vegetarian`s in hakuba

[connackers 0]

The friend i`m going with up to hakuba is a vegetarian. Is this likely to be a problem? Is anyone here a vegetarian who`s been there?

 

cheers

[slow 0]

connackers,

 

I'm not sure what is the problem for a vegitarian there.

But I found a pension called " Pumpkin " in Hakuba. This pension serves organic foods and you can request what you can eat or cannot.

[connackers 0]

It won`t be a problem for buying food as i`m sure there`s supermarkets and the like. Was thinking more of restaurants. Round here no restaurants have veggie options or provide alternatives. Was hoping this wasn`t the case up in Hakuba. Wondering if anyone knew of any good places.

 

And cheers for the link slow

[NoFakie 45]

There are a quite a few places you can go self-catering.

 

Otherwise most accomodation that provides food should be able to give you something if you let them know in advance, but the more restrictions (no fish, eggs, milk, ...) you make, the less likely you are to get something good. For eating out, Hakuba has two Indians and few places that do Italian, which seem to be what veggie gaijin usually eat out in Japan. The selection of restaurants is better than some small Japanese cities.

[Oyuki kigan 0]

Apparently, Hakuka is also home to to one of the best Mexican restaraunts in Japan. I'm not sure if they have vegetarian or not, but sak around for it.

At the pension i stayed at (the Penke Panke) i told them in advannce i was vegetarian, and they tried to accomodate me and my girlfriend somewhat. The problem is most Japanese people don't seem to have a strong grasp of what 'vegetarianism' entails.

[sunrise 0]

oh ya, that's so true. Ask for something with no meat and you're still likely to get those lovely tiny squares of ham or bacon that Japanese are so fond of putting in so much of their food. For some reason this doesn't seem constitute as meat. I frequently find myself ordering things "without meat or ham/bacon" to save myself time. Chicken is sometimes meat, and sometimes not.

[damian 0]

There is also a lovely log cabin styled pension in Hakuba that openly welcomes dogs. You know, just in case you had a dog as well a vegetarian friend.

[Telleboy 0]

My wifes vegetarian and we go to a variety of restaurants and ordering food with no meat is generally not a problem, most places are only too happy to not put meat in their food, the mexican restaurant Uncle Stevens replace meat with refried beans, great feed their.

[Oyuki kigan 0]

Thats great that the places you have been have been so accomodating. Is she OK with fish?

In my experience, it is almost impossible to get any reasonable amount of japanese restaurant food without fish, because almost anything simmered or in a sauce or soup contains katsuobushi-dashi (bonito stock). All miso soups and noodle soups are pretty well off limits. Same with ramen. Hell, even when you order cold tofu, its usually served with the fish flakes on top (although thse can be avoided if you ask).

[montoya 0]

Vegan relative from the US visited last year, ended up going to soba and Indian restaurants. I also remember seeing a website about "Vegetarian restaurants in Japan", trying googling it.

[kjj 0]

i've been to nagano a few times and would recommend taking snacks when you go skiing/boarding. this is always the hardest place to find veggie friendly food, although, this depends on how strict you are! i'm pretty fussy...

 

i am sure you'll be fine in the towns though...

[Oyuki kigan 0]

Cooking in Japan is vegetarian heaven.

Eating out in Japan is vegetarian hell.

[connackers 0]

Cheers for the help people. We`re staying self-catering most of the time. But always good to know that there are places to eat out in. Looks like mexicans and indians are the way to go.

[A lawyer 0]

What are the Indian places like - any good?