Throughout orientation, the coordinators kept telling us that the Buddhist vegetarian meal was the most highly-rated banquet from teachers from past orientations. I was, of course, dubious. Though I respect each and every vegetarian (hi D!), and their right to be one, I just feel as though meat is so GOOD!!! And that there is so much that one misses out on by not eating it.
But I went to Zao Zi Shu
Vegetarian Life Style Restaurant with an open mind. And I was rewarded --
the food was delicious. It was, again, a banquet feature more dishes than one
could possibly imagine. I tasted them all. Here's a sampling.
Pictured here are a variety of fake meat proteins, including fake ham. They had been shaped and colored and textured and flavored in oh those many ways that can only be done to fake meat. They were indeed crispy, slippery, rubbery, savory, and all those man-made things. Tasty, though. The white stuff is some vege material that I can get excited about -- silken tofu. This stuff was gorgeous and positively butter-like on the tongue.
This next dish consisted of fried something (ear of the woods mushrooms,
perhaps?) covered in a tangy, sweet sauce. I was unsure of what it was
supposed to be, until the next week was served an almost identical dish
consisting of spareribs.
I won't say these tasted identical to spareribs, but they were good.
I was the biggest fan of the fake eel.
Covered in a spicy tomato sauce, these faux nuggets had been properly
seared, creating an eel-like crispy edge. The texture was familiarly fleshy.
This one probably had me "fooled" the most.
Others raved about spicy "beef" with peanuts and chiles.
Again, the magic of proteins -- this substance indeed had the texture of a
piece of beef, sawed off a roast. It was recognizably unctuous and fatty,
and well complemented by the salty peanuts and ass-kickin' chiles. By this
time, I was ridiculously full.
Dumplings are hardly ever exciting to photograph, but I'll throw in this
photo just because I loved these babies. I think there were at least three
kinds of mushrooms hiding in here, minced together with bamboo shoots and
ginger.
I can't believe I managed to eat one.
So, was it a fine meal? Yes. Did I eat a tremendous amount, just because there was so much good food on the table? Yes. Is my mind changed about fake meat? Well -- I was impressed with what they did with the proteins. But am I a convert? Surely you jest.
>> More on
Zao Zi
Shu (jujube tree) Restaurant
>>
A touching tale of how the Tsengs (owners of the restaurant) decided to
become vegetarians (scroll about 1/3 of the way down)
Zao Zi Shu Vegetarian Lifestyle Restaurant
77 Song Shan Lu
Shanghai
Posted by Astrid at September 7, 2004 09:28 AM