how easy is it to get vegetarian food in Vietnam? Fish is okay (but not seafood). Asking about street food as well as restaurants. thanks.

Relatively easy in restaurants, but on the street there's a lot of meat. The Vietnamese eat more beef than just about any other SE Asian people. I just got back from VN last night, and I had some good veg. food in both hotels I stayed at.

Vegetarianism is a Buddhist trait in VN, so finding veg food is not a problem. In fact, vegetarian there is synonymous w/ vegan--no fish sauce, eggs, dairy etc. At the new moon and full moon, many Vietnamese don't eat flesh, and veg restaurants are full.

If you're in a non-English-spkg environment, the words 'toi an chay' mean 'I eat vegetarian.' I wouldn't try pronouncing it, bc both consonants and tones are easy to disfigure and you cd end up saying 'Enough eat burnt,' 'Enough eat run,' etc. Believe me, I've seen it. Better to write it out.

If not afraid to be adventurous, the sign 'com chay' means veg restaurant, where various dishes will accompany rice and soup. Dishes may be made to look and taste like meat, but contain none. There are some veg restaurants in Pham Ngu Lao backpackers area. Also ask Vnse if you want local-style places, or as someone mentioned, most Westerner-oriented restaurants will have veg options.

Here's a few vegetarian options in District 1.

Hoa Dang
38 Huynh Khuong Ninh

Original Buddha Tree
175/16 Pham Ngu Lao

Tib Chay
170 Tran Quang Khai

Com Chay Nang Tam
79Bis Dien Bien Phu

thanks for all the information. It's not so important that the restaurants be purely vegetarian, but that there are vegetarian or fish (not seafood) options available at most places we would stop.

Alison, just wondering, by seafood, do you mean shellfish? I thought that fish was generally considered seafood!

Also you may want to take note that fish sauce (nam pla) is often made from salted fish and shrimps/squids.

sorry, yes, i meant no shellfish. I think of that as seafood!
thanks for the clarification about fish sauce....

Fish sauce in VN is nuoc mam (nam pla is Thai). It's made from anchovy extract, salt, water.

Just back from vn...vegie is no problem. Everywhere we went we just told them (or had the guide tell them) no pork, no sqid...etc. Everyplace had tofu and I mainly ate rice and vegies and ice cream and fruit for dessert. breakfast was always bread, cheese and fruit