Aside from the Great Wall, the amazing food was the highlight of my trip to China. For me, it was just so completely unexpected. The food we ate was nothing like what you get in a Chinese restaurant in Australia. But in my opinion it was about 100 times more delicious. I chose to be vegetarian in China, so today I am sharing my guide to eating vegetarian in China. During my trip, I felt that many of our meals were just as much about the experience as the food. So I have added a few bonus stories at the end.
Eating vegetarian food in China
I chose to go vegetarian for the duration of my trip to China. I had read blogs online before leaving which implied that it may be difficult to find vegetarian food, but I had no such issues. Which is lucky, because there were four of us in total on my tour who chose to be vegetarian! I suspect the difference between my experience and that of the bloggers whose posts I read is I never ate street food. I also only visited big cities like Shanghai and Beijing where vegetarianism is more common. We also had an amazing guide with our Peregrine Adventures Best of China tour, who ordered a range of food each night. He quickly realised that even the non-vegetarians were happy to eat vegetarian food and ordered predominantly dishes that we could all eat.
Below, I will share a little bit more about what it was like eating vegetarian in China. Unfortunately I have the memory of a goldfish and I don’t remember the names in English or Chinese of any of the dishes I ate. Which is going to make things a little difficult! But hopefully I can update this over time as I remember or find more information online.
How easy is it to find a range of vegetarian foods to try?
On the tour, our guide found a huge range of vegetarian dishes for us to try! All of the restaurants we visited were quite nice (though not fancy by any means) and had a good range of food. Some dishes were available everywhere. For example, one dish with snow peas, wood ear mushrooms and a variety of other vegetables was available in every restaurant. Other restaurants showcased the local specialties of the region we were in. For example, in Luoyang, we tried a variety of different soups. In Xi’an, of course, we went to the dumpling banquet. We also visited the Yongtai Temple near Shaolin, where we ate a Buddhist-style vegetarian lunch.
For the most part, there was plenty of vegetarian food to go around! The one exception to this was at the guesthouse near the Great Wall. A barbeque dinner was included with our tour and cooked at the guesthouse. Unfortunately, there were very few vegetarian options here and I resorted to eating chicken wings. There were no alternative options for dinner where we were staying so if you are a real vegetarian looking at this tour or a similar trip, I recommend bringing some extra food.
If you are travelling by yourself, see if you can find places with English menus or at least a menu with pictures. This will help you to see exactly what a dish is before you order it. This is how we were able to decide what to eat after leaving our tour! We also visited restaurants that were either recommended to us by our guide or which were attached to the hotel.
Is the food really vegetarian?
I have been doing a bit of research to make this more of a complete guide to eating vegetarian in China. And one thing most posts seem to mention is that “vegetarian” dishes have small pieces of meat in them as seasoning. As far as I am aware, all but one of the dishes I ate were completely vegetable-based. I did not spot any bits of meat in them. The one exception to this was a dish of Bok Choi in Shanghai. I was eating it quite happily until I found a fish fin in it… So I agree that this is something you need to watch out for.
Is there a lot of “fake meat”?
One of the blog posts I read complained about many of the vegetarian options being fake meat. They had been vegetarian for a long time and didn’t appreciate eating replicas of foods she did not miss. The vast majority of dishes I ate were vegetables. No fake meat to be seen. The one exception to this was when we visited the Yongtai Buddhist temple near Shaolin for lunch. All of the food here was made from soy products or mushrooms, but replicated popular meat-based Chinese dishes. I thought it was quite impressive because it looked like the real thing. However, I imagine this might be a bit off-putting for some. It was also one of my favourite meals because it was delicious and I could eat everything!
What are some of the best dishes to try?
As I mentioned above, I have the memory of a goldfish and can’t remember most of the dishes we ate. However, I did find a link to a list of vegetarian dishes that are widely available and worth trying, so be sure to check that out before you go. Below, I will also list a few of the dishes that I do remember which you might be able to find yourself.
1. Any eggplant dish: After visiting China, eggplant became my favourite vegetable. Seriously. Every eggplant dish we ate in China was next level delicious. If you see eggplant on the menu, get it.
2. Snow peas + wood ear mushrooms: I mentioned this earlier as a dish you could find just about everywhere. It’s simple, but delicious. It often comes with ginkgo berries which I don’t love but otherwise yum.
3. Fried mushrooms: During our trip we had fried mushrooms a couple of times. The best ones we had were at the Little Snowflake restaurant in Beijing. Also an excellent snack.
