I get this asked  far too many times not to write about it.

The answer: Yes and no. To understand this, we need to go back a few decades.

1970's, in the  middle of Chairman Mao's rule where socialism was the modus vivendi and capitalism was the devil. Food was rationalized and everything with a tiny ink of western ideology was condemned. In the middle of this, dogs were seeing as a sign of the bourgeoise group, of capitalism. Since food was scarce and given according to how many members a family had, there was no room for feeding dogs. Therefore they were not seeing as pets and since humans did not have any interaction with them, there was no understanding of them either. They were hated by some and feared by most.


In many places in China, people were starving to death, literally. So whatever they could eat, they would eat. Specially in the South, areas like Guangzhou and Hong Kong are well known for "eating anything that moves".

Fast forward to 2001. On July 13 that year, China partied like it hadn't in a while because they got the honor of having Beijing chosen as the host for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. It was time to clean up the city in every possible way. Factories were closed, streets were paved, buildings constructed, transportation improved, jobs given and many more benefits. And then, all things that looked bad had to be removed. There was a huge problem with stray dogs, pooing all over. The solution: round them up. They did some research and it turned out that there were many cases of rabbis, people had been bitten and even died. A campaign was launched to get rid of them and people were informed of the danger of sick dogs. Information was not complete since it didn't include the fact that all you needed was to vaccinate them. As a result, people were even more afraid of dogs now. They were kicked out, beaten and even those who were "pets" were given away to the authorities to be put down. Everybody took part in it. Those more affectionate towards their dogs kept them and had to register them at the police station. Dogs got an ID after paying a high fee and been vaccinated. It was declared a law that dogs should be walked with a leash AND a muzzle and you must have the ID at all times or they could be taken away.

Animal rights groups came into the picture asking to abolish a custom, eating dog meat, of decades and China decided to ban it in Beijing. Before, during and after the Olympics, it was forbidden to show dog meat on the menus and with time it was done less and less. There was a law passed that forbids entirely to sell dog meat or to raise dogs for eating purposes. Still, the population is far greater than a law and most people don't even know about it.

There are actually very few places where this is still done. You won't find it in every corner. It is actually expensive and done in extremely important and secret occasions. 

Now, in 2011, buying a dog as a pet costs at least 3000 RMB, registering it costs 1000 RMB and there are pet shops all over the city. It is once more a symbol of wealth, of those who can. The bigger and the more expensive, the better. 

So, hopefully the Olympics did good this time and changed for the better the lives of our little friends. And hopefully one day this habit will be completely over. And later on, hopefully all animals will be spared from this horrible end.

I've seen hundreds of pages with quite some information about ordering vegetarian food in China and its problems. After years, I have come to the conclusion that there is one way that never fails: I don't any animals, not even sea food.

The thing is, that just like in most parts of the world, people in China apparently also skipped science class when the teacher was saying that fish, shrimp and others are part of the animal kingdom too, so it is very important to state this from the very start, take if from me, it will cut the conversation in half.

But what about language you say? Well, easy, just copy the sentence in Chinese that you will find at the end of this post and show it around to pass the message on. 

Menus are very language-handicapped friendly, if you don't go off the track too much menus in China usually come with pictures on them, so you can have at least an idea of how a certain dish will look like and most of its ingredients. In some restaurants you will even find a little red pepper right next to the dish name announcing how spicy it is. just point it out to the waiter/waitress.

FYI, if you are not into spicy food, it will get a bit more tricky since China's favorite food is from Sichuan province, where the hottest the better. So, wherever you see the name of this province, I recommend you stay away to avoid a severe stomach condition during your trip.

There are of course a few very good restaurants with English speaking staff (don't expect too much and talk slow) so you can get your word around quite easily. This restaurants tend to be a bit more pricy and located in touristic areas or foreigner frequented ones. Don't be shy to ask the person on the next table to help you out, I'm sure somebody will.

