Buddha's Feast / Delight

www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvQsDs7v8TA

Most cultures can be adapted to vegetarianism. Vegan may not be an easy choice (without importing), but vegetarianism is not impossible. I had this verified by a vegetarian I know is Iceland. Many of the Scandinavian countries rely on fish for their protein.
I was raised on a meat-centric diet and even though my family ate Cantonese food every now and again, the choices were Americanized versions of shell fishes to which I was allergic. Needless to say, MSG laden shrimp and lobster sauce was not on my RADAR.
The most vegetarian dish that 'my people' ate in Chinese restaurants was egg roll. One would have to be vigilant in verifying that there wouldn't be any shrimp in the roll. Even most of the soups either had shrimp base or meat-filled dumplings.
I've made this dish in the past. It's a winner and a keeper. It has a lot of ingredients. Alas, I no longer have a wok in my home. But... maybe one day... things might change.
...
During my year-long lifestyle between vegetarianism and veganism, I looked through cookbooks from every culture that was familiar to me. Many Asian countries have a multitude of vegetarian dishes and with those dishes come a variety of cooking styles. I bought a wok. I no longer own a wok. It is a large, bowl-shaped pan used for frying food. The liquids (soy sauce, oil, vinegar, vegetable juices) remain in the center of the wok where the vegetables are shuffled around with utensils resembling a shovel and something else.

African American cooking can be easily adapted to vegetarian fare. Many of their dishes involve a variety of greens which--from what I remember--are related to broccoli and/or cabbage. According to Wiki:

"Collard is a group of loose-leafed cultivars of Brassica oleracea, the same species as many common vegetables including cabbage and broccoli. Part of the Acephala (kale) cultivar group, it is also classified as the variety B. oleracea var. viridis.

"The plants are grown as a food crop for their large, dark-green, edible leaves, which are cooked and eaten as vegetables. Collard greens have been cultivated as food since classical antiquity."

Following the cooking patterns of the cultures that eat these vegetables, I learned how to blanch, fry, sautée, and stew. Sometimes one cooking technique would not be suitable across the board for all vegetables. Collards, for example, have thick, dense stems. I would often remove the stem and start cooking them first. I would then add the leaves later after the stems had softened.

My North American cooking and recipes and tastes came mostly from Central or Eastern Europe. A good deal of the dishes were vegetables and often fruits. These would be eaten with cheese or other dairy products. In some cases, fruits or vegetables might be added as fillings into a dough that would be fried (like potato, cheese, or berry-filled blintzes). My family had recipes for carrot casseroles that might have dried fruits and for baked potatoes in a variety of fashions.

I discovered South and Central American cuisine late(r) in life. Truth be hold, the majority of my familiarity with the cuisine involves rice and beans. Occasionally I might include plantains, but I tended to stay away from starches that were on the sweet side as they are temptations for over indulgence. "You can always tell the superior from the inferior plantains when you bring them home. If the paper sack is laden with stains from lard that has been left behind, you know you've got a good batch!" Not my sentiment these days, but it certainly had crossed my mind a number of times.

A good Buddha's Feast will seldom be overlooked by me