Vegetarians who declare their dietary eccentricities in Korea usually meet with a gasp, a grimace, and an “isn't it difficult?” After all, this is a country famous for its cook-at-the-table barbecue restaurants (and, more notoriously, for its dog soup) and where even Buddhist monks can be seen tucking into pork cutlets. A popular hangover-cure soup contains the sorts of intestinal remnants that even meat-eaters think twice about.
  在韓國，素食者宣布他們的飲食食譜時，別人的反映通常是大吃一驚，做痛苦狀，并問到“不會很難嗎？”畢竟，這是一個以燒烤店聞名的國家（而且，更聞名的是狗肉湯），在這個國家，甚至可以看見僧侶津津有味地吃著豬肉片。一道受歡迎的醒酒湯也會含有小腸，連食葷者也不敢輕易嘗試。

  But, armed with a few key phrases and a little local knowledge, Korea can be a vegetarians' paradise. It is possible to eat vegetarian food everywhere, from street stalls – where spicy rice cakes and red-bean filled bread snacks are ubiquitous – to swanky restaurants and mountain-top temples.
  但是，如果掌握一些關鍵的詞匯和當地的知識，韓國可以成為素食者的天堂。素食食品隨處可見，從無處不在、可品嘗到辣米糕和紅豆面包的街邊小攤，到豪華餐館和山頂的寺廟都可找到。

  In spite of a few monks who err on the side of eating meat, the Buddhist tradition means that the concept of vegetarianism is not foreign here. Korea's obsession with “well-being” means it is becoming almost trendy.
  雖然一些僧侶犯忌吃肉，但是，在這里，佛教的傳統是吃素。韓國對康樂的熱衷，意味著素食正逐漸成為趨勢。

  Indeed, the entire Korean nation is said to have descended from a bear who, according to legend, survived on mugwort and garlic for 20 days before turning into a woman and giving birth to Tangun, the father of Korea, 5,000 years ago.
  事實上，根據傳說，韓國是熊的后代，5000年前，一只熊靠艾蒿和蒜頭度過了20天，然后變成女人，誕下一子，名曰“檀君”，即為韓國的祖先。

  Food is an integral part of life in Korea – from the almost nightly after-work meals with colleagues to sealing a business deal, restaurants play an important role in bonding with people. Furthermore, almost all socialising among friends is done in restaurants as apartments are small.
  在韓國，食物是生活不可或缺的一部分——從深夜下班后與同事小酌一杯，到業務洽談，餐館在人際交往中發揮著重要作用。此外，幾乎所有朋友間的交際都是在餐館，因為公寓很小。

  For this reason, Seoul has an extraordinary number of restaurants. It seems every street has at least a kimbap (Korean sushi-type roll) house and they are always remarkably full, from the early birds eating lunch at 11.30 to avoid the crowds, to the salarymen downing bottles of soju (rice wine) and barbecued meat wrapped in lettuce well into the night.
  因此，首爾有相當數量的餐館。似乎每條街道擁有至少一間紫菜卷（韓式壽司卷）店，那里總是座無虛席，有人為了避開人潮，11點30就早早來吃午餐了，有工薪階層暢飲燒酒（米酒），品味用生菜裹著的烤肉，直至深夜。

  So for me, a vegetarian from the age of 13, living in Korea has not been the culinary challenge I feared. In fact, I have become addicted to dwenjang chigae, a delicious soya-bean-paste stew with tofu, peppers and mushrooms that is available everywhere.
  因此，自13歲起就吃素的我，在韓國生活并沒有我擔憂的餐飲問題，事實上，我已經迷上了dwenjang湯，一種用豆腐，胡椒和蘑菇燉的美味豆醬，到處都能吃得到。

  With most food cooked from scratch, and meat and fish dishes easily excluded from set menus, vegetarians are relatively well catered for. But there are also a significant number of dedicated vegetarian eateries, where herbivores can eat without fear of beef stock or anchovies and meat-eaters can give their digestive systems a rest.
  大部分食物都是從最初開始烹飪，而且套餐類餐飲常不含肉類和魚類，相對較適合素食者。但也有相當一部分專門的素食餐館，素食者可不必擔憂會吃到牛肉粒或鳳尾魚，食葷者可讓消化系統休息一下。

  My favourite is Sanchon, a temple food restaurant run by a former monk, Kim Yon-shik, and located in a traditional Korean house in the artsy area of Insadong. Walking off the helter- skelter streets of Seoul into this beautiful old building, you are immediately enveloped in Buddhist calm. I like going to Sanchon (literally “mountain village”) for lunch, when everyone from tourists and monks to businessmen and ladies who lunch can be found sitting cross-legged on the floor at low tables laden with food. (In the evening, the restaurant puts on a traditional singing and drumming performance that makes it too loud and too touristy for my taste.)
  我最喜歡的餐館是Sanchon，這是一家寺廟飲食餐館，坐落在藝術區域仁寺洞（Insadong）的一間韓國傳統房子里，由曾經是僧侶的金演植（Kim Yonshik）先生經營。從喧嘩的首爾街道走入這座別致的房子，你將立即沉浸在佛的靜謐之中。我喜歡到Sanchon（指“山村”）吃午餐，顧客有游客、僧侶、商人和女士，他們雙腿交叉坐在地板上，在盛滿食物的低桌旁用餐。（晚上，餐館有傳統歌唱和擊鼓表演，我覺得太吵，太過于觀光化了。）

  I most recently visited with a South Korean government official who says he wants to be a vegetarian after he retires. “It's too difficult now with all these official dinners,” he says.#p#分頁標題#e#
  最近，我常與一位韓國政府官員前往，他說將來退休以后要成為素食者。“現在官方應酬太多，太難做到，”他說。

