A Defiant Vegetarian

7/26/2019 A Defiant Vegetarian

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A Defiant Vegetarian


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I am a vegetarian. I am now unable to explain if my reason for not trying non-vegetarian food (Popularterm in India for food that contains eggs, chicken, meat or fish/sea food) is based on my upbringing, orme being religious or some unknown principle but irrespective, never felt the urge to try non-vegetarianfood. After several arguments with my husband who eats anything that walks, crawls, swims or flies,(and dares to believe that vegetarians are not foodies); and after explaining to friends who look at youalmost with pity when you tell them you are a vegetarian and plan to travel to say, China, that their

concern is misplaced; and after having gone through the phases of being explanatory, annoyed, I am nowjust defiant!

Yes, I do agree that in many countries, vegetarians do not have as many options in the local cuisine. I alsoagree that in these countries finding the vegetarian options is arduous. However I have also learnt thatpatience and persistence pays. Dont give in to the temptation of giving up and making do with alternateclich vegetarian catch all options like salads, sandwiches or pizza. The delight when you get thevegetarian option or when you successfully convince the local chef to make a vegetarian version for youmakes the effort all worth it. At the risk of sounding pompous, I have travelled to more than 160countries and I have, in nearly every one of those countries, had a vegetarian dish that has ranged fromsuper delicious to super contrived.but I have persisted and succeeded and many times even had myhusband sheepishly dig into my yummier vegetarian option!

This is an attempt to share my experiences on traveling to many of these countries, the stories aroundfinding vegetarian food, related photos, and sometimes recommendations. I have not listed countries likeIndia, Italy or ones in the Middle East where there are numerous vegetarian options but I have tried topick countries/cities combinations where it is either not popular for and/or easy to get local vegetarianoptions like China or Brazil or countries like Ecuador and Serbia where it was unexpected and I wassurprised by the fantastic vegetarian options I tasted!

Hopefully the write-up will act as an aid to help vegetarians know that it is possible to have a great timebeing vegetarian, to explore, to be persistent, to be defiant and to savor!

There are 10 entries, each entry being dedicated to one of the countries that I have traveled to and myfood adventures in the same. The chapter starts by providing a broad outline of ordering and eating food

in the country then goes on to speak specifically to any unique experience I had in finding the vegetarianoptions, and then ends with other details that includes photos. At the end of each chapter, I haveprovided the list of cities that I visited in that country where I was able to sample the food. It does notmean that the other cities in the country dont offer and/or that those are the only vegetarian optionsavailable, but it just provides guidance for your research to get started. The city colored in red is the oneswhere I found most options/ found it easier than the others.

Please note that some of the pictures are mine and some are borrowed but should not take away from theauthenticity of my experience eating these delicious varieties!


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Within each entry, I have also tried to build a scale of sorts, that ranks between 1 to 5, with 1 being lowestand 5 being highest, across parameters that include

- Country factor- perception regarding the country - is the country known for vegetarian options (e.g. Italy)?

- Persistence factor- was vegetarian easy or difficult to find (e.g. does every local restaurant have a local vegetarianoption on the menu that is not a catch all like salad or sandwich)?

- Husband factor- did my husband dig into my vegetarian dish more than his non-vegetarian dish?

- Defiance factor- did my defiance pay off my opinion if the veg. option was actually worth the effort?


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CHINA

With its reputation for people eating snakes, frogs, grasshoppers and steamed turtles, it was no wonderthat my friends and family were worried for me when I moved to China for an assignment in 2008. It is ahard country to live in because of the language (hardly anyone in the service industry spoke English) andsince my Mandarin barely allowed me to order a hot coffee or a cold beer, I knew it was going to be a

challenge to order and get vegetarian food in China. It is further complicated because it is not just sayingthat you dont want meat or chicken but going further to say that you dont want the fish oil or chickenbroth that they usually cook with/in. I started off first by getting all of my specifications written by alocal and carrying it with me to all restaurants. So once the waiter came, I would flip out the piece ofpaper and hand it over to him/her and then hope they made something suitable for me and then use myvery basic charade skills to answer any questions. Thanks to the extremely nice and patient Chinese, Icarried this on for a while! Then as I stayed there for a while and got comfortable, I decided to learn howto order for myself. Bu in Mandarin means No and in my orders, it was a long list of Bu(s)! Bu meat,Bu chicken, Bu egg, Bu chicken broth, Bu fish oil and such! Sigh! However while I did end uphaving some interesting tasting dishes, I had really delicious vegetarian dishes in China! There isnothing called Chinese food each region in China has their own specialty and starting from sichuanesespicy peppercorn, mapo tofu, dan dan noodles, to yunanese spicy potatoes, to Xinjiang roti to Cantoneseveggie friend rice to hunanese fried rice, it was a memorable range of delicacies! and now, when I hearvegetarians tell me that they are traveling to China and are worried about food, I could smirk and sniggerbut instead I try my best to convince them about the delicacies awaiting them, if they only tried!

