Does Vegan Include Egg in the Vietnamese Culture???

July 14, 2006

I went to White Lotus today in San Jose for the first time. I remember once doing a google search for " vegan " and " San Jose " and White Lotus came up with people saying it was a vegan restaurant. But of course the BAV Ultimate Guide has it correct that it is vegetarian, but NOT vegan.

Well, the wrong info stuck in my head so I went in, thinking it was vegan. I did ask if everything was vegan, but I was tired and didn't explain what vegan means as I usually do (i.e., no eggs, dairy, etc) as I figured a " vegetarian " restaurant would know what I was talking about. They told me it was 100% vegan. So, I looked over the menu and saw that it said " Chicken products contain egg whites " and asked about this and kindly asked them not to tell customers that they are 100% vegan when it clearly says on the menu that they use egg. The same guy and 2 other people working there, said that in their culture, egg is acceptable to vegans?!?!?!

I then tried to clarify if the chicken dishes were the only dishes that contained egg. They said yes. Then later, they said, that the noodles also contain egg. So, then I asked if anything contained dairy and he said yes. So, I asked him to tell me what contained dairy and he skimmed through the menu and pointed to a dish and said it contained milk. So, I looked and saw it said coconut milk!

Anyway, my point to this tangent is, I don't think these people at White Lotus have a clue what vegan is, so I just wanted to give others the heads-up. I know there are folks on the list who think this is " nit-picking " , but I know there are also folks who do care about this stuff.

I also wanted to ask any Vietnamese people out there, if that is correct--that eating eggs is considered vegan in the Vietnamese culture because I have never heard of this.

Thanks!

Melissa

July 14, 2006

Let me rephrase the question...I know eating egg is not vegan, regardless of culture, but what I was getting at is, is it common in the Vietnamese culture to say egg is considered vegan?

Melissa

On 7/13/06, vegan4animals <vegan4animals wrote:

I also wanted to ask any Vietnamese people out there, if that is correct--that eating eggs is considered vegan in the Vietnamese culture because I have never heard of this.

Thanks!

Melissa