But they do know how to make food taste good. Some of the best vegetarian meals come from ethnic cuisines with a long history of vegetarianism. Indian restaurants can provide a seriously good and widely various meatless meal. The India Palace's lunch buffet, for example, recently provided me with a blend of various beans in a sauce that's as creamy as red beans, but with a different flavor. The creamed spinach with homemade paneer cheese, the spicy vegetable stews, and the fascinating, subtle taste of basmati rice all add up to a very good and filling meal.
Italian restaurants are also uniquely qualified to go vegan.
The pasta connection is obvious. But if the place follows Italian tradition rigorously, it will have an immense assortment of other vegetable dishes. Indeed, I think Italy is probably the best country in the world to be a vegetarian, so superb are its vegetables. Restaurants whose style is close to the cutting edge are more likely to have good vegetarian dishes than the more traditional places. In any case, a meatless meal is a great change of pace, and will not be as lacking in satisfaction as our American appetites might suggest.