There is some great vegetarian food in Taiwan. However, if you don't speak the language and are new to Taiwan you might find it a bit difficult to get vegetarian food at times. The information below should make getting vegetarian food in Taiwan (and China) a lot easier.

Look out for restaurants with the Chinese characters 素食 (sùshí which means vegetarian) or the swastika symbol. These restaurants will exclusively serve vegetarian food.

The pronunciation is indicated by the Hanyu Pinyin below the traditional Chinese characters.

I am vegetarian.
我只吃素食
wŏ zhĭ chī sùshí

I cannot eat meat.
我不能吃肉,因為我吃素
wŏ bù néng chī ròu, yīnwèi wŏ chī sù

I cannot eat seafood.
我不能吃海鮮,因為我吃素
wŏ bù néng chī hăixiàn, yīnwèi wŏ chī sù

I cannot eat eggs.
我不能吃蛋
wŏ bù néng chī dàn

I can eat eggs.
我可以吃蛋
wŏ kĕyĭ chī dàn

I cannot eat dairy products.
我不吃乳製品
wŏ bù chī rŭzhìpĭn

I can eat dairy products.
我可以吃乳製品
wŏ kĕyĭ chī rŭzhìpĭn

I cannot eat onions or garlic.
我不吃蔥和大蒜
wŏ bù chī cōng hé dàsuàn

I can eat onions and garlic.
我可以吃蔥和大蒜
wŏ kĕyĭ chī cōng hé dàsuàn

vegetarian restaurant
素食餐廳
sùshí cāntīng

organic food
有機食品
yŏujī shípĭn

delicious
好吃
hăo chī

These phrases can be downloaded as a pdf file suitable for printing from www.taiwan-guide.org/aa/veg.pdf

Pinyin tones created with the help of Doubting to shuō’s Pinyin Tone Tool. Thanks to Tai for suggesting some improvements.

• Happy Cow's Guide to Vegetarian Restaurants - Taiwan
• Vegetarian category - a hungry girl's guide to Taipei
• Vegetarian Taipei - by Prince Roy
• Vegetarian Restaurants - forumosa.com
• Veggie in Taipei
• Information for Vegetarians Travelling to China
• Alleycat's Pizza Restaurants - vegetarians happily catered for
• Taiwan Vegetarian Buffets
• Food in Taiwan - not specifically vegetarian but includes lots of useful information about food and eating in Taiwan
• Eating China - Chinese food culture and history