i need a change in my diet
I’m starting to get a little sick of the food that’s easily available to me here. Being vegetarian in china is quite a limitation on the options. It seems like almost every dish has a small amount of meat in it. This differs from the north american style of having every dish strongly meat based, but it’s still annoying. For instance, tofu is just another ingredient here, whereas in north america it’s a certain indication of a non-meat dish. Here it’s quite common to find tofu and beef together, or tofu and chicken.
The foreign student cafeteria here has some decent stuff, but basically only about 10 things are vegetarian. I’m getting a little sick of the same things every day, which are basically stir-fried garlic veggies or a spicy tofu thing or rice. Eeeeeeeverything is drowned in oil, it seems. I commonly go across the street to try the restaurants there, but it’s sorta mostly the same. drowned in oil, pretty plain vegetables, the occasional tasty tofu or eggplant dish that’s mostly the same as the eggplant dish at the restaurants next door. I think to keep my sanity i need to spend half an hour travelling to the vegetarian restaurant downtown to get some variety. I’d really kill for some lentils with maybe some carrots and yams and red peppers. that was my fall-back staple food back home, and it never grows old. really just anything that’s not stir-fried in an ass-ton of oil would be great.
Some promising options that came up in conversation lately are a) a temple somewhere south of us within easy cycling distance that has a vegetarian restaurant attached, and b) supposedly there are a bunch of restaurants on a road on the south side of the lake, which shouldn’t be too far away. I guess i just find it really annoying that i have no method of cooking for myself, and there’s really not that much good restaurant food nearby. oh well…i’ll figure something out.
Ride hard, ride free
May 27th, 2007 at 07:08 am
not only do they like to put meat in everything, but I’ve found myself almost becoming vegetarian because I just don’t *like* the meat dishes here (with the exception of peking duck and one chicken thing at a place far outside the city). the chinese really seem to like having bones in everything. I have yet to eat fish without stabby pains from bones that I couldn’t manage to safely extract. having to do the same thing with every meat isn’t fun. seeing half a chicken head on a plate of chicken strips is amusing, but not exactly appetizing. (hey pete, did you get a photo of that? upload it!)
funny thing is, a week or so ago we went to this argentinian bbq restaurant, and after spending some time at the buffet, I eventually went to get some meat. I ended up with this lovely perfectly-cooked piece of beef, with no weird bits, and… was losing my appetite looking at it. I only ate about half the slice.
oh, and I’m sick of the cafeteria food too. it’s nice food, but not when you have it twice a day most days.
May 28th, 2007 at 20:52 pm
can you get denatured alcohol there? build a popcan alcohol stove.
or get a multifuel backpacking stove that burns gasoline/diesel (maybe
sent over from canada) and cook with that
May 28th, 2007 at 22:39 pm
Here it’s quite common to find tofu and beef together, or tofu and chicken.
Meat is the main course in America, for sure. So tofu is the replacement, which isn’t even healthy. I think the Chinese are more on point with that one. I’m a vegetarian too, but I usually follow the “when in Rome” mentality, especially if my options are limited. Good luck.
May 29th, 2007 at 01:17 am
they must sell propane there, right? Sounds like its time to get a lil propane burner and ditch that scene. Or purhaps an electric cooking element? The interwebs have lots, I bet. When in rome, be the Gauls.
May 29th, 2007 at 04:26 am
This is third hand information now, gleaned as I was present in a conversation for a going-away party (to China) for another friend of mine.
The food won’t be spicy, but look for the nearest Buddhist temple. You’ll find veg stuff there, probably available at lunchtime only, and called by the normal name despite the absence of meat. (It will also lack onions, ginger, garlic and other spices as those are considered stimulating by Buddhists).
P.S. If you’re wondering who I am, we met at the Critical Mass a few months ago with Chani.
May 29th, 2007 at 08:20 am
cooking in our rooms is supposedly a good way to get in shit, unless you’re good at keeping it low-pro
May 29th, 2007 at 21:41 pm
even heating our rooms in winter can supposedly get us in trouble. might be easier to get away with hiding cooking stuff in summer, when they’re not checking for extra heaters.
some floors are supposed to have a room with a fridge and stove-like-thing, though. I don’t know if that’s worth looking into…
I’m kinda wondering what the apartments outside campus are like… whether or not they have real kitchens, and what sort of net access they might have…
May 30th, 2007 at 18:17 pm
what about picnic/park cooking?
May 31st, 2007 at 05:17 am
I think its time to become a wizard with an electric rice cooker. There are tons of recipes and its easy to clean, hide, etc.
June 1st, 2007 at 06:03 am
hmm…the park thing might be rad. just find some lentils and veggies and cook up some road-trip stew. the rice cooker thing sounds great too. thanks duders.
December 28th, 2007 at 16:40 pm
Different types of vegetarians…
Many people think of vegetarians as one homogeneous group that just doesn’t eat meat. But nothing could be further from the truth. There are different categories of vegetarians as diverse as the reasons for going vegetarian in the first place.
A vege…