...what about vegan food in japan?

I heard its possible to live vegan very easily in japan and have a bunch of things you can buy...and the food you can buy in the supermarket is also labeled as vegan, is that true?

 

Well tofu is vegan food and it is very big in Japan and other asian countries. Fermented Tofu is the healthiest, well thats what I've learned from the Food Network .

So, I think its very easy to live a vegan lifestyle in Japan than most other countries because its part of their daily diet.

 

that sounds great, thx for the info

 

Follow the shojin ryori diet/lifestyle and you should be good to go.

 

I'm on the "I put a fuckload of bonito flakes on everything I eat" diet.

Mmmmmm

I just recently changed over from the "What food group is marijuana?" diet.

 

fuck diets anyways...i'm a true vegan, no hobby vegan who wants to loose weight

 

Contrary to what many people think, it's not easier to live vegan in Japan. Lots of Tofu doesn't automatically mean it's an easy place for vegans. Dashi, the base ingredient of pretty much all soups and a lot of sauces in japan is made from dried fish, good luck trying to work your way around this. Most foreign vegetarians I knew in Japan just gave up and ate the soups regardless. Also, there's no real vegan culture in Japan, so nothing in the supermarkets is labelled as such and there's no special vegan section, as in some european or US supermarkets.

 

My suggestion isn't one in which you follow to lose weight. But rather, it is a strict vegan way originated by Buddhist monks.

 

The first part is true (it's possible) but I've never seen a single vegan label in the country. I eat seafood and dairy, but that's it. (I have my reasons which I don't want to go into right now).

If you are no dairy, no meat, no fish, (IE -- true vegan) then I you are going to be EXTREMELY hard pressed to eat anything but a salad when you go out. You'll also have to basically cook just about everything yourself. Japaense like to put a little bit of meat in just about everything. They're also very sneaky. I bought a Vegetable Au Gratan in a family restaurant once. I even read the description of it. They failed to mention the lump of ground beef in the middle.

On the flip side, everywhere has some type of fish alternative if you're into that (which it sounds like you're not).

There are a few oddball places I know of (all gaijin-owned) that have a good vegan selection.

-Pita the Great in Akasaka has no animal products in his sandwhiches. They rock the fucking house as well. I love them.
-Sonoma in Shibuya has a few vegan alternatives as does Fujimama in Harajuku. The menus are organized by the same person.

 

I 'hanged around' Tokyo some years ago on 2 different ocassions, and back then I didn't know it but I was suffering from celiac disease (found out a year ago). I felt like death back then and tried to live on a diet of milk and sandwiches and pasta - ridiculous had I known I was celiac and lactose intolerant. I thought it was because I was downing too much booze that I felt that way (which I was).
celiac disease is when you can't eat anything that contains gluten - which is found in wheat, barley, oats, and one other thing I can't remember. basically gluten creates antibodies which in turn attack the immune system and destroy the celia hairs in the small insestine through which we recieve our nutrients. in other words it can be absolute shite.

I want to go back there maybe in a couple of years, was thinking it would be very interesting to find out if foodstuff provides the info I would need to know if I am able to eat a certain thing.
you'd be suprised to find out how much stuff has wheat derivatives. I basically cannot injest aspirin in tablet form and can only use certain types of toothpaste. that's how far reaching this is. and it is a bitch when you feel like you're dying.

I think I may have just gone off on one. heh.. sorry.

 

Dude. That sucks. I met one person with that disease and she was a complete bitch. I hope you're nothing like her, and that people don't think of you as they did her.

 

One of my bosses had that, and she was allergic to everything, bread, salt, dairy, she basically lived off rice "milk" and wheat/gluten free pasta. She was an absolute cow as well...

 

thx for that really detailed info gaijin!

so they really but meat in vegetable salads...omg

another question, milk is relatively unpopular in japan, aye?

 

Milk isn't unpopular. They make a lot of kids drink it in Japan. It's really expensive though, since they don't have the kind of extensive dairy farming we have in Germany. And just forget about yoghurts and cheese in Japan, they're no good. Not that you'd care though.

 

hahaha!! awesome. Celiacs can be crazy bastards. let me rephrase that: we can be crazy bastards. some are affedted psychologically and neurologically.

I don't like tooting my own horn but I consider myself very easy to get along with, as long as you're not being racist or completly nuts.