Korean Job Discussion Forums

rok_the-boat · Joined: 24 Jan 2004

Before I came to Corea ten years ago I was a vegetarian. That got side-tracked for nine years. For the last year I have gotten back on track. As a rule, I avoid pork and beef products.

Yesterday, our school menu had a veggie burger - the first time I have ever seen such a thing in Korea. On inspection, however, it was meat. I asked the cook about it and was told it had vegetables in it, and only a little meat. Hmmm. It was a veggie burger because it had vegetables in it. OK.

I had a pizza in a restaurant and at the salad bar they mixed meat in with the chopped up salad portions. Hmmm.

Near where I live is a new shop selling kim-bap and they had a sign up saying vegetable kim-bap. I bought one and discovered pork and crab meat. The woman assured me it had vegetables in, and to be sure, so it did.

At another restaurant I had vegetable mandu-guk. Yup, the mandu were full of meat.

At the 7-11 I had one of those hot bread thingys - the vegetable one of course. Yup, full of meat.

As I said, for the last year I have gotten back on track - what this means is that I am on a personal quest to inform the Korean nation. Now, I complain, every single time I have a go at them allthe while keeping a 'firm face' but smiling underneath. They never budge an inch, of course. It drives my Korean wife nuts but I am starting to enjoy myself.

I wonder, is there such a thing as a vegetarian Korean?

uberscheisse · Joined: 02 Dec 2003 Location: japan is better than korea.

there are a few, but mostly on this board.

kermo · Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 7:01 pm Post subject:

It's sad that in a land brimming with soy products, it's tough to get it in the tasty permutations that I saw in my native land.

It seems strange to me that Buddhism thrives, but vegetarians are few and far between. I am told that the only strict Korean vegetarians are monks, but most people suspect them of eating meat on the sly.

I was at a Buddhist monastery the other day, and my friend explained that there was a vegetarian restaurant nearby. Imagine my excitement. I began to wonder what was meant by "vegetarian" when I saw bulgogi on the menu. It became clear when I got pork in my bleedin' bibimbap.

peppermint · Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 7:34 pm Post subject:

There's good reason why I don't trust Korean restaurants very often. I'm too lazy to explain that yes, ham is meat, bacon is meat, pork is meat, seafood is meat, chicken is meat, etc.. and I don't eat any of it!

schwa · Joined: 18 Jan 2003 Location: Yap

Hanjeongsik & sundubu places always have meatless options & lots of clearly veggie side dishes, likewise boribap restaurants (& barley makes a nice change from rice sometimes). Its simple to stipulate no meat in the doenjang chiggae (& most places say they dont use it anyway). New popular restaurant here (maybe part of a chain) features an array of seriously unusual mountain veggies & is completely vegetarian. Makuksu is a refreshing option in warmer months too.

If youre really strict about it though, you'll always be 2nd-guessing the stock base & generally have to forgo kimchi. A vegan would pretty much have to prepare all their meals at home. I like the social aspects of eating out though so I've learned to overlook unobvious animal intrusions.

By the way, I know at least a couple Koreans who are committed vegetarians.

JongnoGuru · Joined: 25 May 2004 Location: peeing on your doorstep

It works the other way too sometimes. Like when I feel tempted to bribe the restaurant 500 won to put at least one spoonful of kogi into an otherwise (and unbilled) vegetarian bibimbap.

red dog · Joined: 31 Oct 2004

I've met Korean vegetarians and they're very nice. Many of them would probably be happy to help you get what you need. If you speak Korean, the Web sites vegetus.or.kr, vege.or.kr and veggie.or.kr will probably help you a lot. (Unfortunately I still don't know more than the most basic Korean, so I can only scan the posts for very simple information like event announcements.) Sad

I agree the language barrier makes things difficult -- vegetable dishes aren't vegetarian, "vegetarian" restaurants may only have one or two veggie options, if you're lucky, etc. ... But there are a few truly veg restaurants run by the Seventh Day Adventists and one by this meditation group called SM. There are also a few other veg-friendly restaurants where you can be pretty sure of getting a nice animal-free meal if you make your instructions clear. Also, Middle Eastern and Indian restaurants usually have a few choices, and I've been able to get my needs met at Mexican restaurants. Kimbap at street stalls is often OK (or you can see if it's not.)

I agree the only way to be 100 percent safe is to make your own food, but that's true anywhere. I eat out quite a bit and although unfortunately I've made a few mistakes over the past four years, by sticking to a few places I'm comfortable with I feel I can be pretty certain of what I'm getting and greatly reduce the risk of future mistakes.

