By Kristen Nyampong
Thai food is by farmy favorite cuisine to eat as a vegan because it’s so flavorful and versatile.I loved it so much that I had the opportunity of working at a Thai restaurantfor a couple of months. Through my job I learned about the different flavorswithin the cuisine and most importantly what vegans should be aware of whenordering. In this article I will give you tips and tricks to make sure yourdish at a Thai restaurant is vegan-friendly.
Thai food has a veryunique flavor within the sauces and curries. Its aroma has a lot of lemongrass, chili sauce, Thai Basil, and unfortunately fish sauce. Moreover, fishby-products are extremely common within Thai cuisine, especially its streetfood. Thus, if you are planning to dine at a Thai restaurant, call ahead tomake sure they have vegan options. They may say yes, but do not reallyunderstand that you mean no fish along with no meat, dairy, and egg. So makesure you emphasize no fish sauce. Authentic Thai restaurants should be able tocater to your needs because they make all their sauces in house and some house-madesauces usually do not have any fish by-product. However, some Thai restaurantsuse premade pastes that usually have some sort of fish by-product.
The way to tell if adish has fish by-product is by its smell and color. A dish with fish may have afishy aroma and it will be darker due to the presence of some sort of fishsauce or paste. For example, Pad Thai is a very common dish in Thailand. It isbased on tamarind and chili sauce that gives the dish a sweet and spicy flavor.If the Pad Thai is vibrant orange/red it will likely not have fish sauce, butif a Pad Thai is a dark reddish brown color, it likely has fish sauce. This isalso the same for Green Curry. Green curry is based on green chilies, limeleaves, lemongrass, coconut milk, and traditionally shrimp paste. If the curryis vibrant green it will likely not have shrimp paste, but a curry that is adark green does.
It is very importantto make sure your waiter is aware you are vegan and ask MANY questions aboutthe dish you are ordering. Don’t be afraid to ask them to check with thekitchen before you place your order. Thai restaurants always have tofu optionsand some dishes can be made vegan if they don’t add fish sauce. So ask if theycan make a certain sauce dish without the fish sauce. This is true with stir-friesas well. Always ask if the curries do not have any fish paste in them becauseit will not be noted in the menu item. Although fish sauce is more commonlyused in Thai dishes, egg is commonly used in all fried rice dishes and almostevery noodle dish. Moreover, you must tell your waiter you do not want egg inany of your noodles or fried rice dish. Some common noodle dishes with eggs arePad Thai, Pad See Ew, and Drunken Noodles.
Due to a lot ofchilies within Thai food, for some it can be very spicy. There is a spicesystem that many Thai Restaurants use. It is a five star rating, five starbeing extremely spicy and one star being mild. Usually if you don’t ask for itto be spicy, they will assume you would prefer it to be mild and won’t addextra spice. Moreover, use the five star system if you don’t want it to be mildand would prefer a little spice. If your food is already prepared and you wouldprefer more spice, you could ask for the spice condiment rack. Don’t use justany spice on the spice rack because some do have fish sauce like the Nam PlaPrik, which is more liquidity than the other spices. However, the Prik Namsom,which is a vinegar based red chili sauce, and the Thai dried red chili flakes,do not have any fish sauce.
If you are planningto go to a Thai restaurant, be sure to use these tips! Some usually veganfriendly dishes are Red Curry, Pad Thai ordered without egg, and MassamanCurry. But as previously stated, don’t be afraid to ask if they can make a certaindish vegan without fish sauce. Happy eating!
For information onvegetarian restaurants around the USA and Canada, see: https://www.vrg.org/restaurant/index.php
