vegans in japan.

a group of friends and i are planning on making out to japan next year,but none of us eat meat or eat dairy.i was wondering how hard it might be to find "vegan"friendly food there?over here in america it seems everything has whey or some other form of milk thrown in it ,im not sure if other countries are the same .thanks in advance.

 

thats a very nice question! (i'm vegan, too)

a friend told me that it's relativly easy to eat vegan in japan. they donÄt do noodles with eggs, and the sauces are almost all vegan, except the curry, and chicken of course and so on

when they went to a resturant there was always a nice salad buffet.

for the fact that nearly every product has some milk in it, i have to second you. germany is the same...even if its a product that could be produced without it, it seems that they simply throw it in to...yeah to what? i dunno

the japanese don't do so afaik. he brought me some food grade packaging so i could had a look at the ingredients...and they don't seem to know things like lactose and whey or smething like that...

big blabla small intention: should be no problem

 

Japanese generally eat more vegetables and fish than meat and dairy products, so I'm sure you can find vegan-friendly dishes. The only problem is that most servers at restaurants will probably be clueless as to what vegan/vegetarian is. Ask them what's in the dishes and they probably won't know.

 

Saladas, Tofu, noodles and all maner of vegies can be bought anywhere ! YOu shouldn't find it too hard.

Yakumo

 

in my opinion it is almost impossible to get a full menu without eating any parts made out of or from animal stuff. e.g. so many soup stocks content some fish extracts eventually you may never recognize it. so even you don't really feel eating something made of animals, in the most of the cases it is something made out of animals.
so better buy some real vegetables in a store, then you know what you're eating^^

 

Good luck trying to order vegan if you're not fluent in Japanese. The only place I know I got vegan food was a pita place that only served vegan :katamari:

 

maybe you should think about getting this one:


it's a great help if they don't know what you're talking about

 

You're going to Japan and not having any Sushi? Considering it's my favourite type of food.. words cannot express my frustration

 

Haha, never knew about that. Just ordered myself one. Thanks!

 

The greek text on the passport is useless, it says vegan with greek chars instead of the greek word φυτοφάγος -fitofagos-).

 

..or χορτοφάγος - πουτσοφάγος

 

Wait a second... Vegans eat fish??

 

Tatsujin speaks the truth. You're fucked. I'm a psuedo vegetarian (I eat fish & dairy, but no chicken, pork, cow, or any of that shit). I don't even like fish that much to be honest.

Anyways, explaining to a Japanese "no meat" can sometimes be a trick. I went to a place to order a Spaghetti Carbonara, and asked for it with "no meat". It came with bacon bits all over it. I asked the dude WTF, and he said, "no there's no meat on it, just bacon". O_O

Here are a few places that you can find something on the menu, and are English friendly.

Pita the Great - this is a small pita sandwhich shop in Akasaka, near Akasaka Twin Tower (has a big ATT on it). He used to serve a Tuna sandwhich, but doesn't anymore. It's all vegetarian. 500 yen per sandwhich. I love this place. Definitely one of the things I miss most. Other than the humus pita, it's almost all fried though.

Sonoma, in Shibuya, just up Dogenzaka on the right. (I'm sure they have a website). Not a vegan restaurant, but they do have vegetarian alternatives on their menu. This is a sit-down restaurant. Will cost you probably 1500 yen per person w/o drinks. They have a bar upstairs, and some good parties on the weekend as well.

Fujimama in Harajuku. The head chef of this restaurant helped Sonoma w/ their menu, and I'm proud to say is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin (same as me). Again, not a vegan restaurant, but has vegan alternatives.

All are gaijin-run with bilingual staff, so English isn't a problem.

HTH

You need to learn with 100% accuracy how to say "is there meat in it?" in Japanese. And don't believe the menu. I bought a Vegetable Au Gratin once. Read the description and everyting. Aaah, this looks good. Right in the middle was a slab of ground beef.

EDIT:
One last thing -- there are many Indian run curry places. They usually will have a Vegetarian Curry out. If it's run by Japanese people, then it's Japanese style curry, so will taste like shit anyway. Look for Indians, and ask them. They'll probably be able to speak some English.

 

I have a random question about vegans. Why don't they eat/drink things that have milk in them? I've been curious about that for a while. Is it because of the inhumane things they do to cows on farms? That would make sense.

 

Why don't straight men suck cock? Some don't do it b/c they don't like it. Others b/c of religious conviction. It's a question with many answers, such as yours.

 

vegans dont consume any animal products, including milk or (sometimes) honey.. the philosophical reasons vary (and sometimes there arent any other than perceived health benefits), but that's the general core tenet of veganism.

as for vegan food in japan, the thing to ask for is 'strict vegetarian' as apparently its a buddhist thing and a lot of places have a decent idea what it means.. i forgot the actual phrase in nihongo but i'll find out.

my travellin buddy while i was there last month, is vegan, and he got by ok tho it did require some fluency. short of that, all the convenience stores have inari and vegetable maki and the like that are vegan, and he largely subsisted on those without big problems. i also suggest izakaya-style restaurants, as they tend to have a lot of small veggie dishes with the fish dashi (and don't be fooled, there's fish dashi in _everything_) on the side.

good luck!

 

i thought, that inari zushi is done with a fish-dashi (bonito)?!

 

apparently not the ones you can get from AM/PM or FAMILYMART

 

Going a bit offtopic, but if you just don't eat mammals what are you called? Cause that's what I do.

 

if i understand your quesion well the answer could be a vegetarian?