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Perhaps the food-related question I get asked most through my blog is “What's it like for vegetarians and vegans in China. The same question came up recently on another thread, so I put this together. Hope it's useful. It would also, be great to hear other people's experience and solutions. For the sake of typing convenience I’m going to conflate 'vegetarians and vegan' into just 'vegetarian' except where strictly relevant. First a declaration of non-interest. I am very carnivorous, but I have known vegetarians who have passed through China, some staying only a few weeks, others staying for years. Being vegetarian in China is a complicated issue. In some ways, China is probably one of the best countries in which to be vegetarian. In other ways, it is one of the worst. I spent a couple of years in Gorbachev-era Russia and saw the empty supermarkets and markets. I saw people line up for hours to buy a bit of bread. So, when I first came to China, I kind of expected the same. Instead, the first market I visited astounded me. The place was piled high with food, including around 30 different types of tofu, countless varieties of steamed buns and flat breads and scores of different vegetables, both fresh and preserved, most of which I didn't recognise. And so cheap I could hardly convert into any western currency. If you are able to self-cater then China is heaven for vegetarians. For short term visitors dependent on restaurants or street food, the story is very different. Despite the perception of a Buddhist tradition (not that strong, actually), very few Chinese are vegetarian and many just do not understand the concept. Explaining in a restaurant that you don't eat meat is no guarantee that you won't be served meat. Meat is seen in China as a status symbol. If you are rich, you eat more meat. And everyone knows all foreigners are rich, so of course they eat meat! Meat eating is very much on the rise as China gets more rich - even to the extent of worrying many economists, food scientists etc. who fear the demand is pushing up prices and is environmentally dangerous. But that's another issue. Obesity is also more and more of a problem. Banquet meals as served in large hotels and banquet dedicated restaurants will typically have a lot more meat dishes than a smaller family restaurant. Also, the amount of meat in any dish will be greater in the banquet style places. Traditional Chinese cooking is/was very vegetable orientated. I still see my neighbours come home from the market with their catch of greenery every morning. However, whereas meat wasn't the central component of dinner, it was used almost as a condiment or seasoning. Your stir fried tofu dish may come with a scattering of ground pork on top, for example. This will not usually be mentioned on the menu. Simple stir fried vegetables are often cooked in lard (pig fat) to 'improve' the flavour. Another problem is that the Chinese word for meat (肉), when used on its own refers to pork. Other meats are specified, eg (beef) is 牛肉, literally cattle meat. What this means is that when you say you don't eat meat, they often think you mean you don't eat pork (something they do understand from the Chinese Muslim community), so they rush off to the kitchen and cook you up some stir fried chicken! I've actually heard a waitress saying to someone that chicken isn't meat. Also, few Chinese wait staff or cooks seem to know that ham is pig meat. I have also had a waitress argue ferociously with me that the unasked for ham in a dish of egg fried rice wasn't meat. Also, Chinese restaurant dishes are often given have really flowery, poetic names which tell you nothing of the contents. Chinese speakers have to ask. One dish on my local restaurant menu reads “Maternal Grandmother's Fluttering Fragrance.” It is, of course, spicy pork ribs! Away from the tourist places, where you probably don't want to be eating anyway, very few restaurants will have translations of any sort. Even the best places' translations will be indecipherable. I have been in restaurants where they have supplied an “English menu”, but if I didn't know Chinese would have been unable to order anything. It was gibberish. To go back to Buddhism and Taoism, it is a mistake to assume that genuine followers of either (or more usually a mix of the two) are necessarily vegetarian. Many Chinese Buddhists are not. In fact, the Dalai Lama states in his autobiography that he is not vegetarian. It would be very difficult to survive in Tibet on a vegetarian diet. There are vegetarian restaurants in many places (although the ones around where I am never seem to last more than six months). In the larger cities such as Beijing and Shanghai they are more easily findable. Curiously, many of these restaurants make a point of emulating meat dishes. The menu reads like any meat using restaurant, but the “meat” is made from vegetable substitutes (often wheat gluten or konjac based). To be continued

