AS the world becomes increasingly aware of the advantages of a vegetarian diet, more establishments worldwide are catering to the needs of the growing vegetarian clientele.

A friend who recently traveled to Malaysia and Hong Kong happily reports that those two countries have so much to offer in terms of exotic and delicious vegetarian cuisine. There are numerous vegetarian restaurants that offer a special line-up of veggie delights for the health-conscious. In fact, their national airlines serve wonderful vegetarian preparations for those who request such special meals.

Cathay Pacific even asks a passenger to choose from Indian, Chinese or American vegetarian cuisine. Sad to say, our own national carrier has a lot of catching up to do in their meal catering for vegetarian passengers. A serving of mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables manifests the lack of creative food artistry on the part of the airline's caterers. But with just a bit of research (even on the Internet), food chefs can easily come up with a whole line of exciting meatless dishes. Certainly, there is no lack of palatable options for well-informed chefs.

The increasing expertise of international chefs in whipping up meatless dishes is starting to win over even meat lovers. A Filipino couple in Malaysia hosted a special vegetarian buffet. Of the 50 people present, only about eight guests were actual vegetarians. But everyone truly enjoyed the sumptuous preparation that was a blend of Indian and Chinese cuisine.

Food in Malaysia is not only exotic but also inexpensive. My friend relates that a full meal at a fine-dining Indian restaurant cost them only P40 per person. The vegetarian meal was called "Tali," which was actually a large round tray with about eight small bowls of various dishes. The food was eaten with some Indian flat bread known as chapatti, dosa or nan.

She also narrated that at a fastfood counter in a shopping mall, she was able to eat a complete meal of six vegetarian viands and a bowl of rice for only P30! The viands were laid out in trays before her and she could scoop her own portion, choosing from about 10 different dishes.

The variety of vegetarian dishes is amazing. At a Hong Kong restaurant, my friend was served a 12-course vegetarian lauriat dinner. The ingredients ranged from lotus seeds, bamboo shoots, walnuts and sweet chestnuts. There were all sorts of mushrooms and special mock substitutes. You can have mock chicken, mock duck, mock goose, turkey and pork! A guest commented, "Are you sure the vegetables are not mock veggies?"

My friend said, "People have more choices now in terms of vegetarian dishes. When we started years ago, all we knew was fried eggplant and fried tofu. But with strong determination, we were able to survive and now we can make it easier for others to become vegetarians."