Columbus Asian Festival

If a vegetarian had to get stuck in one continent for the rest of their life, I would recommend being banished to Asia. I'm not sure if they invented vegetarianism in the Far East, but they definitely perfected it. This is clearly on display at the Columbus Asian Festival, where visitors have the opportunity to sample food from all parts of the continent, with plenty of art, music and martial arts to wash down the veggie-friendly eats enjoyed picnic-style in the park.

There was food from China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, India, and a number of less than Asian nations like Jamaica and Mexico. I saw a Filipino dance and sumo wrestling. Mostly (as you can tell from my gut), I went for the food.

One of my favorite Indian joints Bayleaf offered $5 vegetarian sampler plates with two items and a side of saffron rice. I went with the chana masala and the breaded cauliflower. The chick peas (the main ingredient in chana) were rich and blazing hot. I was sweating so profusely I needed to go get a drink. The cauliflower was milder, with a crisp breading that intensified the vegetal and slightly citrus-oriented flavors of the cauliflower florets. Bayleaf offered three other vegetarian items (You can also read a previous entry on Bayleaf here).

I grabbed an egg roll from a place called Healthy Gourmet Vegetarian Food. While it was indeed a vegetarian item, the terminology "healthy" and "gourmet" did not apply to the grease torpedo that coated my flesh in a thin layer of fat. They served a side egg roll with their large order of grease. The egg roll was so fatty, it was Oprah back in her hey-day. Whatever poor attempts at humor I craft to describe how greasy this egg roll was will fail to do this thing justice. To be fair, I originally ordered veggie pot stickers, but they were no longer available. I can't comment on the entrees, but if they're anything like the egg roll, you'll gain five pounds just ordering.

I also sampled a spring roll from Muong Lao, a Laotian restaurant. Their take on the spring roll was cold, not the crispy fried version that comes from Thailand, but rather a soft rice wrapper surrounding lettuce, rice noodles and cilantro with a side of deceptively spicy sweet and sour sauce. It was the only vegetarian item on their festival menu, but it was absolutely delicious. I'll have to check out the real restaurant and see if they like vegetarians...I forgot to write down the address.

There were other places with vegetarian eats that I didn't try during the fest. Bento Go-Go on campus always has a few well made vegetarian options. There's nothing wrong with Flavors of India (and aside from their average samosa, there's quite a bit they do right, too). There was more kimchi then you could shake a stick at. Many other places offered a range of vegetarian choices, and they are too numerous to credit. You'll just have to find out next year, or try all the places individually during the year.



Filipino Dance from the Columbus Asian Festival

Asian Fest