I have always been a vegetarian. My parents are vegetarian too and as I grew up and began eating out, and saw people raving about food that my parents did not eat, I was curious. But I also knew, I liked animals too much to eat them and the concept of eating something so similar to me in form and structure, was gory!
And then I fell in love with travelling. And the fear of finding food I could eat outside my house and kitchen became a preoccupation. Would there be anything for me in Europe? Or would I live on biscuits and bread? Well, I have come a long way since then. Over the last many years across India, I have never had to go hungry even in the most ‘non-vegetarian’ states like Assam, West Bengal!
In the last 12 months, I have visited two countries — Germany and Thailand — and survived without starving to death. Ever heard of vegetarian food from there? Of course you get vegetarian Thai curry in india… but in Thailand? Well, you would be surprised.
I think it is just a matter of the will finding the way. Take the time, I decided to go to the Oktoberfest in Munich even though I was not sure, if the organisers knew the meaning of vegetarian. I was gearing up for bread with cheese and tomato (my staple in France!) but after some explaining and peering at the menu, I managed to get some gooey potatoes. They were not mashed or fried and I gave up the hope of finding anything filling. I ordered a pretzel...which was bad. It was a terrible food day and with energy dipping, I went for a walking tour around the city. I asked the tour guide for vegetarian food and he recommended a couple of vegetarian burger joints! Skeptical as hell, I made my way to the first one with a name that I struggled to say aloud, ‘Hans im gluck!’ This was a spacious joint with bamboo sticks seemingly holding up the roof. There was also a very good-looking menu with vegetarian options!
The lesson from this outing was that for the rest of my trip, I asked for vegetarian burger joints and spent time gorging on vegetarian burgers. Some had just uncreative slabs of fried tofu which spoke of a culture that hadn’t discovered vegetarian cuisine but others were a delicious mix of all things vegetarian, topped with great sauces!
Months later,I made my way to Bangkok, wondering what kind of vegetarian food I would find. There were fewer options and even a lesser appreciation of vegetarianism. But even here, I found a place that was vegetarian only!
This was not the best Thai food. It wasn’t Indian-Thai, it was tofu heavy but it was food. And as long as a vegetarian at large gets to eat, I guess, she can’t complain.
blogs at www.merrytogoaround.com