Vegetarian Chinese Food

Posted on 2008/08/13 20:07:08 (August 2008).

My time living in Tokyo (where I often dined at a couple of excellent Taiwanese restaurants) and since then coming back to London and having discovered places here which some really interesting vegetarian Chinese food, have opened my eyes to the fact that there is actually a thriving vegetarian subculture nestled somewhere in the wide pantheon of Chinese cuisine.

Or perhaps what I'm really identifying here is vegetarian Taiwanese food. Like Japan, Taiwan has a long history of Buddhism, but unlike Japan a large portion of people there are vegetarian as a result. Yes, in Japan they have Shojin Ryori, but this is a tiny minority thing served at some temples, and even then is often not 100% vegetarian. I never in all my time there met a Japanese person who was vegetarian.

Taiwan, on the other hand, does seem to have a decent population of vegetarians, and as such (perhaps along with other parts of Greater China) they produce some really interesting vegetarian food. Particularly they seem rather fond of "mock meats", which many Western vegetarians turn their noses up at, but I have to admit to being rather fond of. I never stopped eating meat because I didn't like it - I was one of the biggest carnivores you'd ever have met before I turned vegetarian - it was purely a moral thing.

I recently found a particularly good supermarket in London's Chinatown - See Woo. I have determined it is particularly good because very few of the customers or staff seem to speak English! After a good ferret around managed to find some interesting vegetarian items. Including:

- Vegetarian beef jerky.
- Vegetarian duck.
- Vegetarian abalone.
- Vegetarian shrimp!
- Vegetarian cheung fun (intestines!)

...plus a of course all the usual Chinese staples like tofu, black bean sauce, and straw mushrooms. Click the picture above to see pictures of some of these items, and some of the dishes I made with them.

hi, John, try to avoid eating some "mock meat" produced in China. It's being afraid that these items could have a few chemical additives to mimic the meat-like taste. Here in Taiwan we tend to choose "mock meat" produced by reliable and verified veggie food companies.

Posted by Titian at 2008/11/03 13:00:37.

hi, John, try to avoid eating some "mock meat" produced in China. It's being afraid that these items could have a few chemical additives to mimic the meat-like taste. Here in Taiwan we tend to choose "mock meat" produced by reliable and verified veggie food companies.

Posted by Titian at 2008/11/03 13:01:09.

i order online from these lovely people http://www.veggie-world.com/index2.asp its all veggie, they have a wide range of mock meats, though i haven't braved the lobster yet! the ordering and delivery process is a bit bizarre, may be easier if you're local. their thai curry pastes, despite being ready made, are amazing!

Posted by liz at 2009/01/20 14:45:03.

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