Cities Beijing, Shanghai,Nanjing, Chengdu, Xian, Sanya

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Mapo Tofu - Sichaun Stuffed bread - Xian

Braised Eggplant Spicy Yunanese Potatoes


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BRAZIL

Typically Brazilian food uses meat from pig, cattle, poultry and seafood to make a variety of dishesranging from stews to pasties. It is a huge country, with different regions having their own specialtyranging from Portuguese to African influences, all thanks to the immigrants from these regions. On myfirst attempt, I remember going to a traditional restaurant, where us not knowing any Portuguese,

resulted in my husband and the waiter moving away from their unsuccessful charade efforts to actuallymaking animal noises so that my husband could convey he did not want beef (with a moo noise) andthen the waiter nodding and on bringing the dish, reiterating that it was not beef (with a baa noise).Tables around us erupted into laughter and finally someone who knew English from the adjoining tabletook pity on us and helped translate to get us some dishes, which for me, sadly, was some salad and rice.Still hungry, we walked out to find a local bakery that had a bunch of pasties with a variety of fillings thatincluded minced meat, chicken and such and not so surprisingly, no vegetarian except for one withcheese, which while tasty, it still did not leave me satisfied. Very disappointed with this attempt, I wasdetermined to do better! However I had to wait out hopping multiple restaurants browsing menusunsuccessfully for vegetarian options, and one more meal, until

Based on further research and thanks to a very informed concierge, I tasted the super delicious moqueca,which is a Brazilian stew, that while is made usually with seafood, was made for me with a mix of fresh

vegetables that was an awesome treat!! Eating that with fried cassava and rice satisfied those frustratedtaste buds and I ate that for 3 whole meals straightI am not complaining because thats how delicious itis!

A night of pub crawl in Bahia, Salvador with a friend, introduced me to street food, and who would havethought, in Brazil, I would get one of my favorite street foods - fantastic acaraje (peeled black eyed peasmade into a ball and deep fried) and beiju ou tapioca (pancake/crepe of tapioca flour) with cheese,coconut and spicy seasoning!! Well, if I had thought I could live in Brazil for the sun, beaches, people andthe carnival, now I knew, I could add food to the list too!

Cities Sao Paolo, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador de Bahia

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Brazilian Mocqueca Stew (urbannaturale.com)

Acaraje (rescharf.wordpress.com)

Beiju o tapioca


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TRINIDAD

One of the countries where I went to doing very little researchone because it was a bit of an impulsetrip and two, because I was very excited about going to see a one day match between India and WestIndies my first in the Caribbean! Having heard so much about how the thrill of watching cricket in theWest Indies, I just could not wait to see the soca band, the dancing and the joi de vivre of the carribeans!

They did not disappoint the rum was flowing from 930 a.m. in the morning, the band was in full swingand the game was not too shabby either! However the highlight was the food! While I expected conchand other varieties of fish preparations, grilled meat thanks to the Jamaican influence from closeby, whoknew that they also have a heavy African and East Indian influence?

Roti (not the Indian version of roti but a lighter, flakier, version filled with spinach, potato, chickpeacuries and spicy sauce fillings, dal puri (roti with gram flour filling inside), buss-up-shut (shredded roti,gets its name because it looks like a busted shirt), Doubles (chickpea curry sandwich bread) , baighanchokha (smoky fire roasted eggplant with onion, pepper, garlic), rice with vegetable curry (africaninfluenced), okra and pineapples. I ate it before the pub crawl, after the pub crawl, when hungover and itwas so delicious and unexpected, that I nearly forgave the Indian team for losing the match!!

Cities Port of Spain

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Trinidad Roti


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TUNISIA

Roman ruins, sites of Star Wars movie sets, beaches and desserts, Tunisia has it all. With frenchinfluenced baguettes and pastries, African, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean influenced dishes; I wasprepared that there was a good chance that I would be able to get local vegetarian options! What I wasnot expecting however was that I was going to eat, what I can safely say, is one of my most favorite

dishes in all of my travels LEBLEBI (Chickpea soup with croutons/slightly stalebread, harissa and otherseasonings)! Available in most street side cafes, it is usually eaten by locals for breakfast but is sofantastic, that I wanted to have it for every meal!! And yes, there are other vegetarian dishes available,but I will let you do the research and let this chapter just stick to my love for LEBLEBI!

Cities Tunis, Sousse,Dougga, Matmata

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Tunisian Leblebi


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SERBIA

In my limited geography capacity, I convinced myself before going to Eastern Europe that I was going tostruggle with the food because as far as I was concerned, they were going to eat just meat and lots ofbland meat! And did Serbia show me up! What I did not know was that Serbia has been influenced forcenturies by Ottoman, Greek, and other cuisine influences and so, I found several options in stews,

stuffed peppers, delicious pastries but I am dedicating this page to the awesome Burek(baked, filledpastries)! Filled sometimes with cheese, sometimes with spinach and other times with vegetables, thispuff pastry had with a side of natural yoghurt, melted in my mouth, time and again! I had it as anappetizer, as breakfast and even as a snack during my pub crawl in Bosnia, only made more delicious bythe warmth and niceness of the Bosnians, despite them having gone through several hardships of being awar ravaged city!

