It's A Vegan World: Chinese

Pack your bags, or rather your woks--we're taking off this month for the land of ancient wisdom, impenetrable mystique and delicious takeout.

Yes, it's Chinese month here on It's A Vegan World and I'm looking forward to bringing you along for the journey.

I'm really excited about this one not just because I, like almost everyone out there, love Chinese food, but because I've always been smitten from afar with this land so rich in culture and tradition and billion-plus life stories. In fact, if there was just one country I could visit before I died, it would have to be China.

But exotic as China is to those of us who live elsewhere, its food is anything but foreign almost anywhere around the world. Here, in the United States, it is rivaled only by pizza as the most popular takeout food and in my home it beats pizza hands-down any day because it's not just delicious but also usually loaded with delicious veggies like broccoli and eggplant. It helps of course that there are at least three Chinese takeouts within a quarter mile radius around my house :)

What makes this event more fun is the fact that Chinese food has been adapted into so many different versions around the world. There are thousands of great recipes and variations to choose from and try, and I am hoping you'll try at least one-- or more -- this month.

So get cooking folks, and if you need a nudge here are some helpful resources:

The International Vegetarian Union's page of Chinese recipes.

VegWeb's extensive collection of Chinese recipes

Vegetarian and vegan Chinese recipes from About.com

The guidelines are the same as always, but here they go again:

The deadline is Dec. 1, 2009.

These foods are no-nos in vegan cooking, so please leave them out: honey, butter, eggs, cheese, ghee, milk, yogurt (basically no milk-based products), gelatin, and, of course, no meats or fish. Vegan meat or cheese substitutes are fine.

Link back to this announcement, and feel free to use the logo below.
The recipe should be cooked for this event, but if you'd like to send a recipe you've already posted, you do need to link back to this announcement and repost it.

Non-bloggers are also very welcome. Just send me your recipe and a picture.

As for bloggers, send me an email with your post to myveganworld[at]gmail.com. Include these details:

Your name

Blog name

Post url

A photograph of your dish (any size)

Happy cooking, all!