Hold the Dashi! Going Veggie in Japan
by spinshellStory by Karryn Cartelle
Being a vegetarian can be tough especially in a country where you can’t read or speak the language. At a recent dinner party hosted by the Tokyo Vegan Meetup Group we asked Miki Noguchi how hard it is going vege and what advice she could give us.
.m4v version
Interview with Miki Noguchi, organizer
It’s not easy but it’s not impossible. It depends on your background and how much knowledge you are bringing into the city.
Miki believes that being a vegetarian means becoming a food label reader, as many products that look vegetarian can contain meat or fish ingredients. If you want to eat organic you should also check labels for the JAS symbol or choose to shop at organic and vegetarian friendly supermarkets like Natural House.
Along with organic supermarkets, more vegetarian restaurants are opening throughout the city. Herwin Walravens, author of the Vegan Restaurant Pocketguide, has said that 15 new vegetarian restaurants have opened since he published the first edition of his book. If visiting a non-vegetarian restaurant Miki advises bringing along a Japanese friend for help. She also warns:
Definitely any Japanese sauce will have some form of fish extract in it. Dipping sauce for noodles, broth for noodles, I’ve even read artcilse where in some Italian restaurants they’ll use stock in their tomato sauce. Most restaurants have waitresses are not very knowlegeable about what is in the food.
Even if you are not a vegetarian, you may be interested in eating healthier. Tokyo’s latest raw food restaurant, Veggie Paradise, can teach you how to prepare tasty raw food and macrobiotic cuisine. It also serves up fresh vegetarian fare. Yuki Itoh, owner of Veggie Paradise, notes on the trend.
Interview with Yuki Itoh, owner-chef
People have become more conscious about what they eat. They started giving up western medication and seeking a (more) effective way (to heal) through changing (diet).
It may be difficult being a vegetarian but things are slowly getting easier as more vegetarian products hit the market and more people become aware.
A little knowledge will go a long way here. Take a look at these websites to help you on your vegetarian journey.
Tokyo Vegan Meetup Group
Japan Living Foods Association
Alishan Organic Center
Vegan Japan
Tokyo Vegetarian Guide
Here are a few of the many vegetarian-friendly restaurants on our City Guide. Just mention you are vegetarian/vegan in advance and they are very cooperative in planning/serving a special menu for you and your guests.
Cardenas Chinois
Junkadelic
Barbacoa Grill
Fujimamas
Leroux
The Pink Cow
Pita The Great
Bon
And remember, you can always order food (vegetarian and non!) from our online shop.
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* Quotes have been slightly altered for print. For the accurate quotations, please refer to the video.
All Rights Reserved, Spinshell Inc.
Spinshell Reports are three minute episodes of useful information about visiting and living in Japan.
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Tags: dashi, english, japan, restaurants in japan, Tokyo, vegan, vegan restaurants, vegetarian, vegetarian restaurants
April 1st, 2008 at 08:03
This video had some great information! Thanks!
p.s. How about some Japanese phrases in the future? For example it would be great to know in this video how to ask if any meat is in the food in restaurants. Just a thought.
April 1st, 2008 at 11:23
Brad,
True that, but we want to keep this site mainly about the culture, without going too much into language teaching. I personally recommend the Wikitravel phrasebook for some useful phrases.
April 1st, 2008 at 21:44
Fair enough. Just thought I’d throw that out there.
April 1st, 2008 at 21:54
Hi Brad
It’s a great idea! I thought it might make for a great “extra” on the transcript version. We try to include Japanese phrases in our videos every now and then (like the genkan part at the end) so we’ll definitely keep it in mind for future episodes. Hope to see you around again soon!
April 2nd, 2008 at 17:19
Cheers Brad
I checked in my 1999 edition Lonely Planet guide for something. In the language guide, it gives these:
I’m a vegetarian: Watashi wa bejitarian desu
Do you have any vegetarian food: Bejitarian no ryoori wa arimasu ka?
Not really useful at all! Of course most of the restaurants would consider stuff with dashi to be vegetarian, so asking (even using that amazing lonely planet translation) won’t really get you far. It’s so difficult to be a veggie in Japan that I think the best bet is to find the places that actually cater specifically to vegetarians and eat there.
I’ve eaten in Hare Krishna restaurants in a couple of (non-japanese) cities, I wonder if there are any in Tokyo?
Edit: I found a Govinda’s in Nakano!
http://www.krishna.jp/govindas/govindas/map/index.html
February 18th, 2010 at 05:31
Keep up the good work!.
May 9th, 2010 at 20:16
I am also a vegetarian and my body has never been in a very good shape. Being a vegan can really make you much heathier.`-`
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This is one of the best posts that I’ve ever seen; you may include some more ideas in the same theme. I’m still waiting for some interesting thoughts from your side in your next post.
October 21st, 2010 at 08:06
being vegetarian made me a lot healthier and leaner`’,
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I’ve even read artcilse where in some Italian restaurants they’ll use stock in their tomato sauce. Most restaurants have waitresses are not very knowlegeable about what is in the food.
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