I'd like to create a good vegetarian burger from scratch. I'm not happy with any of the commercially available products. Ideally, the burger I'd make would have the following attributes: 1) Not based on starch (such as rice); 2) Low fat (a minimum of eggs, cheese, oil); 3) Not trying to look or taste like meat; and 4) Able to be pre-made and stored in the freezer. Can you help? I'm interested not so much in a recipe as in an approach to thinking about veggie burgers. Also how do you recommend cooking and serving them?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q8zTVlZ19c Mmmm. The sweet, spiced aroma of a freshly baked pumpkin pie wafting over the Thanksgiving table. A large bowl of chilled, sweetened cream is passed around the table, a cool dollop of cream cascading over a slice of “homemade” pumpkin pie. (In many households, removing a frozen pie from a box and putting it in a hot oven is considered “homemade.”). Americans can’t seem to get enough pumpkin pie during the Holidays. Some 50 million pumpkin pies are sold for Thanksgiving dinner and according to astute company marketing executives, 1 million of the pies are sold at Costco. And Mrs. Smith sells a few million of her oven-ready, frozen pumpkin pie. In August of 2013, we debuted the Summer Squash Cook-Off (http://forums.egullet.org/topic/145452-cook-off-63-summer-squash/) where we presented a number of tasty zucchini and patty pan dishes showcasing summer squash. But our squash adventure wasn’t over. Today we expand our squash lexicon with the debut of eG Cook-Off #71: Winter Squash. (Click here http://forums.egulle...cook-off-index/ for the complete eG Cook-Off Index). Cut into jack-o-lanterns for Halloween and crafted into cheesecake for Thanksgiving, pumpkin reigns supreme each Fall. But pumpkin is just one variety of winter squash--squash that grows throughout the summer and is harvested in fall. The acorn, butternut, spaghetti, hubbard, kabocha, red kuri, delicata, calabaza and cushaw are but a few of the many winter squash cousins of the pumpkin. Winter squash is not always the best looking vegetable in the produce section--knobby, gnarled and multi-colored, winter squash has a hard, tough skin. Peel back the unfashionable skin and sweet, rich squash meat is revealed. Winter squash cookery doesn’t end after the last slice of pumpkin pie. You can stuff it with a forcemeat of duck confit and sautéed mushrooms, purée roasted squash into a creamy soup garnished with lardons or slowly braise squash with peppers and corn in a spicy Caribbean stew. Please join us in sharing, learning and savoring winter squash.

I'm helping to prepare food for a party, and several of the guests are vegan, and, because I grew up in a vegetarian household, and a lot of the food we ate would have been suitable for vegans, too, I've been asked to come up with several suitable dishes. The thing is, I'd like to make some dishes that are really appealing, rather than just 'pretty decent for a vegan dish'. I can think of several possibilities, but I'd love to hear other omnivores' experiences of vegan dishes that they really enjoyed, things they'd make themselves/again, or look forward to eating if they knew it was going to be served to them. Thanks! M.

Yesterday, an old friend sent me a picture of her family dinner, which she prepared. She was never much of a cook, so I was a bit surprised. It's the first I've seen her cook in 25 years. Here is the spread. I immediately zoomed in on one dish - the okra. For the first 20-odd years I lived in China, I never saw okra - no one knew what it was. I managed to find its Chinese name ( 秋葵 - qiū kuí) in a scientific dictionary, but that didn't help. I just got the same blank looks. Then about 3 years ago, it started to creep into a few supermarkets. At first, they stocked the biggest pods they could find - stringy and inedible - but they worked it out eventually. Now okra is everywhere. I cook okra often, but have never seen it served in China before (had it down the road in Vietnam, though) and there are zero recipes in any of my Chinese language cookbooks. So, I did the sensible thing and asked my friend how she prepared it. Here is her method. 1. First bring a pan of water to the boil. Add the washed okra and boil for two minutes. Drain. 2. Top and tail the pods. Her technique for that is interesting. 3. Finely mince garlic, ginger, red chilli and green onion in equal quantities. Heat oil and pour over the prepared garlic mix. Add a little soy sauce. 4. Place garlic mix over the okra and serve. When I heard step one, I thought she was merely blanching the vegetable, but she assures me that is all the cooking it gets or needs, but she did say she doesn't like it too soft. Also, I should have mentioned that she is from Hunan province so the red chilli is inevitable. Anyway, I plan to make this tomorrow. I'm not convinced, but we'll see. to be continued

So, yeah-- looking for vegan and/or vegetarian options in the Upper Valley area- preferably around Lebanon, Hanover, White River Junction area. Plan to dine out with new vegetarian friends and this is something I've never had to really think about before. Can anyone help me here? Sincerely, Dante

I realize that nothing tastes like bacon but I am a tempeh maker and have recently bought a cookshack smoker to make tempeh bacon. I have tried soaking the fresh tempeh in olive oil and then a marinade overnight. Mixed the marinade with oil, used veganaise to try to get it fatty (I think it needs fat). I have even put some xanthum gum in the mix which seems to work in keeping the marinade on the tempeh. Also the smoke gets stronger the next day and over powers the flavor. Realizing that some of you might think it sacreligous to make anything but pork taste like bacon, think of the poor vegetarians that are missing all the fun.

