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.
  在韩国，素食者宣布他们的饮食食谱时，别人的反映通常是大吃一惊，做痛苦状，并问到“不会很难吗？”毕竟，这是一个以烧烤店闻名的国家（而且，更闻名的是狗肉汤），在这个国家，甚至可以看见僧侣津津有味地吃着猪肉片。一道受欢迎的醒酒汤也会含有小肠，连食荤者也不敢轻易尝试。

  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，如果掌握一些关键的词汇和当地的知识，韩国可以成为素食者的天堂。素食食品随处可见，从无处不在、可品尝到辣米糕和红豆面包的街边小摊，到豪华餐馆和山顶的寺庙都可找到。

  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.
  虽然一些僧侣犯忌吃肉，但是，在这里，佛教的传统是吃素。韩国对康乐的热衷，意味着素食正逐渐成为趋势。

  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.
  事实上，根据传说，韩国是熊的后代，5000年前，一只熊靠艾蒿和蒜头度过了20天，然后变成女人，诞下一子，名曰“檀君”，即为韩国的祖先。

  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.
  在韩国，食物是生活不可或缺的一部分——从深夜下班后与同事小酌一杯，到业务洽谈，餐馆在人际交往中发挥着重要作用。此外，几乎所有朋友间的交际都是在餐馆，因为公寓很小。

  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，首尔有相当数量的餐馆。似乎每条街道拥有至少一间紫菜卷（韩式寿司卷）店，那里总是座无虚席，有人为了避开人潮，11点30就早早来吃午餐了，有工薪阶层畅饮烧酒（米酒），品味用生菜裹着的烤肉，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岁起就吃素的我，在韩国生活并没有我担忧的餐饮问题，事实上，我已经迷上了dwenjang汤，一种用豆腐，胡椒和蘑菇炖的美味豆酱，到处都能吃得到。

  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.
  大部分食物都是从最初开始烹饪，而且套餐类餐饮常不含肉类和鱼类，相对较适合素食者。但也有相当一部分专门的素食餐馆，素食者可不必担忧会吃到牛肉粒或凤尾鱼，食荤者可让消化系统休息一下。

  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.)
  我最喜欢的餐馆是Sanchon，这是一家寺庙饮食餐馆，坐落在艺术区域仁寺洞（Insadong）的一间韩国传统房子里，由曾经是僧侣的金演植（Kim Yonshik）先生经营。从喧哗的首尔街道走入这座别致的房子，你将立即沉浸在佛的静谧之中。我喜欢到Sanchon（指“山村”）吃午餐，顾客有游客、僧侣、商人和女士，他们双腿交叉坐在地板上，在盛满食物的低桌旁用餐。（晚上，餐馆有传统歌唱和击鼓表演，我觉得太吵，太过于观光化了。）

  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#分页标题#e#
  最近，我常与一位韩国政府官员前往，他说将来退休以后要成为素食者。“现在官方应酬太多，太难做到，”他说。

  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.
  数十只碗摆上来了，我们完全被吸引。有萎蔫了的蔬菜、小煎饼、炒人参和莲藕、番薯、豆腐块、脆海苔片——总共约有20道，即使是饥肠辘辘的人也吃不完。

  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.
  韩国餐馆通常供应套餐，包括许多小菜，然后是米饭或面条等主食（常常是你已经吃饱了才上）。许多道菜都是共享的，大家用筷子来夹菜。

  “Gooooood,” is all my smiling friend can manage to say, holding his chopsticks aloft as he selects his next mouthful。
  “太……棒了”，我那开心微笑的朋友找不到别的词语来形容，他举起筷子，选择下一口美食。

  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.
  我最爱的美食来了：dwenjang汤，还在热罐里沸腾着，备有竹勺舀出享用，然后是甜茶和米饭甜点小吃。

  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”).
  离仁寺洞（Insadong）不远的是精致奇巧的传统街区三清洞（Samcheong-dong），另一家寺庙饮食餐馆Gam Ro Dang（“青春常驻”）位于此，这里更静谧，食物同样美味。

  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.
  这里的布置也许平凡，但是食物却无懈可击——一盘盘精致，色彩丰富的色拉（粉色的花朵）、煎饼、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.
  寺庙饮食应该是要求最低，无防腐剂和味精，富含天然成分，不添加洋葱，蒜头和姜等刺激性配料，以便品尝到食物最原始的味道。为此，Gam Ro Dang用糯米粉和马铃薯淀粉代替面粉，并且尽量避免用油。

  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.
  附近是更加时尚的San e Namul（山菜）。这间位于二楼的餐馆采用墙纸和传统韩国装修，桌子位于落地窗旁，三清洞（Samcheong-dong）主道的景色尽收眼底，主道是低矮区域，遍地是画廊和餐馆，周末人潮涌动。

  San e Namul offers vegetarian set menus but also has menus including meat and fish.
  San e Namul供应素食套餐，同时也供应肉食和鱼类餐饮。

  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.
  首先端上来的是maeshil，一种陈熟的梅子绿茶，据说可以开胃，然后是美味的芝麻果仁粥，蘑菇南瓜土豆煎饼，伴有红辣椒的辣色拉，当然，还有常见的dwenjang汤。

  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，位于首尔南部时尚郊区三成洞（Samseong-dong）的Chaegundaam更加商业化。

  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。
  我和朋友密辉（Mi-hui）边品尝着来自智异山（Mount Jiri）的菊花酒，边吃着耐嚼的黄色面条、酸甜蘑菇、锅巴块、银杏柑橘色拉和野生芝麻汤。

  “You can tell just by looking that the chefs put a lot of effort into creating, preparing and displaying each dish,” Mi-hui said.
  密辉说：“看着这些美食，你就知道厨师在创意、准备工作和呈上每道美食时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#分页标题#e#
  “同时，部分美食是传统知名的食物，部分似乎是餐馆的特别创意。素食美食有时很淡，但是这里的食物味道浓郁。”