Is this sauce vegan?

MobiusX

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  1. Vegetarian
At a chinese food restaurant I always order rice and mixed vegetables. The mixed vegetables comes with a sauce. They said it's a brown sauce but they couldn't tell me the ingredients in it. It's what gives the mixed vegetables a good flavor. I ordered it without it before and it tasted boring to me. I don't eat dressing. I just want to know if this sauce is vegan or not. That's it.
 
There isn't a standard recipe for those sauces. You'd have to distinguish what ingredients you don't want when you ask- specifically ask about fish, chicken, or any other ingredient from meat, any form of milk or eggs. I would suspect a meat broth, or a fish sauce ingredient
 
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There isn't a standard recipe for those sauces. You'd have to distinguish what ingredients you don't want when you ask- specifically ask about fish, chicken, or any other ingredient from meat, any form of milk or eggs. I would suspect a meat broth, or a fish sauce ingredient

I told them and they said they don't know what's in it.
 
You have some good advice. But here is my two cents.

If you do go to that restaurant a lot then make sure to find out. Sometimes there might be a language barrier but I doubt you are the first person to ask.

there is a Vietnamese Restaurant that I go to a lot that has a lot of vegetarian menu items. They are even clearly indicated on the menu.

some of the tofu and vegetable items i get are drowned in brown sauce. Although a typical brown sauce might be made with chicken or beef broth if its labeled vegetarian it will be made with vegetable broth, oil, and soy sauce.

Most Asian places nowadays do label vegetarian items on their menus. Many Asians are vegetarian. IMHO, Asian restaurants are very vegan-friendly.

My advice stick to menu items labeled vegetarian in an Asian restaurant.
 
It may contain fish sauce. From what I understand the main challenge to being vegan in Asian countries is things like fish sauce being added to everything. I know in Japanese restaurants you can often tell them you want the vegetarian version of miso soup which is vegan because they just remove fish broth/sauce.

I wouldn't beat yourself up too much if you have been eating something that had a small, unnoticeable percentage of an animal ingredient when you thought otherwise, or accidentally get a veggie burger with mayo. This kind of thinking does NOT save more animal lives or "contaminate" you in some sort of significant way. If you happen to have strong fears (or a legit condition like OCD) of cross contamination or accidentally ingesting something like fish sauce in a vegetarian dish I would advise you to only eat at home or in vegetarian and vegan restaurants.

If you don't like to cook or go to this place a lot on your lunch break, order the rice and vegetables plain, then carry your own sauce with you in your bag or add it at home if you have it delivered. Some people do this to pizza, they order cheeseless pizza from their favorite chain, then melt vegan cheese on top at home. You may also want to look around for a Chinese restaurant that will tell you the ingredients, or which has a legitimate vegetarian section of the menu.
 
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