Who will join me in eating vegetarian for a week? My decision to give this a try stems from a variety of causes, which I'll discuss more as the week unfolds. In short, there are health, ethical and environmental reasons. It's also something some people challenged me to do -- and I like a challenge. Not that I expect this to be a huge challenge. I'm not going to eat vegan. I'm going to do ovo-lacto and I'm not going to be terribly concerned about secondary ingredients such as fish sauce in an otherwise vegetarian Southeast Asian dish in a restaurant. This morning I went shopping and acquired a bunch of vegetables and other non-meat stuff. This afternoon I'll get more. And tomorrow I'm picking up a friend's CSA share. So, who's in?

What are the traditional dishes of Mughlai cuisine? What ingredients are typical?

Hi everyone!I'm new to the blog and picking up many tips. I would appreciate it greatly if anyone could answer all or some of my questions.I have searched past topics but I need specific points answering...Regards in advance I had a business idea a couple of years ago whilst sitting bored at my desk at work. The basis of the idea was a natural, traditional throat and cough remedy that tasted nice and had ingriedients that had some scientific basis as to their "healing" powers. I need to take on the large pharmaceutical companies with a hand made anti bacterial candy Now there are many pastilles,hard candies,jellies and other confectioneries that help relieve symptoms. To cut a long story short I did a lot of research and tasting and came up with philosophy for the product and a list of ingriedients that were beneficial. I decided on a pastille/ pate de fruit style jelly sweet, but I wanted a pure honey liquid centre. As I mentioned I needed it to be natural,so all non natural flavours,colours, sweetners were out I also needed it to be vegetarian My current list of possible ingriedients for the prototype is as follows.. Pectin- Natural demulcent and natural gelling agent agar agar- to add a little more firmness to the jelly pastille lemon juice- main flavour, amalfi or sicilian? citric acid- to add a zing and to produce saliva liquid honey- for the centre powdered/crystalised honey - to coat the jelly any tips, recipes, additions, changes would be greatly welcomed...Any ideas on how to make the centre liquid? andy Eldictator edit *Development*

Aloha eGullet Members, Can anyone share some recipes or techniques for cooking tasty vegetables without oil? I am following Caldwell Esselstyn's diet for good health (Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease). He is part of a growing team of doctors who want to do more than fix up sick people, but want to prevent illness from starting. And they have compelling science that shows diet is the answer. Other doctors include: T. Colin Campbell, China Study; Dean Ornish, Eat More Weigh Less; John McDougall, The McDougall Plan; and Joel Fuhrman, Eat to Live. These are all very convincing books, if you are interested in good food and good health. However, this movement can use some help from knowledgeable culinary artists, which is why I joined this forum. The Low Fat Vegan Chef, Veronica, has some great instructions with pictures on how to fry onions without oil. I never thought this could be done, but they are delicious. http://lowfatveganchef.com/how-to-cook-without-oil-or-how-to-cook-fat-free/ I'm looking forward to trying some new cooking ideas. Carole Grogloth Hawaii

Does anyone have experience or a recipe for making pickles without vinegar? My favorite brand of pickles, Bubbles, uses a salted brine, spices and no vinegar. I've seen some recipes that call for using grape leaves. We're in the midst of pickling season up here in Eastern Washington, so I'm going to give this a try.

Sour Tomatillo Achar Made this one up from a recipe for lemons. It really works for tomatilloes. A unique spice mix, and really sour for a 'different' type of pickle, or achar. It is based on a Marwari recipe - from the arid north-western part of India. Tomatilloes are not used in India (or at least not much) but are quite productive plants in my garden while lemons or other sour fruits are not possible to grow here. No vinegar or lemon juice is used, because tomatilloes are very acidic and don't need any extra. Ingredients 3 lbs tomatilloes husks removed and quartered 1/4 cup salt 1 Tbs black mustard seeds 2 star anise buds 10 dried chilies (I used very hot yellow peppers) 1 tsp fenugreek seeds 2 inch ginger (ground to a paste) 2 TBL dark brown sugar 1/2 cup sugar 1. In a large bowl, put the tomatilloes and sprinkle salt over them. Cover it and leave for a day, mixing occasionally. 2. Next day drain the tomatilloes. 3. Dry roast the star anise (put in first as these take longer, the black mustard, and the chilie pods (add last and barely brown in places). Cool. 4. Grind the roasted spices with the fenugreek and put aside. 5. Add tomatilloes, ginger, sugars, and everything else to a large pan and heat to boiling. 6. Cook till fully hot and boiling. 7. Fill half-pint jars and seal.

