A little warning, if you are a vegetarian Indian planning a trip to Thailand. The foodie’s paradise — that if you are a non - vegetarian — doesn’t have much to offer for the vegetarian kind. Finding your stuff among the meat balls and pork chunks getting fried on the roadsides is a difficult task and may even be intimidating for some. Most food items contain fish sauce. Staff at the eateries may not speak English, and the menus are often in Thai.
Disappointment and weight loss, it seems, are common among the vegetarian tourists when the return from Thailand.
Weight loss, though, may not be a bad thing to those who want to shed some flab anyway, like Mrs Manchanda (name changed), who lost five kilos during the few days she spent in the land of tropical beaches and ornate temples. But Mr Manchanda wasn’t very pleased with the experience with food, even as the husband and wife, my co - passengers on a recent flight to Delhi from Bangkok, gobbled up the veggie staff served on the plane.
So, what you could do to be well - fed in Thailand if you are a vegetarian? Here are some tips:
You are on a Bangkok road and see only meat and fish getting fried around you? Take a closer look. You may see a board with ‘7 - Eleven’ written in red and green. Almost every street in Bangkok has this brand of departmental stores. You will find juices of every kind to vegetarian salapao (Chinese steamed buns, in this case cream - filled) and bananas (cost 10 - 15 each). These shops also sell readymade food. The Thai word of ‘J’ (in picture) written in red stands for vegetarian meal containing tofu mushrooms, noodles, etc. You will find also banana cakes and a range of baked goodies and chips.
Source: Economic Times