Outside india seems to be very tough.India where veg option is plenty and you really need not be paranoid to check food labels,make clear veg means no chicken,egg and fish and all the petite  details.

Have had quiet a few instances where i was about to commit the mistake of going on the other side.The trigger to this post is a recent business lunch where i had to munch on a tomato,avocado sandwich with colleagues n client loving the company of meat,am absolutely fine with sharing the table,but felt very hard to find a vegetarian choice.So finally decided on a sandwich of tomato,avocado without cheese.No am not vegan,but cheese option was mozzarella and mozzarella cheese cannot be prepared without a animal rennet,which is taken from a calf’s body.Cheese is not always vegetarian,few like cheddar can be prepared with non animal rennet,but mozzarella and parmesan can never be prepared with non animal rennet.

Most of the time i get a quizzical expression when i say,no chicken,egg,fish and cheese,and am a vegetarian,now am used to it.Whenin UK i survived only with cereals and fruit,was not dared to try anything else.It was hard for me to enter the breakfast room which is filled with the smell of omelette and smoked salmon.

Whereas i felt a breeze in dining out and getting a veggie food in Singapore.But there too ,once bought a snack of peanut mixture and sent it across home,the family enjoyed and the relatives too,demanding for that mixture next time.Next time when i read the food label it was shocking to know that it contained Shrimp powder,then it was a question as to reveal it to the family or not? Even some potato chips has Shrimp powder in it,so then it was like reading a food label without fail for me.

Having gone through all these i made a wise decision of packing loads of ‘Dabba noodles’ for Thailand trip.Alas,it was too hard a time there,even the business district is filled with our ‘Platform food vendor’ type stalls,which openly sells all type of sea food and no option but to sail through the smell of all of them. Also a business lunch where rest of the table tears squid,beef and chicken and am pushing myself with a greek salad.Again vegetarian option was very less and was not palatable.

Compared to Thailand,Hongkong was okie,considering a proper and full Indian dining is available,the hitch is that it is not wallet friendly.Bahrain is beautiful and vegetarian friendly so far,with lots of Indian restaurants and almost all Indian products available here.But still India tops as a better choice for vegetarian dining,throw in your experiences as well.

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