Sweet Eggplant Pickle This is an Indian pickle, some would call a chutney, that I made up from several sources and my own tastes. It is based it on my favorite sweet brinjal (eggplant here in the US) pickle available commercially. It has onion and garlic, which are often omitted in some recipes due to dietary restrictions of some religious orders. It also has dates which I added on my own based on another pickle I love. I also used olive oil as mustard oil is not available and I like it's taste in these pickles. Use other oils if you like. This has more spices than the commercial type - and I think it's superior. I avoided black mustard seed, fenugreek, and cumin because almost all other pickles use these and they start to taste the same. One recipe from Andhra Pradesh used neither and I followed it a little. It's wonderful with all sorts of Indian foods - and also used for many other dishes, especially appetizers. SPICE MIX (Masala) 4 Tbs coriander seeds 3 hot chilies (I used a very hot Habanero type, so use more if you use others) 18 cardamom pods 2 inches cinnamon 24 cloves 1 1/2 Tbs peppercorns MAIN INGREDIENTS 1 cups olive oil 4 inches fresh ginger, minced fine, about 1/2 cup 6 cloves garlic, minced 1 large onion finely chopped 3 lb eggplant, diced, 1/4 inch cubes 1/2 lb chopped dates 1 1/2 tsp turmeric powder 2 cups rice vinegar (4.3 percent acidity or more) 2 cups brown sugar 2 Tbs salt 2 tsp citric acid Spice Mix (Masala) 1. Dry roast half the coriander seeds in a pan till they begin to brown slightly and become fragrant - do not burn. Cool. 2. Put roasted and raw coriander seeds and all the other spices in a spice mill and grind till quite fine, or use a mortar and pestle. Put aside. Main Pickle 1. Heat half the oil and fry ginger till slightly browned, slowly. 2. Add garlic, onion, and half the salt and fry slowly till these begin to brown a bit too. 3. Add eggplant, turmeric, and spice mix (Masala) and combine well. Fry for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. 4. Add rest of ingredients, including rest of the salt and olive oil and heat slowly to a boil. 5. Boil for about 5 minutes. Add a little water if too thick - it should be nearly covered with liquid, but not quite - it will thin upon cooking so wait to add the water till heated through. 6. Bottle in sterilized jars and seal according to your local pickling instructions. This recipe will be sufficiently acidic.

I need some suggestions for a restaurant in Dallas that don't treat vegetarians as an after thought. But I'm not looking for a "vegetarian restaurant". I mean, I gotta eat there too!! I wish York Street was still around. I think that might have been a good pick. I don't think I am limited by type of cuisine, though. So, open to lots of suggestions!

Has anyone had any success making a vegan, gluten free buckwheat crepe? Mine will not cooperate and I have tried multiple changes to the recipe, with and without corn starch, baking soda, more oil, soda water, etc... They turn out terrible, too thick when they're flippable, too many holes when the batter is thin. Any ideas?

Recently I have decided to start my own personal growth of experience by undergoing a month of veganism. I have been creating delicious food that is free of animal products, but also in this experiment I wanted to see what life as a vegan or even vegetarian is like for when they are going out to eat. Just from going out a few times I have noticed that there is hardly if any vegan options on menus unless of course I go to a vegan restaurant. Has anyone tried vegan or have any personal experience they want to share. Ps I am 99% vegan, if I am cooking and something needs to be tasted that is not vegan, I will not restrict myself from tasting the product.

Roasted Cauliflower (aka Jim Dixon's Roasted Cauliflower, no wait, that's Amanda Hesser's recipe! Or is it?) Serves 6 as Amuseor 4 as Appetizeror 2 as Side. Here's a link to my post on the Veggies, Don't eat enough of them thread on eGullet. In that post, I refer to Jim Dixon's first mention of this dish on eGullet. Here is a link to Caramelized Cauliflower on his website, Real Good Food. Here's a link to Amanda Hesser's article in the NYT: The Celestial Cauliflower, published January 17, 2001. Finally, here's a link to the current eGullet discussion thread about roasted cauliflower. Does it taste like french fries to you? Regardless of who created this recipe, it is a must try for everyone who ever thought cauliflower was characterless. Here's how Jason and I make it: 1 Head of Cauliflower (or more!!!) 1/4 c Good Olive Oil (EVOO not necessary) Kosher or Sea Salt Freshly Ground Black Pepper Preheat oven to 400F. Trim and wash the whole head of Cauliflower then slice it about 1/4 inch thick. There will be lots of small pieces and several large lacy slices. Place the cauliflower into a large bowl and drizzle on the Olive Oil, Salt and Pepper to taste, toss to coat. Spread the cauliflower evenly onto sheet pans (I use 2 half-sheet pans) and put in the oven. After about 10 minutes, stir them around to get the pieces on the edge of the pan moved towards the middle to encourage even browning, stir again every 5-10 minutes. After about 20 minutes it is ready, but can be left a little longer until even more browned depending on your taste and addiction level. Plan on 1 head of Cauliflower for every 2 people you are planning to serve. It reduces in volume significantly and is very addictive. Leftovers (leftovers?!) are excellent hot or cold (especially with Tahini Sauce). Keywords: Amuse, Appetizer, Side, Kosher, Vegan, Vegetarian, Intermediate, Vegetables, Dinner, Lunch, Snack ( RG167 )

