[mmooss]

You're missing out on an infinity of great food - great for anyone, vegan or not. Just think of all the Chinese, Latin American, Indian, etc. food that is vegan. Think of many appetizers even in mostly-meat restaurants. And there are world-class restaurants that serve vegan dishes

Eliminating beef, fowl, and fish leaves a universe of foods including all fungi, fruits and vegetables, grains, nuts, and legumes. It also includes all spices and herbs.

[aziaziazi]

Double that. I'll also recommend to try some fungi/bacteria pre-processing as it bumps the taste:

Kimchi & Sauerkraut to wet the appetite.

Don't use salt, use Miso. The darker the better.

Tempeh is awesome and comes with soy (nutty), lentil (strong taste like aged meat), chickpeas (floral), beans (melty), or other legume/cereal/nut. Can include spices and seed for extra taste and crunch.

Nuts cheese tastes "cheesy" in a similar way similar to their diary version (Roquefort, Cheddar, Blue, Camembert, Brie...) depending on the ferment, without the "milky" taste. Nut taste instead, obviously but that can be offset with other oils/fats.

[andyferris]

I actually really like "milky" tastes - has there been much progress on replicating the flavour?

[aziaziazi]

IMHO the Chèvre (goat) [0] and Morbier (bleu) [1] from Jay and Joy are very close. They also comes a bit cheaper in non-organic version [2]. I mostly buy from those guys but the curious may try a few from their local brands: when talking about cheese every recipe is has it's subtlety.

0 https://www.jay-joy.com/collections/affine/products/le-jeann...

1 https://www.jay-joy.com/collections/affine/products/jil-from...

2 https://www.lesnouveauxaffineurs.com/

[seanmcdirmid]

Vegan Chinese food? Ah, if you are vegan and go to China you need to be careful because there isn’t much vegan food, although plenty of veggies and they even have a few vegetarian restaurants in recent years.

[mmooss]

Wherever you are, the local Chinese food is an adaptation - there is Indian Chinese, for example. But tofu, for example, has a long history in China, and you can find vegan food in Chinese restaurants in many places. I expect most people on HN don't eat their Chinese food in China.

[seanmcdirmid]

Ok, that makes sense. You’ll find tofu art in China as well, but it usually doesn’t pass the vegan threshold unless you go to a fancy Singaporean chain (Pure Lotus was the only one I knew of in Beijing). Even then it feels wrong, tofu really shouldn’t taste like chicken.

[ecshafer]

>Just think of all the Chinese, Latin American, Indian, etc. food that is vegan.

What? Outside of Indian food, which does have many vegan options, but the best food is usually still non-vegan (lots of dairy and butter used). Chinese and Latin American food is almost never vegan. Chinese love meat, and you would have to be a buddhist monk to actually find vegan food in China. Even with a lot of cheap plant protein options, like tofu, most things use some meat for flavor. Latin America loves cooking in animal fats.

[mmooss]

> Chinese and Latin American food is almost never vegan.

I've seen plenty of vegan food in restaurants serving those cuisines, so that's not true. Why is it important to you to insist that vegan food is somehow difficult?

If you just mean 'in China', that's irrelevant to this conversation - only a small proportion of people here eat their Chinese food in China. But I acknowledge, lots of people on HN like to demonstrate their worldliness by making sure we know they've been to China, relevant or not.

> the best food is usually still non-vegan (lots of dairy and butter used)

It's a bit hard to make a definitive statement about what is 'best'. Personally, I much prefer Indian without all the ghee. That vegan food exists in many varieties is an objective fact, however.

[ecshafer]

Someone making Vegan food in the style of Chinese or Latin American food by changing how its normally made, does not mean that its part of that food category by default. Its a new separate category. Sure you can make and eat plenty of Vegan chinese dishes, but it will taste different without the pork and seafood which is almost omnipresent in Chinese food.

[mmooss]

You're arguing about categories and semantics now?

I think you know what Mexican or Chinese restaurant means in NY or LA or Topeka or London, and they have vegan dishes. In fact, usually they are run by Mexican or Chinese immigrants. You can hold a sign outside protesting the lack of traditional culinary purity.

> changing how its normally made

This is how it's normally made now. Change is normal.

[victorbjorklund]

There are plenty of vegan restaurants in Europe too. Does not mean that European cuisine is vegan.

[seanmcdirmid]

You can find vegetarian food in (non-Tibetan) monasteries, it isn’t clear if it’s vegan since the Chinese aren’t strict about that.

[soperj]

It also includes pork, and bison, and venison, and frogs, and snails, and rabbits, which are all quite tasty.