Cities - Bosnia

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Borek, had with yoghurt


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EL SALVADOR

Think of Central and South America and you think of pork and beef. El Salvador, was not even on my listof countries that I must visit but thanks to my husband, I did it as part of a triangle of countries thatincluded Nicaragua, Honduras as the other two. I did my usual short language- practice ritual that I dobefore traveling to any Spanish speaking country where I can bug every poor waiter with my sin huevo,

sin carne, , sin mariscos (no egg, no meat, no seafood) and una cerveza muy fria (one very cold beer)! To be fair, I had done my basic research on food too and knew that I should be looking forward to thePupusa (shallow fried toritillas with fillings)! What I thought was that I would have to search for thevegetarian options of the Pupusa but was I wrongavailable from street sides to restaurants are thesemelt-in- your-mouth corn tortillas that have easily available vegetarian options filled with cheese, beansand/or vegetables and served with salsa roja on the side. Break a piece of the pupusa, dip it in the salsaroja and oh my, muy delicioso! (very delicious)!

Cities San Salvador, Suchitoto

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Pupusa with different fillings


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SPAIN

I have been to Spain a few times, starting the first time in 2001 to as recent as 2015. I have seen thecountry transform in keeping up with current increasing vegetarianism and adding a few vegetarianoptions to even their traditional outlets. However, what was most pleasantly shocking is from beinglaughed at for being vegetarian (no, seriously, they did laugh at me in 2001 and asked me then, what do

you eat?), from eating potato bravas and more potato bravas, to I did not see it coming that a holiday inSpain would become one of my favourite eating trips ever, and that was I went on the Pintxo (short eats)crawl in San Sebastian! That pintxo crawl, in bar after bar, caf after caf, sipping on wines, guzzling onbeers and popping one mouth-watering pintxo after another goes into the record books for the sheernumber of bars and cafes we did in one day and for the wicked hangover I had the next morning!

Cities Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Rhonda, Alicante, Malaga, San Sebastian

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*this comes up with caveat that while he did enjoy my vegetarian pintxos, this was one country where hislove for ham made him super biased! Oinc, Oinc!


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ECUADOR

At 9300 feet, the beautiful city of Quito in the valley of the Andes is a lovely city set on ancient Inca land.High enough that you many people need acclimatization to prevent the altitude sickness. So knowingthat usually you can rice, beans and yucca/cassava frites in most of these regions that were inhabited byIncas/Aztecs, etc, I had decided on my diet to include just these and loads of coca tea. First meal there

and I know it must have been the great food, because not only did I not even realize the altitude changebut also I was hopping from one meal to the other with high expectations that never let me down! Letalone the restaurants, it was the street food that had me snacking away enough calories for a trekker!Choclos(Corn on the cob with cheese), Maduro con queso (plantains filled with cheese), empanadas(stuffed baked pastry), tostadas available at street corners could rival the custom vegetarian stews oflenteja (lentil) or frijole (bean)!

Cities Quito

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*Oh well, he is not as much of a street food fan as I am!


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Tortillas with lentil stew

Choclos (roasted corn with lime, salt, cheese)

Empanadas


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NEW ZEALAND

Famous for gorgeous landscapes, rugby and ofcourse Lord of the Rings, when websites and books talkabout the cuisine in New Zealand, they ofcourse talk about the abundance of seafood, roast lamb and ofcuisine influenced by immigrants from Asia Pacific countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and such.However, there is one other item, that is inherent to the cuisine and identity of New Zealand and its

neighbor, Australia and that is the PIE. Ofcourse even though chicken and meat options are available,what I gorged on was pies filled with potato, roast vegetable, mushroom, onion and combinationsthereof! Available in cafes, bakeries and just about every corner and block, it is super hard to resist and Idefinitely did not resist! Hot coffee with a warm pie let me see you resist that combination!

Cities Auckland, Wellington

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SICILY

I am breaking away from the rule here. I know that Sicily has popular vegetarian options. However, itneeds mention for the sheer volume of those options and for my decadence. If at all possible, I think I atemy weight in food everyday and I could not stop! Ancient Greek temples and Roman ruins check;beautiful Mediterranean blue waters check; delicious wines check; warm people - check; remnants of

bygone mafia era check: and then after all this, the FOOD check, check, check!!!! How anyone in Sicilymaintains their weight is a mystery to me and maybe I should write a book on that ! Cannoli, Cassata,Arancini (stuffed, fried rice balls with filling), Panelle (chickpea fritters), Caponata (aubergine dip/side)

just to name a few! Now, just mentioning that list has made me hungry and so, I think, I will take a breakfrom writing this edition of the write-up and actually get started on an apertivo, Palermo style!

Cities Palermo, Cefalu

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Canoli!

Capanota

Cassata

Arancini

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A Defiant Vegetarian