  We watched entranced as dozens of bowls were laid out. There were wilted green vegetables, small pancakes, fired ginseng and lotus root, sweet potatoes, squares of tofu, crunchy seaweed chips – about 20 dishes in total, much more than even the hungriest could eat.
  數十只碗擺上來了，我們完全被吸引。有萎蔫了的蔬菜、小煎餅、炒人參和蓮藕、番薯、豆腐塊、脆海苔片——總共約有20道，即使是饑腸轆轆的人也吃不完。

  Korean restaurants usually offer set menus comprising many small dishes, followed by the main course (it arrives when you are invariably already full) involving rice or noodles. Many dishes are communal, with everyone dipping in with their chopsticks.
  韓國餐館通常供應套餐，包括許多小菜，然后是米飯或面條等主食（常常是你已經吃飽了才上）。許多道菜都是共享的，大家用筷子來夾菜。

  “Gooooood,” is all my smiling friend can manage to say, holding his chopsticks aloft as he selects his next mouthful。
  “太……棒了”，我那開心微笑的朋友找不到別的詞語來形容，他舉起筷子，選擇下一口美食。

  Then comes my favourite part: dwenjang chigae still boiling in a heated pot and served with a bamboo ladle, followed by sweet tea and rice dessert snacks.
  我最愛的美食來了：dwenjang湯，還在熱罐里沸騰著，備有竹勺舀出享用，然后是甜茶和米飯甜點小吃。

  Not far from Insadong, in the quaint traditional neighbourhood of Samcheong-dong, there is another quieter but no less delicious temple-food restaurant, Gam Ro Dang (or “perennial youth”).
  離仁寺洞（Insadong）不遠的是精致奇巧的傳統街區三清洞（Samcheong-dong），另一家寺廟飲食餐館Gam Ro Dang（“青春常駐”）位于此，這里更靜謐，食物同樣美味。

  The setting may be plain but the presentation is impeccable – plate after beautiful plate of colourful salad (which includes pink flowers), pancakes, vegetables, mushrooms, tofu.
  這里的布置也許平凡，但是食物卻無懈可擊——一盤盤精致，色彩豐富的色拉（粉色的花朵）、煎餅、蔬菜、蘑菇和豆腐接踵而上。

  Temple food is supposed to be minimalist, preservative and monosodium glutamate-free, and to contain natural ingredients that allow the true flavour to come through without being obscured by pungent additions such as onion, garlic and ginger. For that reason, Gam Ro Dang uses glutinous rice powder and potato starch instead of flour and tries to avoid oil.
  寺廟飲食應該是要求最低，無防腐劑和味精，富含天然成分，不添加洋蔥，蒜頭和姜等刺激性配料，以便品嘗到食物最原始的味道。為此，Gam Ro Dang用糯米粉和馬鈴薯淀粉代替面粉，并且盡量避免用油。

  Nearby is the more chi-chi San e Namul (“mountain vegetables”). In this second-floor restaurant decorated with traditional Korean furnishings and flocked wallpaper, tables by the floor-to-ceiling windows afford a view of the main road through Samcheong-dong, a low-rise area full of galleries and restaurants that is hugely popular at weekends.
  附近是更加時尚的San e Namul（山菜）。這間位于二樓的餐館采用墻紙和傳統韓國裝修，桌子位于落地窗旁，三清洞（Samcheong-dong）主道的景色盡收眼底，主道是低矮區域，遍地是畫廊和餐館，周末人潮涌動。

  San e Namul offers vegetarian set menus but also has menus including meat and fish.
  San e Namul供應素食套餐，同時也供應肉食和魚類餐飲。

  First came a small glass of maeshil, aged green plum tea that is said to stimulate appetite, followed by a delicious, nutty sesame seed porridge, then grilled mushrooms, zucchini and potato pancakes, salad with a spicy chilli dressing, and then, of course, the ubiquitous dwenjang chigae.
  首先端上來的是maeshil，一種陳熟的梅子綠茶，據說可以開胃，然后是美味的芝麻果仁粥，蘑菇南瓜土豆煎餅，伴有紅辣椒的辣色拉，當然，還有常見的dwenjang湯。

  At the other end of the spectrum, in the sense of being more business-oriented, as well as at the other end of the city, is Chaegundaam, in Samseong-dong, a ritzy suburb in the southern part of Seoul.
  另一方面，在城市的另一端，位于首爾南部時尚郊區三成洞（Samseong-dong）的Chaegundaam更加商業化。

  My friend Mi-hui and I drank chrysanthemum wine from Mount Jiri as we ate our way through chewy yellow noodles, mushrooms with sweet and sour sauce, squares of burnt rice with gingko, citrus salad and a wild sesame seed soup。
  我和朋友密輝（Mi-hui）邊品嘗著來自智異山（Mount Jiri）的菊花酒，邊吃著耐嚼的黃色面條、酸甜蘑菇、鍋巴塊、銀杏柑橘色拉和野生芝麻湯。

  “You can tell just by looking that the chefs put a lot of effort into creating, preparing and displaying each dish,” Mi-hui said.
  密輝說：“看著這些美食，你就知道廚師在創意、準備工作和呈上每道美食時都付出了很大的努力。”

  “Also, while some of the dishes are traditional and well-known, some seemed to be special creations of the restaurant. Vegetarian dishes are sometimes bland but the food here has lots of flavour.”#p#分頁標題#e#
  “同時，部分美食是傳統知名的食物，部分似乎是餐館的特別創意。素食美食有時很淡，但是這里的食物味道濃郁。”