We eat out very infrequently, mostly out of dietary concerns. Once in a blue moon we will get Chinese food, and I'll order steamed veggies with tofu and brown steamed rice, but on occasion I have ordered a regular vegetarian entree. I was eating in a restaurant with a friend, who is Chinese, and told her no matter what I did, I couldn't make food at home that tasted like it did in the restaurant. I told her the oiliness was different, sort of rich and clingy...dare I say it, greasier, and maybe it was from the type of oil. She laughed and told me she worked in a restaurant in college and they added pork fat to just about everything to give it extra flavor, even the vegetarian dishes. I nearly barfed. I asked the waiter and he confirmed that yes, even many of their vegetable dishes did in fact contain pork fat! I was floored. Is this widespread? Do people who are vegetarian or don't eat pork know that this is an issue? Am I the only person in the world who thought a "vegetarian" dish on a Chinese menu really meant vegetarian? AAAARGH!!!!|||Unfortunately, that is very true. A restaurant on my campus does the same thing, even though they have an exclusive 'vegetarian' bar, they include meat essences in them. Chinese will put pork in just about anything. Also, they like to use oyster sauce for a lot of their dishes, and shrimp might be cooked in a lot of things. I once ordered a vegetarian fried rice, and there were tiny pieces of shrimp in it. If you want to stay on the safe side, it's probably best to either ask the waiter when ordering, or just stick to home cooked meals :)|||Ew, that's disgusting! Yes, most traditional Chinese restaurants probably use that in their food. You're not the only one who thought a vegetarian dish would actually be vegetarian (which it should be!!!) There are probably a lot of people who never thought that they would have to worry about pork fat in "vegetarian" food, but unfortunatley a lot of restaurants can get away with doing that. Yeah, I know it's really frustrating :/|||Seriously!!!!????
Ugh...I usually get something really similar at a chinese restaurant near my apartment.
Ugh. That's disgusting!!!
Though I know a lot of restarurants (not major chains, just ones around my city; so I wont bother listing them) that consider their dish vegetarian if it does not contain chunks of meat. So even noodles made in a meat associated sauce (not bolognese; as that would fall under the "chunks of meat" category) would be considered vegetarian.|||That is foul.. but not uncommon to find a place working off of ignorant tactics.
there is several places ive been to that claim vegetarian but have fish sauce in it. i had an argument with the owner about the issue about his definition and the real definition.. needless to say.. stay away from spots that serve meat.. unless they can verify that its truely veg*n..|||Oh GROSS! That's disgusting.. I'm so glad you posted this, as I had no idea.
I'm vegan and I've been craving chinese food for the past week and was thinking of going out to get some but.. ick, that's disgusting. Extremely frustrating.
If you want to try eating out, I suggest Indian food. Many of their dishes ARE vegetarian, 100 percent.|||Most restaurants cook using pork fat. Waffle house uses lard on their griddles to cook all their eggs, hash browns, etc. It's why everything tastes so good when you eat out. And yes, like the other person mentions, most dark sauces in Chinese restaurants are oyster based.|||While I can understand your view. A little pork fat ain't gonna kill you. It's not that big of a deal. Spot being picky about what you eat and enjoy the extra flavor it adds. :D|||Seriously?! That makes me upset. The more you know, I guess....
Thanks for the info.|||I never knew that. The V sign is mis lead then and should be reconsider how it is used. Im no longer going to trust the V until I check the ingredients|||Mmmmmmm Pork Fat
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