China Travel Forum

[Jason]

Can anyone tell me how to ask for vegetarian food in China?
What is the phrase to ensure I get pure vegetarian food, and not food
prepared in meat stock, or food with pieces offish or poultry, or food
where the meat has simply been removed before serving?
If someone can also provide the chinese phrase in Chinese to explain
this (I understand that if one states one is buddhist and vegetarian
this concept is easier to explain) and even better provided ths chines
phrase in Chinese, I will print it out to show to restaurant people
when necessary.

[Lisa]

vegetarian is pronounced something like tsai (sorry my pinyin sucks).
I think bringing a bilingual menu from a Chinese vegetarian restaurant
in your city alon is a good idea. Ask someone at the restaurant to
circle the character for vegetarian and emphasize that that's what you
want when you get to Beijing.
The Chinese character "tsai" can mean either vegetable or dishes, and will
most likely be taken as the latter in the context of a restaurant. Qualify
it with the word "Su", meaning vegetarian, no meat. So just say "su tsai".