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strict vegetarian
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Guest





PostPosted: Thu Jun 26, 2003 10:04 am    Post subject: strict vegetarian Reply with quote

i'm a newbie heading over next week. i'm a really strict vegetarian. i've never eaten fish, eggs, chicken or red meat. and i mean even sauces with fish etc..i will not eat.
am i restricted mostly to home-cooking? i know veggies are a big part of korean food, but will i be able to go to a restaurant and get by without too much hassle?
my location--incheon....if anyone can give me hints on restaurants or places where i can get soya products i'd much appreciate it...
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Hank Scorpio



Joined: 18 Jan 2003
Location: Ann Arbor, MI

PostPosted: Thu Jun 26, 2003 10:20 am    Post subject: Re: strict vegetarian Reply with quote



Aside from the weakness and lack of strength you'll feel from not ingesting protein you should be alright.
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 26, 2003 10:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

hahaha.....good one, i like it.... Smile
i won't venture into a debate on protein, because its a massive contentious topic. mostly i was looking for helpful advice for my herbivorous nature.ie. the natural way our bodies are designed to live...
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Hank Scorpio



Joined: 18 Jan 2003
Location: Ann Arbor, MI

PostPosted: Thu Jun 26, 2003 11:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

blake wrote:
ie. the natural way our bodies are designed to live...


Then explain the presence of canine teeth in homo sapiens, the chemical composition of our stomach acids designed to most effectively break down animal matter, and the entirety of human evolution.

A hippy dippy self-righteous fad does not equate into "the way our bodies are designed to live".
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 26, 2003 11:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
A hippy dippy self-righteous fad does not equate into "the way our bodies are designed to live.


hey mate, don't get too presumptious about "self-righteous" fad. what do you know about me? that was uncalled for. i could say you're been "self righteous" by arguing against vegetarianism.

i'm not a freakin activist about it. you're welcome to your opinion...the topic of this post was advice on vegetarian restaurants....not about protein and whether i get it or not.
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Hank Scorpio



Joined: 18 Jan 2003
Location: Ann Arbor, MI

PostPosted: Thu Jun 26, 2003 11:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

blake wrote:

hey mate, don't get too presumptious about "self-righteous" fad. what do you know about me? that was uncalled for. i could say you're been "self righteous" by arguing against vegetarianism.


Sorry, but I have yet to meet a vegetarian or vegan that isn't self-righteous about not eating meat. Do you know what the 4 most dreaded words in the English language are when you're going out to eat with someone? "I can't eat meat".

Just like some people that can't resist telling all of us uncultured philistines that they don't watch television, so vegetarians have to forever bring up the fact that they don't eat meat.

Hate them all, I do.
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 26, 2003 1:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

well, "i can't eat meat" seems like quite a functional thing to say when going out to eat.
in my case i really can't..unless i go hurling for a few months before i get used to it. i've never had it...i didn't decide not to eat meat, i was brought up that way by my hippie dippie budhhist peace-loving non tv-watching parents.

look at this...all ready provoked into a senseless argument and i'm not even in korea yet.

peace.
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CanEducator



Joined: 27 Apr 2003

PostPosted: Thu Jun 26, 2003 2:20 pm    Post subject: Vegetarian Food Reply with quote

I'm a vegetarian and bi-bim-bap (without the egg on top) and denjong-jiggeh are two of my favourite Korean foods. There are also lots of great marinated and fresh vegetable side dishes. I don't think getting soy should be a problem.
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anae



Joined: 13 May 2003
Location: cowtown

PostPosted: Thu Jun 26, 2003 3:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I am sorry that I can't give advice about veg. restaurants, but I know that there are some out there. As for Korean foods, it might be difficult if you don't eat any type of fish or fish product. A lot of stews, soups, and side dishes are made with an anchovy broth or sauce. Foods like dwenjang (bean paste) stew, miyuk (seaweed) soup, or shireggi (vegetable) soup appear to be veg. dishes, but often are not because of these pesky anchovies. Not evey restaurant or home cook may use the fish, but most of the traditional recipes I have come across call for them and my mother-in-law uses them in her cooking.

Maybe check out what the monks are eating at the temples. Some are known to feed the public.

Best of luck.
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kylehawkins2000



Joined: 08 Apr 2003

PostPosted: Thu Jun 26, 2003 3:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Vegetarian restaurants are few and far between. Most dishes contain some sort of meat or meat byproducts. Most soups contain animal stock. There are options but they are severely limited if you do not want to consume any meat or fish byproducts whatsoever. THe easiest way is to eat with others who eat meat. Typically a number of 'side' dishes are served, many of which contain no meat. Koreans usually wrap the meat in lettuce leaves......I do the same with some veggies, kimchi, and rice. It's pretty decent.

