Vegetarian in Taipei

Vegetarian food is easily available in Taipei. For those who know Chinese, there should not be any problem finding vegetarian food.

For the English speaker who can't read Chinese, it may be difficult to identify them. There are very few English signs.

Lonely Planet says to look for the Buddhist swastika sign, (卍) usually in red. But I found that few vegetarian restaurants actually have that sign.

Thus, the most important way to to identify vegetarian food, the important Chinese character to recognize is the word su 素 (see the picture if you can see this word on your computer) , its pronunciation is similar to "shoo".

However, do note that some stall or restaurants have the word "可素食", meaning "vegetarian available" or "suitable for vegetarian". In most cases, that means the food may not be pure vegetarian, but can be made without meat upon request.

As milk is normally not used in Chinese cooking, vegans should not have any problems too. I was a little surprised that eggs was used in some vegetarian places where I ate, they will always asked if it is alright to use egg. However, there are a few vegetarian restaurants selling Italian fare like pasta and spaghetti. Milk and cheese would be used in those restaurants.

As most people are vegetarian for religious reason, onion and garlic are normally not used in vegetarian food. Some snacks food such as the onion pancake (葱抓饼)do not contain any meat, but as it contains onion, it is not labeled as "su" 素.

For cheap vegetarian eats, vegetarian noodles can be had for NT$30 to NT$40 at road side stalls or small eateries.

There are also "buffets". These simple restaurants have many dishes laid out at the counter and you help yourself to the dishes you want. The price of the food is either based on weight or based on the owners "discretion".

Then there are the type of buffets in which you pay a single price and you eat all your can. Those are more expensive and nicer restaurants. Prices starts from NT$200 per person. I had an all-you-can-eat hot pot buffet which worked out to be NT$400 per person. That's about S$20, which is quite alright.