Taiwanese Vegetarian?!
Taiwanese Vegetarian?
I have this friend who is Taiwanese and a Vegetarian. He told me, that Taiwanese Vegetarian people don't eat garlic or onion. I asked him why and he couldn't explain why, that's just what they do. Is this true that they really don't eat these 2 vegetables and why?
Answers:
Yes I heard that before, it is because they consider eating onions and garlic makes you want to eat meat, or makes you feel like your eating meat. I know it sounds strange by American vegetarian standards, and most of you might say that sound stupid, but thats what they believe. Some also feel that way with mushrooms, they think it "feels like eating meat." This might be because onions and garlic are savory and give you a warm feeling like meat would, and they consider that sinful. Also onions and garlic are often accompanied with, and therefore associated with, meat.
it's not just taiwanese, there's more asian people who is vegg and do not eat the garlic
i think it's a religious thing, they don't want to eat the garlic bulb because it grows or it comes from underground or something
they also consider garlic to be meat sometimes
It does seem to be some kind of rule although I've known some that do eat them. It seems that they've been heavily influenced by macrobiotic theory, thus no allium species.
Actually Buddhists don't eat garlic or onion, and many Taiwanese people are Buddhists. It's got to do with their religion(Buddhism) rather than with them being Taiwanese.
Yes, many Taiwanese are Buddhist or Taoist, so they likely follow Buddhist Vegetarianism (I believe it is typically a Mahayana Buddhist diet).
Search for the section of "Five Pungent Spices" on this link (I didn't read the whole thing, but this seems to be the most information I found, similar to what I've heard before)
http://www.buddhismtoday.com/english/veg...