PS. Don't worry about being attacked by Scorpio, there are not that many people who will get up in arms over being a vegetarian here. Does anyone really dread those 4 words "I don't eat meat"? I doubt it. It's really not that big a deal. How does it affect other people you are eating with? Well it doesn't unless they engage in an argument of the ethical issues of eating meat, or are really actually bothered by the fact that they eat meat themselves.....
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Wombat



Joined: 28 May 2003
Location: slutville

PostPosted: Thu Jun 26, 2003 4:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Blake ~

Korea is not a vegetarian paradise, but there are options available. I usually go to the Bangladeshi/Pakistani grocery stores we have in my area and stock up on channa, dal, and the standard spices - corriander, cumin, turmeric etc. They've even got cardamom and curry leaves!

That is probably your best bet; there are Buddhist restaurants in the city who will serve pure vegetarian fare, but for daily living you're probably going to have to cook your own. There are also heaps of fresh fruits and vegetables, though they can be a little expensive. I'd buy a pumpkin, some potatoes and some marrows when I arrived, if I were you - they keep well and they're not too dear.

I don't know if you eat onions, garlic or chillies, but if so, they're also cheap and readily available.

Us hippy-dippy types have to stick together, hey?

Wombat

PS - PM me if you want help getting to the grocery shops in question. They're a fair hike out of the city.
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mokpochica



Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Location: Ann Arbor, MI

PostPosted: Thu Jun 26, 2003 5:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

IMO you will be restricted to mostly eating at home if you continue to be a strict vegetarian (a lacto-vegetarian or vegan?). There are a few Korean foods that are truly vegetarian foods, but they are very few.

It is true that Koreans eat a lot of vegetables and that a lot of their food appears to be vegetarian. Most kimchi and vegetable side dishes contain fish stock though, or in some cases, ground-up crab. You can't tell this just by looking at it or even by tasting it.

The foods that people mentioned here, like twayn jang chigay (dwen jan chiggay, whatever) are not really vegetarian in most cases. Usually they have mussels in them and most soups/stews have some kind of animal stock in them (tashida---a powdered stock, often made of fish is often used in things that look and seem vegetarian).

I was disappointed to find out that I couldn't really be vegetarian when I came here. Korean people will tell you, 'Oh--you're vegetarian! Then you will like Korean food becuase we eat so many vegetables." While it is true that they eat far more vegetables than most people at home, they are not vegetarians in the strict sense of the word. They do eat far more vegetables than meat though. After a few weeks of stress and hardly eating in a dorm cafeteria I found it easy to switch to only eating fish and fish byproducts and then dodging meat bits in certain soups.

The only foods I can think of that are truly vegetarian are kong guk soo (noodles and soymilk eaten in summer) and maybe pori bap (barley rice). Even then, you have to be careful about the side dishes you eat if you're at a restuarant because they often contain fish stock.

You may want to search this site under 'vegetarian' to come up with old threads about this topic. Good luck!
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Dr. Buck



Joined: 02 Mar 2003
Location: Land of the Morning Clam

PostPosted: Thu Jun 26, 2003 7:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Being a vegetarian in Korea is the equivalent of being a social leper. Good luck at all the social dinners, meetings, business lunches and such with your Korean counterparts.
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Seoultrader



Joined: 18 Jun 2003
Location: Ali's Insurgent Inn, Fallujah

PostPosted: Thu Jun 26, 2003 8:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hank Scorpio wrote:
blake wrote:

hey mate, don't get too presumptious about "self-righteous" fad. what do you know about me? that was uncalled for. i could say you're been "self righteous" by arguing against vegetarianism.


Sorry, but I have yet to meet a vegetarian or vegan that isn't self-righteous about not eating meat. Do you know what the 4 most dreaded words in the English language are when you're going out to eat with someone? "I can't eat meat".

Just like some people that can't resist telling all of us uncultured philistines that they don't watch television, so vegetarians have to forever bring up the fact that they don't eat meat.

Hate them all, I do.



Kinda like going to dinner with a Haitian homosexual hemophiliac heroin addict...not a lot of dishes I'm gonna be sharing with the dude. Laughing
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gang ah jee



Joined: 14 Jan 2003
Location: city of paper

PostPosted: Thu Jun 26, 2003 8:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dr. Buck wrote:
Being a vegetarian in Korea is the equivalent of being a social leper. Good luck at all the social dinners, meetings, business lunches and such with your Korean counterparts.


Arrrr it's not THAT bad, not quite being a leper, more like being the one legged guy at the ass kicking competition.

blake, if you're really strict on this you will not be able to eat out much at all. I was a fairly strict vegetarian when I came over but over 18 months went from 'maybe there's animal products, no way' to 'don't ask don't tell' to 'i'll just take those bits of bacon out' to 'aw screw it'. One problem is lack of variety. The other is that social life here tends to revolve around eating out.
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