Wo chi su- Vegan Traveling in China

Before we arrived in China we heard a lot about the hardships of being a vegan traveling around China and I started researching what to do or what to say in order to get by. After a long search on the web I found that saying "i eat vegetables" is about the best phrase I can use that will hit the spot by trying to explain I'm a vegan. You can say a phrase that means "I don't eat meat" (or without meat-meyo rou) but they may understand that you eat other things like chicken or worse, dog.

Burmese Cooking in Inle Lake (Nyaung Shwe), Myanmar, June 2-4 2015

In Nyaung Shwe we mainly rested and relaxed after trekking for 3 days and didn't do much aside from sampling delicious food at local stalls and the "night market" (really just a row of a few outdoor restaurants, but the food is cheap and good!). We decide to skip the boat tour on the lake which is popular among tourists thinking our boat ride the day before was enough. We booked a bus to Hsipaw for the following afternoon and decided to sign up for a cooking class together with our new friend Liron with the highly recommended Bamboo Delight Cooking School (20$ per person) run by the lovely Leslie and Sue, who use a percentage of their profits towards various charitable causes in the local community (more info on their facebook page).

"Tha-tha-lo" - Vegan in Myanmar

Myanmar has a rich and unique cuisine which incorporates some Indian, Thai and Chinese influences and varies throughout different regions of the country. It is perhaps less known than its more famous neighboring kitchens but it is just as delicious (in our opinion), and is the proud owner of some truly distinct dishes  that you won't find anywhere else. 

The Hardships of a Vegan Traveling in the Meat-lovers' Paradise of the Philippines

OK, so to be a vegan in the Philippines is not an easy thing to do but the good news is-  it's not impossible! The local diet is definitely meat-based and I'm talking breakfast, lunch and dinner. Even just being a vegeterian is hard- for example there are many pizza chains in the big cities but it's hard to find a pizza without ham, chicken or pork on it! In local eateries and street stalls it is very rare to find vegetarian or vegan options among the heaps of pork, chicken, fish balls, hamburgers etc but the the restaurants that cater to tourists will usually have a few veggie (easily-turned vegan) options. After a month-long trip in the Philippines I have some helpful advice and useful tips for the vegan traveler:

Special Food Post: Oil, Spices and Potatoes - Why We love Indian Street Food!

This entry of our blog won't be about a specific place. Instead, it will be dedicated to one of the reasons we love India so much- the delicious (and inexpensive) street food!  

A little about us:

• I'm a vegan for the last 5 years and though vegeterian food is easy to find everywhere in India, I discovered that India is probably one of the hardest places to be a vegan, on the account of dairy products which are a basic ingredient in many Indian dishes.
• Maya is kind of a vegetarian (eats fish).

So as a result we will only cover dishes that we eat.

There will be an oil scale for each dish ranging from
1 = almost healthy to 
4 = possible heartburn.

We'll start with the most famous item that basically you can get anywhere in India (north to south) and any time: the humble Samosa!!!!

Price: 3-10 Rs.
Main ingredients: dough, aloo (potato), green chili, green peas and spices.
Oil scale: 3-4

Variations: you can get two different types of dough (Goan is more crispy than the common Punjab), different vegetables inside and different sizes. The biggest change is if your samosa vendor has a pot of chola(chickpeas in gravy) you can have your samosa crushed by the hands of your vendor then topped with: chola, corriander sauce, ketchup, fresh onions and curd (yogurt).
*vegans try to say "no curd" in advance- sometime it works.

Veg burger (!) Definitely  not a traditional dish but a dish that a lot of Indians learned to love. We found stalls of it all across India.

Price: 10-30 Rs.
Main ingredients: bun, potato, ketchup(they put a lot so try to stop them).
Oil scale: 2

Variations: You can find places that deep fry the bun (like Tunisian fricasse), add fresh vegetables (don't expect pickles), or garnish with bhujia (shredded potato chips) and the main patty can be aloo tikki (see below) or a vegetable cutlet.

*Vegans: because most stalls cater to the commom pure-veg diet (which means no egg), the only problem here will be to check that they don't add a slice of cheese.

Dal vadda a great deep-fried lentil patty that you'll often find next to the samosas in the southern states (though we did see some in the north).
Price: 5-10Rs.
Main ingredients: Dal (lentils), onion, corriander (cillantro) and spices
Oil scale: 4

Puri bhaji a popular Indian breakfast item, sometimes called Puri Sabji.

Price: 10-20Rs.

Main ingredients:fried dough with potato gravy on the side.

Oil scale: 2-3

Chilly bhaji it has many different names across India and different kinds of batter but still pretty similar everywhere: a deep-fried green chili.

Price: 5-10 Rs.

Main ingredients: green chili and some kind of batter.

Oil scale: 3

Aloo tikki a mashed potato patty

Price: 10-20

Main ingredients: potato
Oil scale: 2

Variations: you can get it in a sandwich, or just with a kind of sweet sauce but the best way to have it is mashed and mixed in chola, corriander sauce and fresh vegetables.

Pakora- deep-fried vegetables.

Price: 10-20 Rs. depending on the amount you want.

Main ingredients: chickpeas flour, some kind of vegetable and spices.

Oil scale: 3-4

Variations: it can be any vegetable like cauliflower, onion, green pepper etc. (different vegetables chopped and mixed together or pieces of individual vegetables), paneer, sea-food, chicken, rice or even bread. 

Rice pakora

Parantha- or paratha, a fried flat bread usually stuffed with veggies and served for breakfast in north India.

