is open. Some hotels have a breakfast included in the room rate, and some do not. The more 'touristy' the city, the more likely the hotel is to have a Western choice for breakfast. My usual remedy is to find a small bakery or supermarket and buy some bread or wheat product, to have with fruit. There's always plenty of fruit available, of many sorts. It will be a lot nicer than you are used to, too, as its all ripened naturally. You won't find cheese, apart from in the very big, touristy cities. Even then it will be sliced, in individual portions of tastelessness. Milk and yoghurt are a bit more common, though not in restaurants. Nuts are available everywhere, and can of course be used as a useful source of protein for both vegans and vegetarians.

You are probably wondering why I haven't mentioned foreign food. Italian, Mexican, Indian, Thai - those choices are available everywhere in the world, surely? Sorry to disappoint, but not in China! The Chinese are incredibly insular when it comes to food, and although every town will have 100s of restaurants, they'll all serve Chinese food, and only Chinese food. The few exceptions to this are in the bigger cities, where some of the large foreign chains have started to get a foothold. Before you get excited, let me tell you that the foreign chains you will see are MacDonalds and KFC. Yuk, and double yuk! Nothing for a vegetarian or vegan there, even if you DID approve of the company politics, which as a vegan or vegetarian I would very much doubt. Occasionally you might come across a Pizza Hut, but the prices there are very high, similar to what you are used to in the west. A vegetarian backpacker eating there would soon find that his budget had blown apart.

This is all very sad. The only things that the Chinese know about foreign food is from McD, KFC, and PH. No wonder they just stick to their own cooking!! As for backpackers, unless you are very lucky, you will just have to manage from the ideas given above. Self-caterers would have a much better time, as many sorts of vegetables are available in every market. Some pulses too, normally mung beans, and those little red ones. I've seen yellow split peas, and green lentils, once. Red lentils not at all, which is a shame as they are so easy to use. Tofu is commonly available, if you are a tofu fan.

The Chinese are great snackers, and the average supermarket will contain a huge variety of snacks. Check the packets carefully - they often contain animal products, even if the picture on the front looks OK. Some items are definitely best avoided - I've seen packets of pre-cooked hen heads, and pre-packed duck feet. Some packets you just don't WANT to know any more about!

Whilst in Beijing, I have been looking around for vegetarian restaurants. The one mentioned in the Lonely Planet book: Gongdelin Vegetarian Restaurant at 158 Qianmen Dajie, near the Temple of Heaven, seems to have disappeared. I did find two others, though, and would recommend them both.

The first, which has its own website, is at a hotel at 103 West Dianmen Street, Xicheng district, and not far from the northern entrance to the Beihai Park and Lakes. Their phone number is 010-665-71898. The restaurant is Buddhist-based, and serves a large variety of vegetarian dishes, many of which are cleverly made to look (and taste, apparently) like meat or fish. They have vegetarian shrimps, fish, pork, even vegetarian pepper steak and fries! Quite why the Chinese do this I am not sure -it seems rather bizarre. However, the restaurant also does a range of more normal Chinese vegetarian dishes, which do not pretend to be like anything else. The price range is Medium, with dishes from about 20 Yuan to 80 Yuan. There is no alcohol for sale. Buses that pass the restaurant include the 13, 107, 111, 118, 204, 810, 823, and 850.

The second restaurant, a personal favourite, is called 'Xu Xiang Zhai'. Its located at 26 Guo Zi Jian Street, in Dongcheng district. Telephone 010-640-46568. Fax 010-640-46566. Its easy to find, as it is right opposite the famous Confucian Temple, and just a minute away from the Lama Temple on Yong He Gong Street. There's a subway station just 5 minutes walk away - its called Yonghegong. One of the best things about the restaurant is that it has an all-you-can-eat buffet that runs twice a day - at lunch time, and in the evening from 17:30-21:00. There must be about 50 different dishes to choose from, including sushi, soup, salads, fruit and deserts. You can keep on eating, but if you leave anything on your plate, they charge you extra! The price for the buffet is fixed at 68 Yuan, approximately 10USD or 5GBP. There are some soft drinks, plus beer if you pay extra. The restaurant also has a separate dining room if you want to choose dishes from a menu, but I prefer the buffet.