The Vegetarian’s Wife

Eating has been a challenge since we moved to Bien Hoa.  I’ve mentioned before that Joey is a vegetarian—he has been for five years, and is pretty strict (no meat whatsoever, no seafood, no gelatin).  This was no problem in Ho Chi Minh City.  In fact, we found tons of vegetarian places that even I enjoyed!  This is largely due to the heavy Buddhist influence in Vietnam.

Bien Hoa is a different story, however.  The area is predominately Catholic, which means that there are much fewer people eating strictly vegetarian.  Fewer vegetarian eaters means fewer vegetarian offerings for us. 

The language barrier affects us much more here, too.  Although we know how to say that Joey is a vegetarian, people have a difficult time understanding us.  Often they just smile and shake their heads, and we move on to the next place. 

As a result, we have about four options for our meals, and most of them are really pricey for Bien Hoa.  There’s one really good vegetarian place, a pricey pizza place, a Thai hotpot restaurant, and one other.  The Thai place is affordable if you’re just getting the “healthy platter”—lots of vegetables and some tofu.  But since it’s a hotpot meant to be shared, that means no meat for me.  Same with the last restaurant I mentioned: the only reason we can eat there is because someone from the school went with us the first day and explained that we needed something with vegetables and tofu, no meat.  They make a really good dish with noodles and veggies, and a big platter of tofu on the side, but they make enough for two.  Anytime we go there they know what we want, and I don’t know how to explain that we’d just like one so I can order something different.  I’ve basically been a vegetarian by association for these past few weeks.

We also spend a few hours at a cafe every morning to use their WIFI and eat breakfast.  I can always order something with meat, which is nice, but the food isn’t great.  Joey can get banh mi op la, which is baguette sandwich with fried eggs, cilantro, soy sauce and cucumbers.  It’s available everywhere on the street, and is really delicious, but he’s eating one at least once every day, and I know he’s really sick of them.

So.  Very frustrating.  It’s also awkward that we keep going back to these same four places—I’m pretty sure the staff there think we’re really weird.  And it’s always difficult for me when we’re passing up so many places that look really delicious on the street.  They would be cheaper and probably tastier than a lot of what we’re eating, but without being able to find a vegetarian option, it’s not really a possibility.

This will all change when we move out of our hotel (one week from today!!) and start cooking for ourselves.  I am so psyched to have options!