Being a Vegetarian is not Easy...

My parents are vegetarian. My father has been a vegetarian his whole life, while my mother, for the most part, stopped eating meat when she married my father. Growing up, my siblings and I were fed vegetarian food all day every day when we went to restaurants the smiling waitresses always were so happy to accommodate us, and the grocery stores are full of an assortment of healthy non-meat products. Although my sister has chosen to start eating some meat in her diet, my brothers and I have steadfastly (stubbornly) maintained our diets. Not eating meat seems to be something that would be easy to do. Just don't eat meat. I remember when I worked at a summer camp with a young man named Jason. He had taken a year off of college to teach at an Adventist mission high school on the Pacific Island of Palau. One day during a meal, he commented to me on how he did not see how it would be possible for a person to remain a vegetarian on an island in the middle of an ocean. Now, me being me, I scoffed at that idea. As the saying goes, "Where there is a will, there is a way", and the stubbornness that I inherited from my father is more than enough willpower for an entire village. I remember thinking that it was easy to find vegetarian food at the store, you just simply buy a lot of fruits and vegetables, with a few other staples mixed in, and you are good to go. I could not fathom how it could possibly be difficult to maintain my choice of diet. This was 8 years ago, and I have since learned that reality abroad can be viciously different than the norm in the West. Here in Korea, people look at you real funny if you want your food with no meat in it. Other vendors literally do not understand what no meat means. One time, I ordered gimbab with no meat, and they kept the ham off but there was still crab meat inside. A couple weeks ago I was at a traditional Korean restaurant with friends, and after ordering some bibinbap with a side of soup, I finished about half of the soup before one of my friends pointed out that it was anchovy soup. *sigh*. To compound the problem my taste buds cannot tolerate pepper too well. There are no prizes for guessing which seasoning Koreans put into most of their dishes. So, what is a vegetarian to do in a culture that does not value the vegetarian lifestyle and shovels pepper in the kitchen like they were trying to remove snow after a blizzard? I really do want to explore around as much as possible, so isolating myself in my apartment and cooking all of my meals in not an option. I tried to visit one vegetarian restaurant that I located in Insadong, but the food there tasted awful (if I had had dog food in the past, I would probably try to compare the menu here to Kibbles & Bits).There are a few Indian restaurants around (albeit expensive Indian restaurants), so that is occasionally an option. Then, and a couple of months ago, a friend asked me to meet her at a vegan restaurant in Itaewon called 'Plant'.

I will be perfectly honest here. I was expecting the food to be horrible. The stereotype that I had in my head of Koreans is that they do not know vegetarianism. The stereotype that I have of vegan food is that it usually tastes worse than regular vegetarian food. The third strike against this place is that it was in a back alleyway where there is no traffic, and it is a tiny shop whose kitchen and seating are combined is about 15 x 15 feet. There is no reason to expect great things here.

My expectations were completely wrong. I must say that when I tried one of the wraps at this place I was pleasantly surprised. It was delicious. Every bite was an invitation to eat some more. I have gone back there twice and tried a chili (a bit too spicy for me) and a taco salad (they called it something else, I forget the name though) that was mouthwatering. The menu usually only has 3 entries on it, which is probably a reflection of the size of the cooking area. They do change the items on the menu on a regular basis. There is also a dessert display that I have sampled and enjoyed. There are usually ~ 6 different types of cakes that you can have a slice of, as well as an assortment of cookies.This place is a great find, although I would avoid the spicy snicker-doodle cookies, as they are truthfully labeled as spicy.

#Vegetarian #SouthKorea #Plant #Restaurant