I am a meat lover. I enjoy the flavour and the amazing dishes that people make with it. How being a vegetarian in Japan eats was not something that had ever crossed my mind…until I went for lunch with a colleague one day.
It wasn’t even a Japanese restaurant. We walked into Subway, you know, the sandwich chain store. There, my colleague got the lady behind the counter to stuff his sandwich with veggies and…no, that’s it. Veggies.
It turned that he often went to the same places for lunch as ‘there weren’t that many other options’ he had said.
That was over 10 years ago.
What are things like now?
I have a friend who sometimes fasts, and only eats vegetarian food on certain days. And on those days, I find myself not knowing what restaurants to suggest if we are meeting for lunch.
I have tried searching for places where we can both of us can eat, meaning a place that serves both meat dishes and vegetarian dishes. But somehow, it’s not as easy as I would like.
If we are in a normal restaurant, we might have to order a regular menu item, but ask the staff to leave out the egg, bacon or whatever else is not vegetarian.
That is not a huge problem if it’s a once in a while situation, like for my friend, but for a true vegetarian in Japan, that would be stressful I think.
What to do if you find yourself in a regular restaurant
First things first, phrases to explain what you need!
Phrases
- Do you have a vegetarian menu? (bejitarian menu arimasuka?)
- Is there any ___ in it? (___ haittemasuka?)
- I can’t eat ___ (___ taberaremasen)
- Does it contain ___? (___ tsukattemasuka?)
- Can you make it without ___? (___nuki dekimasuka?)
- Can you put ___ on the side (___wa betsu ni shite moraemasuka?) You will probably have to gesture for this one so they understand where you want it.
- I have a ___ allergy (___ arerugi desu) This is really useful if you don’t want to bother explaining that you are vegetarian and why you can’t eat this or that.
Some names of food items
- Meat (niku)
- Fish (sakana)
- Soup stock (dashi)
- Egg (tamago)
Searching for Vegetarian restaurants
If you’re going to do an internet search, you can try Vegetarian restaurants + Area name (ベジタリアンレストラン + Area name).
You can also search on Tabelog. It is basically the go-to app that the locals use when they are trying to find restaurants.
Vegetarian/Vegan restaurants lists
- Never Ending Voyage has a blog post on 14 Best Vegetarian restaurants in Tokyo. It has both vegetarian and vegan options.
- Happy Cow has a list of vegan restaurants.
- Matcha has a list of Tokyo vegan restaurants and dining options
Cooking at home
Cooking at home means that you will probably need to figure out what kind of ingredients and sauces you can and cannot use first.
For example, soup stock (dashi) is often made with bonito flakes (katsuobushi), which is fish. But some are actually made with seaweed (konbu).
But this does not only apply to dashi. Other products like sesame sauces also may or may not have vegetarian-friendly ingredients.
The one on the left contains eggs, while the one on the right does not.
If reading the ingredient list in Japanese takes too much time
If reading deciphering the ingredients is stressful, or even impossible, try using a phone app.
Have a smart phone? Use something like the Google translate app. Thank goodness for technology!
Back to our question. Can a vegetarian survive in Japan?
Yes, but you have a to be prepared to do a bit of legwork first. It is not as easy or straightforward as in some countries, but it gets easier once you know what to look out for.
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Happy eating!
Star
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