If you eat pasta in an Italian restaurant, it's the usual pasta you are used to. Ramen contains egg, as does yakisoba. But, you wouldn't be eating ramen or yakisoba if you were vegan as both also contain meat as an ingredient in the dish as well as meat extract/broth in the soup/sauce.

Udon does not contain egg; neither does soba. BUT, if you have the soup/tsuyu for it, that contains fish. If you have tempura with it as is often offered, the batter for it contains egg. The only way you could eat udon or soba and keep vegan is to skip the soup/tsuyu and eat it plain (not so delicious as it is very bland) or go to a place that has shitake based tsuyu...not easy to find, not cheap.

For vegetarians of any sort, Indian restaurants, Italian restaurants and believe it or not, yakiniku restaurants (grilled meat) are the easiest. Yakiniku restaurants offer plain rice, salads, raw vegetables to grill, onigiri to grill, an assortment of pickles, if you eat seafood, you can get that too. In our family, neither my daughter nor I particularly care for meat, and we go out for yakiniku often...we just don't order meat.

birder, this is off subject but did you know that you are quoted in the fodors 2006 California book? Your traveltalk quote is on the first page of the chapter about Monterry and that area...I saw it today at Borders and recognized your screen name right away.

Oh my goodness, I didn't know that! What does the quote say?!? I'm going to have to go out and look it up!

I saw it yesterday on a very quick trip to Borders w/my kids. there is a posting on the US Board about the quotes, that is how I found out. This was a mini-Borders so they only had a few of the new Fodors books that have "2006" in the title on the spine- those are the ones where htey are using the TravelTalk quotes. The quotes appear on the first page of each chapter, and are credited to your screen name.

I only looked at CA and Vegas, as I didn't think I'd know any posters in the few others that this Borders had, like Canada/Quebec.

I can't recall the exact content of your quote but it was definitely on the Monterry area chapter. I recognized your name right away from your postings on this board & your upcoming trip.

BTW, there apparently is not a Fodors 2006 "Gold Guide" for Japan. I looked online to see, as I was hoping to look at it and see who from the Asia Board was quoted. So no 15 seconds of fame in our group.

emd, thanks for letting me know! I wonder if it was this quote below. In any case, I am definitely going to check it out the next time I'm in the bookstore!

One of the Most Beautiful Parks in the United States
Posted by Birder from Tampa, FL on 07/19/2005
I took my first hike in Pt. Lobos this weekend and almost fell over the first minute into it. The beauty was so stunning, I could not believe it. Here you have a mix of tall cliffs, crashing waves, gorgeous wild flowers, abundant wild life (seals, sea otters, deer, etc.), sheltered emerald-green coves with white sandy beaches, etc. All so easy to get to, the hikes range from very easy to easy. For views like this, I am used to travelling a long way and then having to hike for hours. I could not believe how easy it was to see all this beauty. Make sure you don't miss the Cypress Grove trail, less than a mile loop and some the most stunning colorations in nature you will ever see.

i think that is it.

birder, you are also quoted in the Florida 2006 Fodor's book, on the first page of the Everglades section. I saw it today.

emd, that is too hilarious!

I am a vegetarian. I do not eat fish, meat or chicken. I found I ate the best in Tokyo during our Asia trip. We were also in Thailand and HK. There are a lot of tofu restaurants that cook tofu right at your table. I will search through our travel stuff and try to find some of the restaurants names for you as soon as I can.

Zoey,

Do you have names for the tofu restaurants? Cooking at the table looks so much better than simple boiled or cold tofu I get.

A friend took me to so-called tofu restaurant near Tokyo Stn (I think it was called Ume Hana), but as it turned out half of the entrees had shrimp or minced chicken in it. Still great location, buffet style all you can eat, and I liked their salad, multi-grain steamed rice and dessert.

It's a chain called Ume no Hana. It's very good, but not very vegetarian. Most "tofu" restaurants use fish broth (dashi) for cooking just about every dish, and use shrimp and pork in many other dishes. You have to ask and be specific about vegetarian.

Traditional Buddhist meals are vegetarian, but are difficult to find outside of temple stays and highly specialized restaurants.