General/ Travel

Vegetarian Un-friendly World

Is it easy to follow a vegetarian diet anywhere in this world? A vegetarian/vegan faces a lot of issues in the real world. In India, there is no dearth for vegetarian food, but a small doubt lingers in one’s mind if there is no mix-up back in the kitchen. What if the food cooked has not come from the same balti (wok) that was used for cooking meat dishes? This might be acceptable for few vegetarians, but not for all of them. Is it fair on the part of restaurants to serve such food to people following a strict vegetarian diet? It is an entirely different issue with western world. Foods that are considered outright vegetarian back in India might not be “suitable for vegetarians” in this half of the world. Life gets confusing, one got to think if the bread one is buying is vegetarian or not. The same goes with chocolates, yogurt, ice-cream and what not. And then the concept of looking at ingredients comes into picture. One has to be knowledgeable enough to identify whether the food has animal fats or vegetable fats, and whether the glycerides are derived from animal source or vegetable source etc. Well, things get trickier if one goes to restaurants though. One doesn’t have a list of ingredients to look at and decide if a particular dish is vegetarian or not. A harmless looking “Red Bean with Rice” could be cooked in chicken broth, and how would one make out such an intricate detail? The menu card doesn’t carry that the dish was cooked in such a broth; is there any regard for vegetarians in this world?

Wish it’s an ideal world, where in products have a “suitable for vegetarians/vegans” label and the menu cards specifically state whether the dishes being served are suitable for vegetarians/vegans, but this ideal world is still some way off. Part of the problem is alleviated because of HappyCow, which lists out 100% veggie restaurants whenever possible and where such restaurants/stores are available. And if everything fails, one can always rely on fruits and vegetables, which happens to be a healthier option too.

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2 Comments

  • Reply
    Veghead74 (1 comments)
    March 2, 2008 at 6:34 am

    Yes we were just at a Thai place yesterday and wrongly assumed the curry was vegan like most of the Thai places we frequent, but 30 minutes after the meal my husband, who is allergic to dairy, started having symptoms and had to take medications. We were kicking ourselves for not asking. I was thinking how nice it would be if restaurants would label for allergies or dietary preferences so that we are not left to the waiters/waitresses who more often than not give you a blank stare when you ask them if something contains dairy or eggs. It has gotten to where there is no spontaneity in eating out and I always have a list with me from happycow.net so these mishaps are less likely to happen.

  • Reply
    gr8vegan (4 comments)
    March 7, 2008 at 1:08 am

    We all need to just take a stand and only eat at Pure Vegan restaurants and stop giving our $ to tortures and murders.

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