Country fresh veges.

TGL – Mountain markets are packed to the gunnels with fresh veges, so why it that the only vegetarian dish on offer in tourist towns is is tofu and tomato?

Animal, Mineral or Vegetable: 

Vegetables are all vegetables, that’s what sets them apart from the other things. Well, that and some other things.

Position on the periodic table of foodstuffs:          

Freeeeeesh baby, freeeeesh!

Atomic weight:

As light hearted as that joke about the panda that eats, roots and leaves.

Description:

Vietnam has its share of vegetarians. It’s not a big share, granted, and most folks are really in love with the pleasures of the flesh – hey! We mean dining! However, in tourist type places there is only limited offerings in terms of vegetarian fair.

Surprisingly in a mountain town surrounded by farms that harvest the freshest most luscious veges, few of these things find their way onto a plate that is free of meat. It’s almost like a chef knows some secret that we don’t; that you can’t cook noodles on their own, and that veges cooked and put on a plate in any combination that doesn’t involve meat instantly voids their nutritional value.

Just as hotel and restaurant owners seem to believe that backpackers will eat nought for breakfast other than banana pancakes, there seems to be a consensus that vegetarians will not mind eating that ubiquitous tofu and tomato sauce dish day in day out for lunch and dinner (having had pancakes for brekky) without so much as batting an eyelid.

Mountain markets are filled to the gills with obscure vegetables, the likes of which a ne’er seen on the flatlands. Strange fungi the size of a man (although these seemed to be reserved for the production of liquor) through to the strangest roots and tubers. Yet few of these things seem to make it to the plates offered in restaurants. It’s a shame really, as we neo colonials would hate to have to go to the market ourselves and start brewing up vege stews in our hotel rooms. 

Inert with:         

Veges are so inoffensive that they are inert with everything.

Reacts with:

Chefs who take their cooking seriously enough to know that no dish could ever be made without meat and would appreciate it if you could just mind your own business about what was cooked in the wok before.

The Good Life