OK so it's a bit weird, but I need help making some fake animals out of tofu. It's for a vegetarian party, the tricky thing is i need to make it look like the real thing. I have a mold ready to use, but it's not really oven safe. My idea is to use a basic tofu meatloaf recipe, put it in the mold and chill it until it sets, then transfer it to the oven. Anyone have any helpful ideas, or comments?

My aunt is heading into town in a couple of weeks.. She is going to be with a vegetarian, a vegan, and two people who eat everything.. Restaurant does not have to be high end but, obviously needs to be good.. Anyone have any suggestions besides ditching the veggie folk..

I'm meeting two friends in Chicago. One is a vegetarain. One is not. I am not. Any suggestions for a birthday dinner at nice places that are veggie friendly but don't have to be limited to vegeterian. Money is not an issue, nor is vegan. Thanks

The class was great. Learned a lot and took lots of pictures. If it is ok, I'll post my blog address, if not, if someone can tell me how to post pictures, I'll do it here. Here are some notes from class. I just jotted down as fast as I could, and some might not make sense. If you don't understand, just ask and I'll try to remember. Patrick Peeters June 28, 2008 All ingredients should be at room temperature. Don’t have to boil UHT cream. Just bring to simmer and pour over callets. He always uses a Robot Coupe for ganaches. He says they are much smoother than by hand. He likes to use European butter. It is 82%. US butter is 72%. You can add butter with cream but he prefers to add it last for better mouth feel. You must know the cocoa butter percentage in your chocolate to calculate your formula. You can freeze your finished bon bons, but follow the normal freezing guidelines—thaw in stages and don’t unwrap for 48 hours. Invert, honey, and glucose all help water activity. Sorbitol is a sugar that binds water, but we are afraid to use it here, but it is normal in Europe. Greatly increases shelf-life. It also is a laxative if too much is used. You don’t have to table a ganache if you have prepared it properly. He used a can of Badger compressed air? and a little Badger siphon feed air brush. Don’t mix milk and dark chocolate. It throws off the melting point and messes everything up. Mycryo was developed as a substitute for gelatin during the Mad Cow scare. It is an insulator? Vegetarians like to use it. If it is past its due date, use it 2 degrees warmer—it has changed to beta 6, from beta 5 crystals. When using a transfer sheet with a layer of chocolate, first spray counter top or sheet pan with Pam. Smoothly roll out the transfer sheet. This makes a smooth area that won’t slide around. Spread with tempered chocolate and smooth to a thin layer. When just starting to set, use a toothpick to “cut” the chocolate. Top with parchment and roll up transfer sheet, chocolate and parchment. Put in fridge until set. Remove plastic and parchment and you have some fun designs in chocolate. When molding, don’t over-work the colored cocoa butter or it will over crystallize and not release. Vibrate the filled mold on the table top to release air bubbles. When you dump it out, keep it horizontal or the shells will be uneven. You only have to wait to close the molds until the filling is firm enough to cover. There is no reason to wait over night. Hit the filled molds very gently with a hair dryer to soften the chocolate and make it adhere better to the bottom. If you over melt it, it won’t release from the mold. Infusing tea in hot cream for more than 10 minutes leads to bitterness. Cold cream refrigerated over night is better. JPW designed the Mold d’art melter

When I cook for vegetarian friends, I usually lean on dishes that take time to develop the sorts of full, savory flavors that I miss when sacrificing meat and seafood, long-simmered curries and tomato sauces in particular. However, I'm often in the bind I'm in today: I've got a pal coming over at 7p for dinner tomorrow but will have only an hour or so to prep. Right now I'm thinking about grilled vegetables over couscous. You got anything better?

Trying to jog my memory. Had been on egullet a year or so ago and found quite a few postings about a great vegetarian restaurant outside London. Think it was near the coast? Can anyone help me? Thanks!

Does anyone know where I can order some vegetarian sausage casings that are comparable to the natural, edible ones? Ones that have that snap when you bite into them.