Does anyone have good insight into some vegetarian friendly destinations (and places to avoid). My fiance and I are both vegan and really enjoy eating out. We are also specifically interested in some good leads on places to hang our hats for a few months to do some raw food detoxing (basically eat tons of local fruits and veggies). We would love to rent a place for a few months and a tropical climate to accomplish this goal. All suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Not sure about the raw veggie options, but lots of India is Veggie and /or vegan. Im veggie and some of my friends are vegan, but no problems anywhere in India.

Veganism isn't widely understood or practiced outside of a select few wealthy western countries. Produce in Mexico is quite varied and good, although vegans will have a tough time in restaurants there.

I am also vegetarian, and I travel extensively. I've mostly travelled through Europe, and eastern Asia. Although I always find something vegetarian in no matter what restaurant in no matter what country, I find that Europe is not the best place for eating vegetarian food. In Asia however- such as Thailand and Laos- I found many options, though of course there they also eat a lot of strange meats and fish, etc. But I always found some delicious curries with tofu and vegetables, rice or noodles with interesting mixes of vegetables. I've also heard that India is great since much of the population is vegetarian. China however, I would not recommend! Though I loved my trip there, it was quite hard for me to find many vegetarian options.

lillybilly wrote:I am also vegetarian, and I travel extensively. I've mostly travelled through Europe, and eastern Asia. Although I always find something vegetarian in no matter what restaurant in no matter what country, I find that Europe is not the best place for eating vegetarian food. In Asia however- such as Thailand and Laos- I found many options, though of course there they also eat a lot of strange meats and fish, etc. But I always found some delicious curries with tofu and vegetables, rice or noodles with interesting mixes of vegetables. I've also heard that India is great since much of the population is vegetarian. China however, I would not recommend! Though I loved my trip there, it was quite hard for me to find many vegetarian options.

The problem with southeast Asia is that almost all curry pastes there have shrimp in them, and many 'vegetarian' dishes have fish sauce.

This is true- a lot of the dishes in south east asia contain fish sauce. For the most part I didn't notice this and you can't really taste it (unless it's the famous 'prahdok' or 'prahok'- fermented fish paste- that is a veryyy noticeable nasty strong taste!); the sauces usually contain a lot of lemon juice and sugar as well. But if you are a strict vegetarian than this will be a problem. As for schrimp being in a lot of dishes, the waiters are usually very flexible if you ask them to serve you the dish without it.

Often, how friendly a destination is towards a vegan, depends on how friendly the vegan is to the destination. If one is simply trying to avoid eating animal products, you can pretty much travel anywhere.

As far as SEA is concerned, there are many strict vegetarian eating options. Besides all the wonderful fruit and veggies, there are plenty of "jay" eateries. In fact, right now, due to the vegetarian festival, Thailand is thick with them.

But, year round, it's easy to find jay food. Look for the yellow and red, as found in the following blog. The flag, in the first photo, displays the "jay" symbol.

http://suniltheguy.blogspot.com/2008/10/vegetarian-food-festival-delights.html

Japan is similar in that many apparently veggie dishes have dashi in them (fish stock).
Also, if you ask in Japan for something vegetarian you may well receive something with chicken or pork in it, or of course with fish, since they interpret this as meaning no red meat.

When I mentioned shrimp in Thai curry, I meant ground shrimp as part of the curry paste. Almost all Thai curry pastes have shrimp paste as in integral part.

Felix the Hat wrote:When I mentioned shrimp in Thai curry, I meant ground shrimp as part of the curry paste. Almost all Thai curry pastes have shrimp paste as in integral part.

Except for those curries which are jay.

If you get "vegetarian" from a non-jay eatery, odds are there will be fish sauce, shrimp paste, or other animal product. If you eat at a jay eatery, there won't be.

I can't even imagine Thai food without fish sauce. I adore the stuff.

http://cheapeatsbangkok.com/html_eat/food/united.html

The above stuff is fantastic, even to this devout meat eater. There's not a drop of fish sauce, or dab of shrimp paste, in any of it. you might even notice the prik kee new nampla in a couple of the photos. Even this is completely non-fish (yes, non-fish fish sauce!).

There are a lot of dishes in Europe, Asia as well as other places for vegetarian. Some dishes like tofu and vegetables, rice are easy options in many countries. Thai Lan is the authentic place for many vegetarian options.