Buddhism is quite present in China, despite what you may hear on the news, with hundreds of huge temples to visit. So, whenever you are not sure about where to eat, find the nearest Buddhist temple and you will have a vegetarian restaurant around. For example, at walking distance from Lama Temple in Beijing, there is a great place that serves a buffet, all vegetarian and with Chinese flavor! 


Here are two very useful phrases for ordering, copy this or print it and carry it around. If you are adventurous you can try pronouncing it too! If you are an English speaker with no Chinese background or whatsoever, read the following as if they were English words and you should be able to get the message around. 


I don't eat any animals，not even seafood: 所有的动物都不吃，海味也不吃
Phonetics: suh oh you  the don uh   dough   pu qchi, hi whei  ye  pu qchi. The "you" should be pronounced as in "Yo' man!"

Does this have meet? 这个有肉吗？
Phonetics: che ke  you   ro  ma? The "ro" should be pronounced as in "road" minus the  "d" and "you" just as before.


Have a good meal!

First things first. What happens when you fly into or out from China? If you are an experienced traveler, you know what to expect, but even then, you might run into some surprises.

Depending on where you are coming from, you will find yourself making a stopover in New York, Chicago, Amsterdam, Paris, London, Dubai, Seoul, Tel Aviv and a few others. Let's say you are making a stopover in the U.S. on your way to Beijing, most likely you will fly with Continental or American Airlines. Having used both of them on several occasions, I became a Continental fan.

Even when booking through websites like Tripadvisor, you get to choose a vegetarian meal for the flight and they actually cater for you, with vegetarian and vegan options, as well as fruit only platters! Not to mention that they have a very pet friendly program called Pet Safe (in case you are relocating with your four-legged friend). Flight attendants are nice, flights are always on time and not once have they misplaced my luggage.

My AA experience was not so pleasant. I re-confirmed my vegetarian meal 2 days before the flight with the AA call center and they assured it was taken care of. Upon check-in, I did the same and got the same answer. On the flight, I started to get the smell of coffee and flight attendants started to go around their business. You must know by now that when ordering a special meal -like vegetarian or Kosher or low fat- you are served before everybody else. That did not happen. So, I pressed the little button to call a flight attendant and she/he never showed up. I had to wait until they got to me while serving the food and asked her about my meal to which she replied "I don't have any requests for that" with a tone far from being nice. I asked her to check and she said she would. After 10 minutes she was not coming back to me, so I had to stand up and go looking for her.

Of course, there was no meal for me and she was quite rude when replying.

She offered to give me 2 lettuce salads. For a 13 hours flight, is not a reasonable solution.

Last time I flew -to Chicago- one of my bags stayed in Beijing for a couple of days. Their service for lost luggage, I must admit, was actually good, they had everything ready for me once I landed, they knew what had happened and delivered my lost suitcase to my address.

But my real favorite when it comes to airlines at the moment is El Al. They have just changed their cheff, and he is great. You actually don't really need to ask for a vegetarian meal since the in-flight options are some kind of meat or pasta with a rich tomato sauce, the whole meal will leave you satisfied throughout the flight and the cheese served with 
breakfast before arriving is just great. if you fly to Beijing from Barcelona making a stopover in Tel Aviv, this is what you will get.

Have a good flight!

When first arriving to the country, you will find yourself thinking "How hard can it be? I go to Chinese restaurants all the time and is quite easy!" Wrong. The truth is that even some budhists eat meat, so, unless you have booked a tour and/or a guide and told them to arrange your meals accordingly, you can find yourself in a difficult situation.

You must keep in mind that this is a nation with a tough history, where just over a decade ago, people were starving to death, therefor, eating whatever they could. In some parts of China, eating "whatever moves" is still the quite normal, in some others, you will find welcoming vegetarian restaurants with beautiful and nutritious menus.

We welcome you to read adventures and experiences in this magnificent country, a country that when understood, you can´t help but love.