Vegetarian Eating – Seoul, Korea

From one vegetarian to another…

Everyone knows the all-too-tragic grief that trails poignantly behind the phrase, “Oh, if I’d only known…” In my case, I would get a headache if I actually bopped myself for all the forgotten lessons learned and mistakes made as I struggled to learn how to eat vegetarian in Seoul. So, to significantly cut down on the inward curses you make to yourself and any that may leak to your poor unsuspecting patron, here’s some advice and links to make eating meatless less painful. (Geez, if I had known that I could research this kind of thing off the Net; I was surprised at the wealth of stuff I found.) The ones I’m listing are only a pitiful amount to the thousands offered out there, and these are only listed because they happened to be among the first few of the results listed. So, you may want to look up some stuff yourself if not satisfied, or are in doubt of seeing the whole picture of the veg scene there.

Be careful about wording your queries and orders. I had an experience when I said, “I want this noodle. No meat? Great, I’ll take it.” And then, I see generous pieces of pork tangled in the white wiggly noodles. A lot of places don’t consider pork “meat,” because it’s not red meat. Same with chicken and the like. Fish and other seafood even. So, when you mean, “There’s no meat in this dish?” you want to articulate it as, “There’s no fish, pork, chicken, or anything that was breathing in this dish? Just vegetables?” Ask similarly about the soup; it may be made with beef or chicken broth. Oh, and peer closely at the usual freely proffered drinks given before your order; instead of water, it may be chicken broth, an oft-given drink. Just gently shove it away and ask for water, instead. Also, ask if the meat could be removed; with dishes like bi-bim-bap and certain noodles, it can easily be done.

You’ll soon be revering Buddhist cuisine. Sniff them out; there’s at least a couple at Insadong. The one I went to at Insadong was a little pricey, but oh-so-worth-it. Even now, my mouth waters at the rich dishes they served there. No meat! At all! And the ambience was so relaxing, calming; a traditional house was turned into the restaurant, and they play Buddhist chantings in the background.

When choosing places to eat… the dishes I can think of straight off the top of my head that I survived on included:

neng-myun (cold noodles)
ramen (I didn’t know this, but this is a “real” dish, versus the dry, crunchy processed kind I’m used to here in the States)
bi-bim-bap
kim-chee gi-gae (kim-chee stew)

Some places add meat to these dishes, some don’t, so be sure to check up on that. And I think that neng-myun may be made with animal broth; I can’t remember, so you should ask about that too.

Otherwise, you can pull off eating vegetarian by eating the various side-dishes offered with your staple bowl of rice. And you don’t have to eat just Korean. Check out the pizza and pasta places, and the Indian, Thai, and Japanese restaurants too. The American places tend not to have vegetarian stuff, and they’re pretty pricey too; still, some of them are worth checking out, like this sandwich place in Shinchon – sorry, I don’t remember the name exactly, it’s Zigglers or something that starts with a “Z.”

Here are some links for you as well:

For Vegetarian Travelers, Finding Meatless Meals Can Be Tricky
(article on finding veggie food)

Korean vegetarian restaurant links
(includes a horizontal menu to peruse other food-related stuff)

Korean and Vegetarian Restaurants
(similarly includes links to other food-related stuff)

Dining In Korea
(just a paragraph on some possible dishes to eat)

Vegetarian’s Tips
(I love this site: neatly organized, aesthetically appealing, informative – what’s not to hug it for?)

Worldwide Vegetarian Restaurants
(global)

Great Vegetarian Restaurants in Seoul
(a few restaurants listed, sounds great)

Vegetarian & Vegan Travellers
Travel doesn’t mean you have to revert to carnivorous ways. Learn how to stay veg on the road with these resources, tips and guides.

Questions?
If you want more information about this area you can email the author or check out our Asia Insiders page.

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