Hot Pot.

Just go to a hot pot restaurant; the type where you have a personal pot. Fool-proof catch-all solution with good availability.

You can get plain water instead of the seasoned broth stuff they usually boil in. If you know a bit of Chinese, you can fashion a vegan broth with a few spices and salt- you have to be a little careful there, though, and take it step-by-step.

For example, first I’d get water, then I’d ask for some salt on the side. Maybe some ginger. Some sesame oil. Stick to elemental components, and they can’t get that wrong.

In general, that kind of do-it-yourself cooking is the easiest and most reliable.

Might just take a bit of miming to get the plain water if you don’t know any Chinese- but in any major city, there will be a patron at the restaurant (who speaks some English) who will step in to help you explain.

1. Cooking for oneself (And China is pretty much THE best place on the world to do that for a vegan)

2. In a pinch, go to a market and just buy some tofu. It’s already been cooked, as long as it’s fresh it’s fine to eat cold. No “night soil” issues there, although there’s little reason to be afraid of raw acidic vegetables like tomatoes.
You can find the soft tofu in a box (buy some chopsticks too), and usually some kind of jarred or bagged sauce with English ingredients on it. The best is if you can find bái yè, or hundred pages, which is in the form of thin sheets and makes great sandwich-like wraps. That will usually be back in the deli section (there could be a small chance of cross contamination if it’s near meat, so beware of position and handling when you buy it). A little tub of sesame butter to spread inside and roll it up (maybe a bit of some kind of sauce), and that’s a pretty good lunch.

3. Of course, there are many vegetarian restaurants in the major cities.

4. And if not- hot pot (as mentioned)

5. And if you can’t find hot-pot, you can always get another restaurant to make whatever you can describe. It’s not hard to find a new Chinese friend to help you out for ten minutes (they’re usually happy to practice English and it’s the most interesting thing to happen that day). Important, though: Try describing what you will eat, instead of what you won’t- it’s easier that way sometimes. E.g. “only soy oil, vegetables, and salt, no sauce” They can understand those kinds of limitations- just don’t give them room for creativity, or they’ll try to make it more delicious for you by adding meat flavour or something like that. I’ve even gotten things cooked in the microwave on a clean dish to avoid Wok cross-contamination. That route starts to get tedious, though, if your Chinese isn’t good. Otherwise, they’re happy to do it, and you’ll just get strange looks. Having it all written down might work.

The Tibetan Vegetarian website definitely seems somewhat undernourished! http://www.t4vs.org/

http://www.childbook.com/v/blog/2008/01/toxic-toys-and-chinese-workers.html references a Wall Street Journal Article that claims 10% of Chinese agriculture land is contaminated by heavy metals. And from the food poisoning in China I have been blogging about, there seems to also be a lot of pesticide contamination. China also had (has) a huge amount of questionable food additives. Boric Acid, Lye? that were added sometimes just for color, and for other reasons. My wife while in China recently, witnessed orange slices being dunked in some liquid

In Taiwan there is a lot of vegetarianism, as in the Chinese community in the US.

Interesting site that may help you – http://www.vegetarian-china.info/

Religion is a very touchy subject. Figuring out the number of Budhists in China seems challenging. Official is at least 8%. Since FG , I am sure many people have become even more private about their beliefs.

Chinese agriculture I don’t know much about truthfully, beyond it does export a huge amount.

Ray

Taiwan may be a different story, but Taiwan is a different story – it’s just an entirely different animal than the PRC.

Not really sure what you’re saying about heavy metals, pesticides and melamine – but I think “great job” and “industrialization in agriculture” are two things that have little connection in the PRC.

Farms are very much under-industrialized here to support the massive rural workforce. Large farms are rare, whereas patchworks of co-op plots blanket the countryside. Rare is it to find a tractor or any complex irrigation system. Mostly it’s folks breaking their backs in the fields – same as it was for the last few thousand years.

I would not be as concerned about night soil, China has done a great job of industrialization in agriculture. For example, a concern of a friend visiting them was what items came from China, such as tofu, vegetables, etc. Heavy metals, pesticides, melamine (used to fake increased protein levels), etc.

I asked my wife (Chinese) about the night soil thing, and she said that largely it’s grown to be too expensive a practice for most small farms to use now. You wouldn’t think that something so readily available as human feces would be expensive, but apparently with more sanitation comes less direct access to it.

I’ve eaten raw veggies (washed, but not with soap) for four years now, and no parasites to speak of. Well… none that I know about at least.

Here is the thing with “Night Soil” – yes, it’s still used in China. But I’m sorry to break it to you guys – we use human sewage as fertilizer in North America too. What do you think happens in “treatment plants” here? Sewage is filtered, water is removed and the resulting sludge is often used on North American crops. Only I would say here it’s almost worse because there are chemicals and hormones and all SORTS of crap in our sludge, which many believe have led to huge health problems in those residing in communities adjacent to crops that use such fertilizer. But alas, I digress.

Human waste is 100% safe to use as fertilizer IF it is properly separated and composted. (Please read that again – I don’t want people jumping down my throat on this – IT NEEDS TO BE SAFELY COMPOSTED). If the waste is properly collected and allowed to compost, there is as little danger in using it on food as there is using animal waste. There are many sanitation efforts in place in rural China to educate and enable farmers to change their practices. So the issue of “night soil” becomes a tricky one – how do you know which farms/farmers are properly using this type of fertilizer?

I don’t have the answer… sorry. But just don’t do anything that gives you the eebie-geebies and be safe (boil/peel/wash – with soap, I would add) Regardless – don’t judge. The practice of using human waste as fertilizer is as old as agriculture itself. The term “night soil” comes from the European practice of people collecting human waste from privy vaults during the night and taking them out of the towns and cities to fertilizer farms (where they could compost) or directly to farmers fields. It’s not a “Chinese” thing – it’s a “farmer” thing.

For those who are dying to argue with me on this: I am a Masters student currently studying the history of sewage practices and modern global sanitation. Not to say I’m an expert, but I have a certain degree of education on the matter. I can provide citations for all this, but a GREAT book (both for information on the above and other global sanitation problems) is “The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why it Matters” by Rose George.

Hi Glen!!! Great article!!

Josh > I’m actually going to Xinjiang for the May Holiday, I’ll report back to you! However, here in Suzhou there are a few Western Chinese (i.e. Xinjiang/Gansu Province) restaurants that I frequent and thoroughly enjoy. They noodles are fantastic, and they usually flavour them with chillis and/or garlic so that it’s not too bland. I’m not certain that I could do that every day to be honest, but it does make a nice treat sometimes. Do you have any suggestions top keep my dinning fresh while I’m out there?