4. Dumplings: Many of the restaurants we visited had the option for vegetarian dumplings. None of them were as varied or amazing as those in Xi’an but they were still yum. Also readily available as street food (or so I’ve heard).
5. Broccoli: Like the snow peas, it was possible to order stir fried broccoli at most restaurants in China. Again, a very basic dish but tasted good. I don’t usually like broccoli so me saying this is a big deal!
How do I tell someone I am vegetarian when in China?
Whilst this is something I never needed to do because our guide ordered food for us most of the time, but I am currently learning mandarin and thought it’d be a good idea to share with you how to tell someone you are vegetarian when in China! Below are a few important phrases you should note somewhere before your trip. I’ve also included the pinyin and characters for different types of meat so you can specifically say “I don’t eat fish” or “I don’t eat pork”. This may help in cases where these meats are used as “seasoning”.
| English | Pinyin | Characters |
| I eat vegetarian | Wǒ chī sù | 我吃素 |
| I don’t eat meat | Wǒ bù chī ròu | 我不吃肉 |
| I eat only vegetables | Wǒ zhǐ chī shū cài | 我只吃蔬菜 |
| Fish | Yú | 鱼 |
| Beef | Niú ròu | 牛肉 |
| Pork | Zhū ròu | 猪肉 |
| Chicken | Jī ròu | 鸡肉 |
BONUS! Food experiences in China
I mentioned earlier in my post that the food was one of the highlights of my trip to China. Whilst this is mostly because the food was delicious, it is also because a lot of our meals allowed us to experience and learn about Chinese culture. Since I didn’t share about these experiences in my destination guides, I wanted to write a bit about them here.
A private room in Luoyang: seating around the dinner table is important!
On our second night in Luoyang, we chose to have dinner with our guide and two other members of our tour group. This meal was my favourite in China because the food was delicious (there were TWO eggplant dishes!) and we learnt a little bit about Chinese culture from our guide. We were placed in a private room which contained a circular table and a very large, ornate chair. This was placed at the top of the table facing the door. This chair is saved either for the oldest person in your party, or whoever holds a position in government. Presumably the highest ranking official would sit here where multiple government members are present.
Our guide also explained to us that the person sitting opposite this chair is required to serve drinks and pays at the end. We thought this was hilarious because my mum was sitting there! Luckily for her, our guide paid as usual (each group gave him cash for their portion) and we all served our own drinks.
Regional specialties in China
Something I didn’t know before heading to China is that each region or city has a type of food it is most known for. I’ve already touched on the soups in Luoyang and the dumplings in Xi’an, but here I thought people might be interested to hear about Beijing Cuisine. Of course, the most famous dish from this cuisine is Peking Duck. This is one of those things that (if you’re not vegetarian) you really should do while in Beijing. Not only is it delicious (or so I was told – I didn’t partake), it’s also an interesting cultural experience.
Peking Duck gets its name from the original western name for the city of Beijing. It is characterised by its thin, crispy skin and is often eaten with spring onion, cucumber and sweet bean sauce all wrapped in a small pancake. I’ll spare you the details about the duck itself in case any vegetarians are still reading… But I will say it does seem to be a rather specific process. In most restaurants in Beijing, the duck will be carved in front of you. Whilst this is all part of the experience, any vegetarians should be prepared as this may make you uncomfortable.
Buddhist vegetarianism in China
I have already touched a little on our lunch at the Yongtai Temple near Shaolin, but I thought you might be interested in learning a bit more about it. Buddhist monks and nuns in China are expected to maintain a vegetarian diet. Interestingly, they also must strictly avoid alcohol, garlic and onions. As a result, a unique cuisine has sprung up, which includes a variety of fake meats. You can eat food such as this at Buddhist temples like Yongtai, but you can also find restaurants serving this cuisine in China’s cities.
The most interesting thing about this is that in other Asian countries, Buddhists are not required to be vegetarian. This is also the case in Tibet. Only in China and countries with Chinese influence (such as Korea and Vietnam) do Buddhists adhere to this diet. One suggested reason for this difference in practice is because of Emperor Wu of Liang, who was a devout Buddhist. He was a vegetarian himself, and his influence caused other Chinese Buddhist sects to follow his lead.
I hope you’ve found my guide interesting and helpful!
Those are all the experiences I have to share for today. If you’d like to read more about the places I visited in China, head over to my destination page. More importantly, I hope you have found my guide to eating vegetarian in China helpful! If you have any more questions, let me know in the comments below or get in touch via social media.
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