www.thepinkgiraffe.com

The Pink Giraffe Chinese Restaurant
43b St Clements Street - Oxford - Oxfordshire - OX4 1AG - UK
Administrator of The Pink Giraffe can be contacted on admin@thepinkgiraffe.com

Chinese cuisine always emphasises on three main rules: Smell, Taste & Appearance.

Vegetarian Food has been an important food in the Chinese culture for a long time and has been a popular choice of
food since the Song Dynasty and was developed further in the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Innovative Chefs of the Chinese Emperors made use of Soya Beans to create ‘meat like’ dishes to attract ‘non-
vegetarians’ to eat them, mainly the Emperor, as having a vegetarian diet on the 1st & 15th Lunar day of each
calendar month was considered as a way of cleansing the soul in religious terms and with the Emperor being used
to having the finest cuisines, the chefs did not want to displease the Emperor with bland vegetarian dishes.

We use vegetable oil as a condiment in all our cooking, as it is not only delicious and nutritious, but it also helps the
digestion process and may prevent cancer. Some of the famous dishes in Chinese Vegetarian Cuisine include
Vegetarian Soya Chicken, Braised Vegetarian Meat with Bean Sauce, Vegetarian Pork, Vegetarian Ham and
Vegetarian Shrimps.

All the so-called "Soya Meat" dishes are not real "Meat", they are processed Soya products and cooked to look and
taste like the real thing, although, the true meat eaters will know the difference!

All of the Soya meat products are even suitable for Vegan guests, as they are made with the Traditional Chinese
Vegetarian in mind - the vegan monk, as their diets are dairy free and even garlic free, as garlic is considered as an
aphrodisiac! We do have to emphasise that the dishes we cook are normally just bearing the vegetarian in mind, so
Vegans will have to state clearly to the waiting staff when ordering so that we make sure none of the dishes contain
any dairy products for you.

The Soya meats that our menu comprise of are: Chicken, Shredded Beef, Ham, Pork, Duck & Beef.

More about Chinese Culture & Vegetarianism