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lopez
Joined: 31 Mar 2009
Location: PHILADELPHIA
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 Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2009 7:01 pm Post subject: Vegans in Seoul |
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I'm looking into moving to Seoul later this year and wanted to develop a general idea of other vegans experiences there.
How are the restaurants? Do you find yourself cooking in a lot? Any insight would be appreciated... |
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warren pease
Joined: 12 May 2008
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| Posted: Fri Apr 03, 2009 1:52 am Post subject: |
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| Korea is not vegan/vege friendly. Almost everything has some kind of meet or meet product in it. Prepare to cook a lot. |
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i_teach_esl
Joined: 07 Sep 2006
Location: baebang, asan/cheonan
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wesharris
Joined: 10 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Fri Apr 03, 2009 9:12 pm Post subject: |
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Are there any Antarens in Seoul? What about Thebans? I've always wanted to me a Centauran.
_+_
Wes |
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Rteacher
Joined: 23 May 2005
Location: Western MA, USA
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| Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 6:32 am Post subject: |
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I'd estimate that there are about twenty strictly vegan restaurants around Seoul and a lot of vegan/vegetarian-friendly restaurants.
The Seoul Veggie group is going to one in the latter category this Saturday at 2pm - a Chinese restaurant in Yeouido ...
http://seoulveggieclub.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=recommendedrestaurants&action=display&thread=16
There are a couple very elaborate strictly vegan buffets run by the meditiation group SM Ching hai, and there are a quite a few almost strictly vegan buffets run by Seventh Day Adventists.
Sanchon Mountain Village restaurant - run by a former Buddhist monk - is another famous vegan restaurant in Seoul (Insadong area) and it features traditional Korean drum and dance shows in the evening. |
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lopez
Joined: 31 Mar 2009
Location: PHILADELPHIA
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| Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 6:18 pm Post subject: |
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| Great! Thanks for the insight! |
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jotgarden
Joined: 12 Nov 2008
Location: Suwon, South Korea.
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| Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 7:34 pm Post subject: |
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| I'm curious why you came here if you're vegan. Did you know that almost all the food has meat in it, or were you surprised by it? You probably could've picked 20 countries in this region that are more vegan-friendly. |
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WendyRose
Joined: 10 Dec 2008
Location: hanam-si, seoul
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| Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 9:52 pm Post subject: |
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I would disagree with the fact that "everything has meet in it."
I'm vegetarian, as is my significant other. We haven't had a problem - we cook a lot of things ourselves though.
Lots of soups: veggie, tomato, chowder (not vegan friendly), etc. We also use a lot of potatos and tofu, which is plentiful and inexpensive. You can substitute tofu for meat in just about any recipe.
You'll be just fine. No matter where you go in the world, being vegan is not easy so I'm sure you'll be used to the hoops you need to jump through.  |
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jotgarden
Joined: 12 Nov 2008
Location: Suwon, South Korea.
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| Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 9:58 pm Post subject: |
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| WendyRose wrote: |
I would disagree with the fact that "everything has meet in it."
I'm vegetarian, as is my significant other. We haven't had a problem - we cook a lot of things ourselves though.
Lots of soups: veggie, tomato, chowder (not vegan friendly), etc. We also use a lot of potatos and tofu, which is plentiful and inexpensive. You can substitute tofu for meat in just about any recipe.
You'll be just fine. No matter where you go in the world, being vegan is not easy so I'm sure you'll be used to the hoops you need to jump through. |
That's all well and good if you want to eat at home for every meal. But while you're doing that, less picky eaters are having joyous feasts. It would be like going to Hawaii but never visiting the beaches. |
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Rteacher
Joined: 23 May 2005
Location: Western MA, USA
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| Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 11:12 pm Post subject: |
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While it's true that it is very difficult to find strictly vegan or vegetarian dishes at regular Korean restaurants, there are more-than-enough vegetarian and vegan restaurants around Seoul for people who prefer not to eat dead animals.
It may be hard for people conditioned to eat meat (and most of us were born into meat-eating families) to accept that vegetarians (and even some vegans) actually enjoy feasting on varieties of great-tasting vegetarian food and have utter distaste for animal flesh.
As a lacto-vegetarian, I also eat milk products (like yogurt, ice cream, and cheese without animal rennet) and I've had no problem maintaining a diet containing no meat, fish, or eggs for over thirty-five years - the last seven of them in Korea.
Seoul Veggie club members (numbering well over a hundred) have regularly gathered at restaurants, parks, and members homes about every two weeks for the past five years, and we could probably meet every week for a year without going to the same place twice.
I think that in order for meat-lovers to really enjoy their neatly packaged slice of dead animal, they need to block out the fact that the poor animal was probably tortured before being slaughtered.
Aside from spiritual leaders, even great scientists have envisioned a world where a vegetarian diet would be the norm - in order for mankind to evolve to a higher level. |
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fremchie
Joined: 28 Mar 2008
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| Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 7:17 am Post subject: |
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I would just like to take this moment to say
I love meat.
Animals are so tasty.. |
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warren pease
Joined: 12 May 2008
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| Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 9:26 am Post subject: |
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| Rteacher wrote: |
While it's true that it is very difficult to find strictly vegan or vegetarian dishes at regular Korean restaurants, there are more-than-enough vegetarian and vegan restaurants around Seoul for people who prefer not to eat dead animals.
It may be hard for people conditioned to eat meat (and most of us were born into meat-eating families) to accept that vegetarians (and even some vegans) actually enjoy feasting on varieties of great-tasting vegetarian food and have utter distaste for animal flesh.
As a lacto-vegetarian, I also eat milk products (like yogurt, ice cream, and cheese without animal rennet) and I've had no problem maintaining a diet containing no meat, fish, or eggs for over thirty-five years - the last seven of them in Korea.
Seoul Veggie club members (numbering well over a hundred) have regularly gathered at restaurants, parks, and members homes about every two weeks for the past five years, and we could probably meet every week for a year without going to the same place twice.
I think that in order for meat-lovers to really enjoy their neatly packaged slice of dead animal, they need to block out the fact that the poor animal was probably tortured before being slaughtered.
Aside from spiritual leaders, even great scientists have envisioned a world where a vegetarian diet would be the norm - in order for mankind to evolve to a higher level. |
you don't mind the animal being tortured and imprisoned so that you can satisfy your carnal need for cow boobie juice? |
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LURKER
Joined: 26 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 2:33 pm Post subject: |
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| for_every_animal_you_dont_eat_ill_eat_three.jpg |
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Rteacher
Joined: 23 May 2005
Location: Western MA, USA
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| Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2009 7:48 am Post subject: |
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Some of these posts are off the thread topic.
The thread topic here relates to practical information about being vegan in Korea - it's not an invitation to trash vegans and glorify meat-eating or even to seriously debate the topic.
The "General" forum is specifically for topics dealing with "living in Korea".
According to my understanding of the guidelines here, a debate thread on veganism or vegetarianism should be posted in the "Off-Topic" forum.
If this were one of my threads announcing a specific Seoul Veggie Club event, I would report all posts made by persons not sincerely interested in attending the event (though I usually let slide more-or-less funny one-liners that serve to bump such threads - since I'm not a total control freak!  ) |
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crossmr
Joined: 22 Nov 2008
Location: Hwayangdong, Seoul
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| Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2009 7:55 am Post subject: |
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| He did say any insight would be appreciated... |
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