On 1/15/2020 at 1:03 AM, heidih said:Curious why Chinese. Many of the temples that do the communal meals are from other places. Also it is generally as noted a communal experience and something one would learn hands on when assisting. .
Because I'm chinese and I liked the food 
More seriously, I've been examining vegetarian diets more carefully for the ethical and ecological implications. On the side of good eats, I've been decidely unimpressed by western mass market vegetarian thoughts - bean burgers, impossible burgers made from beets, chicken shapes made of out of seitan and bad stereotypical bean/rice/tofu/sprouts. The chinese vegetarian dishes don't try to imitate meat, they're just tasty and satisfying on their own. Even if they're named mock duck or chicken, it's pretty obvious they've got nothing to do with the real animal. It's different food that tastes good, not some insane chemical filled patty imitating a slab of meat.
