Do you want to know what's in your dish?
Eating no meat at all can be problematic in places as familiar as McDonalds's and is another challenge altogether when teaching in a country that has such delicacies as
dog, rat or eyeball soup on the menu, especially when the menu is written in a foreign language.
The solution is to teach and work in countries with populations bound by a religion that mandates meatless eating.
There are,
four primary Asian religions that have edicts against meat eating:
- Buddhism
- Hinduism
- Taosim
- Jainism
Three of the above religions are found in India, which is, therefore, a place vegetarians can visit without having to worry about the gamey nature of that viscous substance covering the tofu.
China is a huge country with predictably diverse cuisine that can encompass everything from vegtarian faux-meat in the country's Budhist regions, to anything on four legs (except a table, goes the saying) in Cantonese areas.
The western restaurant version of
Indonesian food is heavily meat, chicken and fish based.
It may surprise anyone familiar with the
Filipinofondness of fried entrails on sticks.
If you really want to avoid eating strange meats and dishes, then the
International Vegetarian Union has sections devoted to vegetarian phrases in world languages.