Best of luck. Honestly, if you've been here for ten years I'll bet you have an advantage I wish I had, namely the ability to communicate in sentences and make your requests clear and specific -- and participate more fully in the community here. There are a lot of really cool people here who are either vegetarians or trying to go that way; unfortunately the language barrier has really been a big problem for me. I'm sure the Korean vegetarians can help you a lot more than I can.

sparkx · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: thekimchipot.com

I had lunch with a vegan guy last year. He had his diet written on paper which he kept in his wallet at all times. Whenever he ordered he would show the paper to the retaurant adjumma.

After he showed her the paper and she nodded in agreement the guy turned to me and said "watch this..i'll be amazed if she got it right." Sure enough the soup arrived and it was peppered with pork. When he questioned the lady about it she just said "Very good for you."

Supposedly its a crap shoot - 50/50 even with the written instructions according to the guy. Often the adjummas, who don't know you from a hole in the ground, will leave the meat in because they think they know better what's healthy for you.

rok_the-boat · Joined: 24 Jan 2004

I can communicate what I want but it often falls on deaf ears. Things are getting better though. I usually ask for no meat in my bibimbap - they sometimes forget. And I always ask for kochujang in a side-dish because if you ask for less it has NO EFFECT WHATSOEVER. It is best to put it in yourself if you find it a little too hot. It also helps to become a regular at two or three places. When I walk in, they know what I want Smile

red dog · Joined: 31 Oct 2004

Yes, I'm definitely a "regular" in certain places, but even in regular restaurants I find that bibimbap is usually a pretty safe choice if you are very clear about what you want. (Usually I still ask someone to help me order, though.) I don't really worry about the gochujang, although I guess there's a chance it could possibly have some undesirable hidden additive.

I try to stay out of unfamiliar places where the kitchen staff are likely to have no clue about vegetarianism. Once I ordered kimbap for myself in broken Korean and specified "vegetables only -- no meat, no cheese, no ham, no eggs, no fish." They got that right, except I didn't think to specify no mayonnaise. I felt bad having to send it back, but I did and eventually I got what I wanted. But really, I prefer to buy kimbap on the street where you can see what you're getting and don't have to do a lot of talking -- or at SM Vegetarian Buffet, where the kimbap has a few more vegetables and you can sit down and eat it along with other nice foods. Roasted sweet potatoes and roasted chestnuts are available all over the place at this time of year, and they're nice and filling as well as risk-free when it comes to hidden animal products.

Actually I'm hoping to eat out less in the near future -- it gets costly and really isn't all that healthy, in addition to the abovementioned risk factor. Western-style natural food stores seem to be sprouting up everywhere nowadays, and recently I found some fake (soy-based) ice cream for the first time since I've been here. (That was an exciting discovery for me.)

And of course there was a healthy eating thread on this board recently that made good points -- fruit, fruit, fruit. It's what our bodies need. (Those weren't the other poster's exact words, but it's still true.) Anyway, best of luck and do check out those Web sites as well as www.veg.or.kr. The site owner, Jeong In-bong, is super helpful and can speak to you in English if necessary and has provided me with a lot of really good information. If you get any updated information about restaurants, food companies, etc. I hope you'll repost it here.

Oh, I almost forgot! A member of Earthlove Vega sent me some info about vegetarian products that are apparently available in regular supermarkets -- a brand of mandu and what appears to be some kind of instant noodle dish. (I've never been able to find them, and unfortunately I'm not sure how to attach the photos.)

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eamo · Joined: 08 Mar 2003 Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.

Can vegetarians eat wafer-thin ham?.....It is very thin....

Swiss James · Joined: 26 Nov 2003 Location: Shanghai

eamo · Joined: 08 Mar 2003 Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.

red dog · Joined: 31 Oct 2004

Death to trolls ... ugh. Anyway, it looks like Vega is planning something for the 26th (www.veggie.or.kr).

"Veggie Power Changes the World,"
(lyrics to a Korean rap song written by a Vega member)

red dog

red dog · Joined: 31 Oct 2004

One more thing -- pumpkin (or squash?) porridge (ȣ�� ) is really good, and I think it's most likely always free of animal products. (I hope someone will correct me if I'm wrong.) Since "juk" restaurants seem to be getting more popular these days, pumpkin porridge may be one of the safest -- and most convenient and relatively inexpensive -- choices if you want to eat out and you're not close to a place that is known for being veg-friendly. A lot of them can probably deliver too.