Korean Job Discussion Forums

Cherbear · Joined: 17 Mar 2008

We just got a new foreign teacher at our school and she's a vegetarian. She doesn't eat meat or seafood or even in a seafood broth. So I'm thinking...what the hell can she eat? Eating at home will be fine, but what about eating out? Can anyone give me name of any non-meat and non-seafood dish? Thanks.

zpeanut · Joined: 12 Mar 2008 Location: Pohang, Korea

There are quite a few choices.. but she'll have to get used to korean food quickly. Some are acquired tastes.

1. vegetable kim-bab
2. kimchi soup - kimchi jjigae: sometimes they might add fish to this. Ask about it, they can do it without.
3. Dwenjang jjigae - soybean soup: Sometimes they also add seafood to this, ask about it, they can do it without.
4. Omelettes - kae-ran ma-ri: they sell it at side dish shops and most small eateries.
5. steamed egg - kae-ran jjim: at most places
6. tofu-kimchi - dubu-kimchi: it's fried kimchi and tofu, but its more a sidedish for alcohol. yummy tho.
7. kim chi fried rice
8. spicy soft tofu soup - soon-dubu jjigae: seadfood is added but you can ask for it without.
9. spicy ricecake: pick out the bits of fishcake if any.
10. spicy cold noodle - jol-myon: theres an egg in it. don't mind eggs, right?
11. cold noodle - naeng-myon: might come with a few bit of beef. pick it out.
12. kim chi pancake
13. bib-bim bab: sometimes comes with beef, ask for without.

she'd got lots to eat!

Captain Marlow · Joined: 23 Apr 2008 Location: darkness

my koworkers spent a week trying to figure out foods for my visiting vegetarian friend to eat during her stay... couldn't think of one... if you're in seoul, i'm almost positive that there are some buddist restaurants that serve vegetarian/vegan traditional food... however, in daegu there's squat...

she may end up having to turn a blind eye to dishes that aren't blatantly carnivorous... good luck with eating out if she doesn't...

Cherbear · Joined: 17 Mar 2008

Are most of these foods found in the smaller Korean restaurants like Kimbap Nara or KimBap Chungguk? Or can you get them at bigger ones, like BBQ places and such.

machellebelle · Joined: 16 Feb 2008

If you go to Kimbap chonguk, ask them for no meat, but make sure you specify, no beef, no spam, no pork, no seafood. If you say "no meat" it may come sans Bessy the Cow, but may have some pork.

Also, some places use fish flakes (dashi) or other things to flavor their panchan so there's no true way to making sure you're 100% veggie unless you make it yourself or go to a buddhist restaurant.

OnTheOtherSide · Joined: 29 Feb 2008

I was a vegetarian for a year. Being a vegeterian in Korea would be VERY difficult.

When I first came here I wasn't eating pork or beef. I hadn't eaten it in 6 years. Now i'm eating it like it's poonany.

littlelisa · Joined: 12 Jun 2007 Location: Seoul

Well, if she's pretty strict veggie, she should ask about the kimchi, since most of it has fish paste or something in it.

NightSky · Joined: 19 Apr 2005

lots of threads on this here, did you do a search?

Rteacher · Joined: 23 May 2005 Location: Western MA, USA

There are plenty of vegetarian restaurants and products available in the greater Seoul area. I live a couple hours away, but I usually take an express bus into the big city every weekend.

A lot of specific information can be found on this thread:
http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?p=1804523#1804523

There's also the "Seoul Veggie club" which usually gathers someplace (a vegetarian-friendly restaurant, a park, or some member's large apartment) every two weeks.

PM club president "Kermo" to get on the email list ...

The Seoul Veggie Club group can be found on facebook and at the following sites:
http://seoulveggieclub.wordpress.com/
http://seoulveggieclub.proboards104.com/index.cgi

jkelly80 · Joined: 13 Jun 2007 Location: you boys like mexico?

There's a restaurant in insadong that has great vegetarian food. It's a cult and the woman who runs it looks like Kathleen Turner, if she was a vaguely Asiatic alien.

smedini · Joined: 02 Apr 2008

Good luck! I don't eat pork and it took a while be sure the food I ate didn't have any pork in it. I had a vegetarian friend (not vegan) from Ireland who had it even worse. Frequently when you ask if there's meat in the food the cooks/wait staff/etc. say 'no' meaning you won't have anything to pick out of your food but ignore the fact that it is based on a broth simmered in a big pot with pig feet or anchovies or cow udder. It was a fair bit easier for me than her, though still a rough go...she ended up visiting monasteries for her dining out experiences except when she went to larger cities and found a few real veggie restaurants.

~smedini

kermo · Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2008 7:03 pm Post subject:

Eating at Korean restaurants is an exercise in futility.
If she is open-minded and resourceful, however, she can cook very nice meals for herself.

p.s. Until then, Bibimyeon, in the blue package, is the only vegetarian ramyun that I know of, and you can chuck in tofu and broccoli to make it a bit more nutritious.

rayjoy · Joined: 19 Jan 2008 Location: Dynamic Busan

I second the recommend for Buddhist temple/restaurants for vegetarian food. My school took me there for my first day. It was great, except the main course was fish. (????)

Korea is a rough place for strict vegetarians/vegans. I don't particularly like Korean food that much so it's not like I find vegetarian dishes and just love them. Also, I'm sure I consume meat/fish on a daily basis as it is hidden in EVERYTHING. I've heard many stories about people "relaxing" their veggie eating here... either by totally taking up meat or like me, just trying to pick around it and/or realizing that there is probably animal-based spice/sauce/paste in many foods I enjoy.

If this new FT can get a list of veggie foods and learn the vocabulary, she can at least have a base. If she stays this strict is kind of up to her.

TheKudzuConnection · Joined: 27 Jun 2008

I'm a vegan and I don't have any trouble eating at restaurants. Here's a few of the dishes I look for at restaurants that typically don't contain animal broth or any other animal products:

- mul naengmyeon
- bibim naengmyeon
- bibimbap
- dolsot bibimbap
- gimchi bokumbap (as littlelisa pointed out, gimchi is often fermented in brine, so it is not truly vegan)
- kongguksu
- memil guksu
- bibim memil
- gimbap
- dokboki

All of those dishes are either typically served free of animal products or can easily be requested animal product free. They're quite common, too - one can find gimbap on any corner at any hour of the day or night. The trick for your coworker will be to learn how to request dishes sans meat in Korean, but saying "gogi aniyo," "geran aniyo" or "haemul aniyo" and crossing her forearms like an "x" in front of her will probably do the trick. I've been here for two months and that's always worked for me, at least.

Sometimes I buy a couple of fruits or vegetables at a street market and make a peeling motion with my hands and the vendor peels it for me. That's a good way to eat away from home too.

NightSky · Joined: 19 Apr 2005