Thailand is known for its great variety of delicious tropical fruits, and when you go to the Thai market, they are filled with piles of colorful fruits and vegetables. However, some vegetarians, if necessary, live from the fruits themselves. There is no such thing as a fruit, but it is on the far side of vegetarianism, and very few people try to follow a diet for a long time.
Availability of products in Thailand is definitely a plus for vegetarians. But there is another side of the story. Although most people assume that all vegetarians are very health conscious, this is not necessarily so. India is a good example. There are many millions of vegetarians in India, but there are lots of white sugar, white rice, heavy dairy products, sweets and deep-fried foods in their diet. Many Indian vegetarians are seriously overweight.
But let's focus on health conscious vegetarians / vegans who like whole grains, nuts and seeds, avoid fried foods, and avoid sugary foods. Here we run into our first challenge in Thailand. If you live in a big city like Bangkok or Chiang Mai, your choice is pretty limited. Let's say you like the selection of nuts and seeds and grains. In most parts of Thailand you will be limited to brown rice and cashew nuts.
If you go out to eat at the restaurant, you'll have to fight a regular battle says a waiter who does not want to MSG, and fish sauce in your food. If you do not mention that he would get in most meals, guaranteed. Actually the first two phrases I learned when I came to Thailand as "do not put MSG in my food" and "do not put fish sauce in my food ".
Another problem is that cooking vegetables in Thailand generally means fry them in oil, the cheapest available. A large part of Thai food can be on the fat for the health conscious vegetarians. If you look at any Thai menu, there is always a long list of fried a number of soups, which often does not correspond to our Western ideas of a proper meal.
Thais are very proud of their spicy food. Most dishes are freely laced with hot chilis. If you ask a Thai waiter if the food is spicy, their usual response is "little." The correct translation is that it could burn a hole in your own language if they are not used to spicy food. Even if a waiter who does not want any chili in a food at all, they will still put some on it because I can not imagine cooking without it. Your "not spicy at all" is interpreted as a request to only half as much chili to your meal.
If you live in a major tourist destination you will find restaurants with very few vegetarian city for vegetarians in Thailand is Chiang Mai, which boasts dozens of vegetarian restaurants. Even most non-vegetarian restaurant will have a number of vegetarian options on the menu. Chiang Mai is New Age city of Thailand, with many courses in different modalities of massage, yoga, Tai Chi, meditation, qigong, energy work, and many others.
The most popular island of Koh Phangan is a vegetarian who also developed into a major center for yoga, massage and various spiritual practices. Since a large percentage of visitors that the western practice of yoga or are vegetarian or prefer to eat vegetarian meals, many restaurants in Ko Phangan have adapted to this trend and offers a good selection of vegetarian food.
But here's the challenge. If you are a health conscious vegetarian / vegan and traveling around in Thailand outside the above mentioned places, you will often have a hard time finding a decent vegetarian food. In many restaurants they will look at you incredulously and say that they can not get any vegetarian food. But more often than not, they will tell you that the vegetarian food. But it is always the same dish:. White rice with roasted vegetables
It can get old very quickly. Your main choice in most restaurants as white pasta with roasted vegetables and white rice with fried vegetables, seasoned with MSG, and fish sauce, unless you clear that you do not want. Most Thai restaurants are endless pages dishes on their menus, but the vegetarian choices are generally limited to the above two items.
If you browse around the market, you can often find some vegetarian snacks and sweets. Markets can often be a better choice of restaurants, but if you do not speak any Thai will often be impossible to determine what it is you're looking for.
And eaten as a vegetarian in Thailand is easiest in places like Chiang Mai or the island of Ko Phangan. If you travel or live outside these places, you will not find so easily as a health conscious vegetarian. But at least you'll usually find lots of great food. One good word to know the Thai word for "vegan": it is "jeh", pronounced something like the English name "Jay ".
