Bali, thanks to being overtaken by tourists, has quite a few Western-style restaurants, many of them catering to the yoga-instructor wannabies which means a lot of vegetarian options! In Kuta, Ubud, Canggu, and just about every tourist-centric town you will find that vegetarian delights abound in (usually over-priced) restaurants. But the food is likely to be on the "fancy" side with prices still cheaper than home.

But we're in Indonesia and want the local food, right? Plus it's WAY better on the budget and much more interesting to go to the local warungs. Some of the native dishes are delicious and vegetarian and have peanut sauce (oh yeah), you just have to be careful of what might be hidden in their depths. For the most part the offending ingredients will be some form of shrimp whether paste (teh-RAH-see) or dried (OO-dawng KEH-ring).My top pick is always Gado Gado (GAH-doh GAH-doh) which is steamed veggies, maybe hard boiled egg, tempeh or tofu, and most importantly, peanut sauce! Oh I love peanut sauce. But watch out for the krupuk (wafer crackers) - they sometimes are made of fish or shrimp.

Mie Goreng (mee goh-RENG) (fried noodles) is not traditionally cooked with shrimp - yay!

Sayur Kari (vegetable curry) is like a Thai yellow curry but thinner; it's just not as rich. It has veggies and coconut milk and is typically made with vegetable stock but I always feel it's best to make sure.

Nasi Gorgeng (NAH-see goh-RENG) (fried rice) is Indonesian fried rice that is typically flavored with some fashion of shrimp (powder or paste) so you can try your luck at asking (in Indonesian only please) if they can make it without it.

Nasi Campur (NAH-see CHAHM-poor) (mixed rice) is also a goodie.

Cap Cay (chap chai) is mixed veggies in a sauce and is pretty much a Chinese stir-fry. It's common to add meat to it, but you can get it vegetarian too.My usual go-to snack when travelling and maybe even a little health boost at times is getting a yogurt from the mini-mart. OMG it is so awful in Indonesia. I looked at the ingredients only after I bought the extra large size and tasted it. It's made of water and powered milk. Gross.

Really, almost all of the food from the grocery stores has either no flavor or bad flavor or sugary flavor (like even chips). I don't know how they cook such delicious meals!

Regardless of any of the options above, rice (NAH-see), vegetables (sai-YOOR), noodles (mie), tempeh and tofu (TAH-hoo) are never in short supply so you should be able to find something to eat almost wherever you go. Just hope for no crispy dried shrimps sprinkled in.

Vegetarian Phrases

Language	Meaning	Phrase / Pronunciation
Bahasa Indonesian	chicken or meat stock?	kaldu ayam atau daging? KAHL-doo, ay-AM ah-tau da-GING?
	do not use meat, chicken, fish, or shrimp	tidak pakai daging, ayam, ikan, atau udang TEE-dak pah-KAI da-GING, ay-AM eek-AN, ah-tau OO-dahng
	I am vegetarian	saya vegetarian SA-ya ve-je-TAH-ree-AN