I am more apprehensive about being a vegetarian in South-East Asia than I am in Europe. Vegetarianism is not something the South-East Asians understand that well. Dried shrimp, a favourite topping, seems to fall under this rather flexible veggie umbrella. And then there is the ubiquitous fish sauce (and meat sauce) that forms part of most gravies and dressings. Ask for a substitute? They’ll shake their heads and tell you nothing quite matches that taste. Sign language, innovative gestures and badly-pronounced words can take you as far as saying, no ‘fish’, no ‘beef,’ no ‘chicken’ but trying to avoid something a culture doesn’t see as non-vegetarian, well, that’s a tough one to tackle.
When I went to Bangkok a few years ago, I was apprehensive. I wanted to eat all kinds of Thai food that would dissolve in my mouth into that basic Thai marriage of sweet, sour and spicy. We could only eat at restaurants however, and even then not everyone had vegetarian options. Street food was simply out of question! The choices were rather limiting or maybe we hadn’t discovered how to use Google. We found ourselves telling chefs and servers that we didn’t want any meat. Or chicken, or shrimp toppings or any fish sauce, and then as we waited, I would feel this paralysing fear that it might anyway have some non-veg elements since they do not consider it to be non-vegetarian.
Jump to April, 2015 when I was invited to celebrate Thai New Year or Songkran with the Consul-General Nat Pinyowattanacheep, his wife and a group of bloggers.
Chef Seefah Ketchaiyo was putting it together for us, and I was a little disappointed when she announced at the start that it wouldn’t be a traditional feast but rather dishes as interpreted by her.
Modern cuisine is great but sometimes I want to stick to the traditional classics but once the food got there, I was more than happy. It was delicious Thai vegetarian food with the right blend of spices, sweet and sour flavours.
I had Thai green curry for main course with Tofu with cashew curry on the side. The Thai green curry was a little low on the spice but beautiful and the salads were tasty.
Especially, the raw papaya salad, without the dried shrimp topping, and a tart and crunchy raw mango salad that had a finely grated mango topped with a coarse crumble of groundnuts and peanuts.
What blew me with its blend of flavours and textures was the starter or appetiser. A rather simple looking light green coloured mush that had been served neatly on my plate.
The non-vegetarians had a prawn on the top, but the vegetarian version was just a larger helping of the green mush.
One bite and I was happy as it dissolved into my mouth in a burst of raw mango chunks and squashy, creamy avocado, mixed with red chilli, lemon grass and crisp tiny pieces of onion.
When they took the plate away, I had scraped off every little bit and I did wish it was the main course. I wish I had asked for another helping without worrying about looking impolite or greedy.
We ended the meal with sticky rice and diced mango. Since I’ve eaten it often in Bangkok, I craved for another Thai speciality, but maybe I will experience that during my next trip.
How to stay vegetarian in Thailand
Google translate will give you words for all meats and it might even make sense to say you’re vegan. For one, that clearly demarcates you from the non-vegetarians and thus prawns, shrimps, fish sauce, meat sauce will not be used in your food.
Learn words and sentences that might come handy. Vegan is “jay” in Thai, so you need to say “gin jay” when you place your order.
Use HappyCow. This awesome app/website tells you the nearest restaurant that serves vegetarian food or serves only vegetarian fare.
Or else travel during the ninth Chinese Lunar month, sometime in September or October as per the Gregorian Calendar. It is a wonderful time for vegetarians and vegans as this is when the annual vegetarian/vegan festival is celebrated.
Visit Anotoi run by a Cordon Bleu trained chef who churns out some great vegetarian and vegan food. And yes, don’t eat on the streets. You can never tell what your food has been cooked with.
Bhavani crafts tours at Audiocompass.in and blogs at merrytogoaround.com