Price: 15-40 Rs. per peice

Main ingredients: flour, some kind of stuffing and spices

Oil scale: 3

Variations: the most common parantha is aloo (potato) paratha but you can find also: paneer, cheese, masala, gobi, mix veg and butter parantha. You can also get it plain or sweet.
*for vegans please note that it usually comes with curd (yogurt) so try in advance to ask for no curd.

Kerala Parotha or parotta a.k.a מלאווח a lovely fried flat bread that's common in the south especially in Kerala. 

Price: 10-20 Rs. per piece, usually comes with a side korma (a coconut based gravy) or sabji (potato gravy)

Main ingredients: dough and oil

Oil scale: 4

Veg puff a.k.a בורקס  is a great snack for the road. You can find it mostly in train and bus stations

Price: 10-20 Rs.

Main ingredients: a puff pastry filled with potatos

Oil scale: 3

Variations: some vendors open your puff and add fresh vegetables and bhujia.

Pani puri an interesting dish that's made from a hollow ball of crispy dough filld with a spoon of stuffing and swimming in pani (a watery sauce that is usually sweet and sour) 

Price: 10-20 Rs. for 4 pieces

Main ingredients: the stuffing is made from vegetables and chikpeas. The sauce called pani (literaly meaning water)is made with water and different spices and herbs.
Oil scale: 1

Veg momos steamed Tibetan dumplings that resemble Chinese dim-sum, popular all over India.

Price: 10-30 Rs. per 3-6 peices

Main ingredients: dough and different vegetables, most commonly cabbage, carrot, onion, and ginger.
Variations: fried momo, spinach and mushroom momo, cheese momo, chicken momo, seafood etc. Usually served with a spicy tomato sauce or sometimes with a clear soup.
Oil scale: 1 

Bhel puri/ Alu chat a popular street snack most commonly consisting of a mix puffed rice, legumes, and vegetables.

Price: 10-20 Rs. for a plate.

Main ingredients: Bhel(puffed rice),any type of legumes, vegtebles and spices.

Oil scale: 1

Poha- flattend rice dish eaten for breakfast or as snack, popular in Rajasthan. 

Price: 10-20 Rs.

Main ingredients:flattened rice, curry leaves and spices.

Oil scale: 2

Variations: sometimes vegetables or chickpeas are added. 

Red fish or any living thing that comes from the sea. You can find vendors selling them anywhere in India that's close to the sea.

Price: 10-50 Rs. it all depends on size and availability.

Main ingredients: fish, shrimp and crab marinated in a mix of spices and fried.

Oil scale: 3-4

Chola bhature- a tasty dish common in Rajasthan made of a type of puri (see above) and chickpeas gravy.

Price: 15-20 Rs. for chola dish and two bhature

Main ingredients: flour, chickpeas, spices and vegetables.

oil scale: 2-3

Variations: Sometimes you can find the chola served with kulcha (in the photo below) instead of bhature (for me kulcha is the better option).

Uttapam- rice pancake

Price: 20-40 Rs.

Main ingredients: rice, urad dhal, salt, fenugreek seeds, water

oil scale: 2-3

Variations: you can have it plain or with onions or veg topping. You usually get it with coconut chutney and sambar (spicy vegetable sauce) on the side.

Dosa- a south Indian rice crepe.

Price: 10-20 Rs.

Main ingredients: rice, urad dhal, salt, fenugreek seeds, water

Oil scale: 2

Variations:the most common variation is masala dosa that is filled with a potato stuffing. It is usually served with coconut chutney and sambar on the side. You can also get it with onion or cheese and in touristy places you can find sweet versions like banana coconut dosa. 

Pav bhaji a bread roll with a tomato curry on the side.

Price: 10-20 Rs.

Main ingredients: roll, onion, garlic, lemon, tomato and spices

Oil scale: 3

*Vegans- try to stop them before they add butter to the bhaji.

Veg katti roll- a parantha rolled with vegetables and sauces.

Price: 10-20 Rs.

Main ingredients: parantha, vegetables, ketcup, chilli sauce 

Oil scale: 3

*Vegans- sometimes they really want to add paneer (fermented cheese) to your roll so beware!

Veg chowmein - a Chinese dish popular in India and widely adopted as a street food as well as in many restaurants.

Price: 10-20 Rs.

Main ingredients:noodles (uselly spaghetti in India), cappsicum (green pepper), onion, garlic, cabbage and salt.

Oil scale: 2-3

Kachori- deep fried dough with lentil stuffing.

Price: 5-10 Rs.

Main ingredients: chickpeas flour dough filled with a stuffing of yellow dal or urad dal (white lentils) and spices.

Oil scale: 3

Variations: you can have it as is or crushed and topped with corriander sauce, sabji (vegetable gravy) and fresh veggies.

Fresh fruit 

Price: 5-20 Rs. depends on which kind of fruit and the size you want.

*Warning: in India they uselly add masala spices or red/black salt to the cut fruit on the street (!?),but i find it refreshing when they add chilli to your pinappale or mango (that's just me).

Lemon soda stalls

price: 10-15 Rs.

main ingredients: soda and squeezed lemon juice.

Variations: well there's not a lot of options here, but usually its drunk (by locals) as a salty drink but you can get it sweet (add sugar, but be prepared to stop the vendor from adding masala spices (?!) to your soda.

*If there is a mistake regarding price (which means somebody overcharged us) or a missing ingredient, I'll be happy if you'll write to us and we will fix the mistake.

Interesting websites about Indian street food:

-11 famous street foods
-Kolkata street food: