Vegetarian in Japan, hee, hee, hee

[Taro Toporific]

What is the funniest "Vegetarian" food you've seen promoted in Japan?
For me it's the cute OLs at hanami proclaiming they, "don't eat meat" while chomping on a stone-cold Big Mac that was purchased 4 hours before for the company picnic.

Vegetarian in Tokyo doesn't always mean meat-free
japantoday > commentary > by Beau Mille, April 1, 2005

Also see the city of Yokohama's "YOKE" website's advice: Herbivorous and Happy in Japan !?

[katakori]

seriously, how CAN you be vegetarian in Japan??

[nullpointer]

Well, I have plenty of friends who for reasons of religon or otherwise, are strict vegetarians (No egg, seafood etc.). They do not seem to face too much of a problem. Granted, they do cook at home a lot, but even otherwise, it is not THAT tough to find vegetarian food here.

[omae mona]

A vegetarian I knew pretended not to notice what made up the broth in some noodle dishes (e.g. tonkotsu ramen) and did pretty well on a ramen/udon/soba and onigiri diet. But still, most vegetarians I have known here have eventually caved in, though, starting with fish & usually moving on to chicken too.

On a related note, I learned years back from an acquaintance on a business trip here that it's also pretty easy to stick to kosher food without eating at home. All sushi, all the time. As long as you convince yourself that the sushi shef is using a different knife for the fish and the shellfish, you can have raw fish to your heart's content and not break any rules.

See no evil, eat no evil.

For me it's the cute OLs at hanami proclaiming they, "don't eat meat" while chomping on a stone-cold Big Mac

I don't see the contradiction. Where's the part where they eat meat?

[katakori]

Granted, they do cook at home a lot, but even otherwise, it is not THAT tough to find vegetarian food here.

as far as cooking at home is concerned, considering the prices of fruits and vegetables, being a vegetarian is much more of a luxury here than it is say in australia or france. possible, but not the nicest option. plus, you need to get a good kitchen, which is often rare, in tokyo at least. plus, there are so many cereals/beans that are difficult or impossible to find in japan because they are not that popular. and so on...

when eating out, apart from tofu and rice, and some salads, i just don't see how a "serious" vegetarian can survive.

[nullpointer]

when eating out, apart from tofu and rice, and some salads, i just don't see how a "serious" vegetarian can survive.

Well, to start with, the vegetables available are expensive but not limited in variety. You just have to know where to look. Also, You can get vegetarian dishes at most of the thai restaurants, all the Indian restaurants and also most of the Italian ones. All the Pizza delivery guys have a "veggie delight" or something akin to it on the menu. Salads and vegetable cup-ramen abound as well. Hell, even subway offers a vegetarian sandwich.

Of course, it is not as easy as being a non-vegetarian, but it is definitely not a question of survival. Maybe vegetarians cannot enjoy as many delicacies, but it is easy to find vegetarian fare Personally, I eat anything that moves, but I am yet to see a vegetarian friend of mine not able to find something or the other to eat when push comes to shove.

[Ketou]

A large problem with finding vegie foods is the mislabeling. As the badly written Japan Today article mentioned. Stuff like vegie gyoza, vegie croquette, tofu burgers that all contain meat. There are so many misleading food labels out there it's not funny.

[kotatsuneko]

so vegetarians cant eat fish? WTF?!

[Charles]

I met a local student who was going to do two semesters in Japan, she said she was worried because she hated fish, and she asked me, was she going to starve to death in Japan? I told her, she better get over being picky about food in general or she WOULD starve to death, and that she'd be eating a lot of fish whether she liked it or not. Anyone who goes to Japan with preconceptions about what they are or are not willing to eat, is going to be in for a lot of grief.

Anyway, I like to freak out vegetarians by telling them that buddhist doctrine states that animals cannot attain enlightenment since they are insentient beings, so the only way they can advance towards enlightenment is by giving up their bodies to sustain the life of a buddha (that is, a regular human being). By refusing to eat animal flesh, they are denying animals the opportunity to attain enlightenment. That usually causes the "ethical vegetarian" goofballs to explode in a rage, since many of them base their "ethics" on mistaken understanding of buddhist doctrine.

[AssKissinger]

mistaken understanding of buddhist doctrine

I went to a whitey Buddhist center in Portland, OR and they told me in Asia the Buddhist monks are all vegetarians and don't even eat spicey foods at all because the resulting body odor would disturb the meditations of others. Then I went to Korea and visited a famous temple compound (Tongdosa http://www.orientalarchitecture.com/pusan/tongdosaindex.htm ) where anyone could eat a free lunch with the monks everyday. Red pepper garlic kimchi soup, spicey as Hell. Then I stayed at a Tibetan monastary for awhile in India, somewhere around Bodhgaya, and those guys ate buffalo steaks like they were going out of style. Yummy. Moral of the story: It's better to eat out with real Buddhists.

[Charles]

mistaken understanding of buddhist doctrine

I went to a whitey Buddhist center in Portland, OR and they told me in Asia the Buddhist monks are all vegetarians and don't even eat spicey foods at all because the resulting body odor would disturb the meditations of others. Then I went to Korea and visited a famous temple compound (Tongdosa http://www.orientalarchitecture.com/pusan/tongdosaindex.htm ) where anyone could eat a free lunch with the monks everyday. Red pepper garlic kimchi soup, spicey as Hell. Then I stayed at a Tibetan monastary for awhile in India, somewhere around Bodhgaya, and those guys ate buffalo steaks like they were going out of style. Yummy. Moral of the story: It's better to eat out with real Buddhists.

There's an old buddhist parable about a sect of monks that believed they should never kill anything for food, not even plants. They only ate fruits that fell from the trees. They all starved to death.

[jingai]

[nullpointer]

Then I stayed at a Tibetan monastary for awhile in India, somewhere around Bodhgaya, and those guys ate buffalo steaks like they were going out of style. Yummy. Moral of the story: It's better to eat out with real Buddhists.

AK, you had buffalo steak in India!!! That's rare. Consider yourself truly enlightened.