Can I eat vegetarian or vegan here?

One word, on signs and menus

Chay — pronounced roughly chai — is the word for vegetarian food, and it does most of the work. On a shopfront it appears as quán chay or cơm chay, which is what to scan for when you are looking for a place rather than a dish.

On a regular menu the same word marks the meat-free versions: phở chay, bánh mì chay, gỏi cuốn chay. To say it about yourself, the tourism board gives Tôi ăn chay — I eat vegetarian — with không thịt, no meat, as the shorter fallback.

The phrase that matters more than the first one

Fish sauce is the base seasoning of this cuisine, which means a plate with nothing meaty visible on it is not automatically vegetarian. The tourism board names the exact phrase for this and calls it important when placing orders: không nước mắm, no fish sauce.

Say it when you order rather than after the food arrives. In a dedicated chay restaurant it is unnecessary; everywhere else it is the difference between a vegetarian meal and a meal that merely looks like one.

Two days a month the country helps

Vietnamese Buddhists eat meat-free on the 1st and 15th of the month. On those days restaurants put out extensive vegetarian options and morning markets fill with meat-free dishes — the supply widens without anyone having to ask for it.

The other reliable geography is religious rather than commercial: vegetarian kitchens cluster around pagodas, sometimes filling whole streets. If a search for a restaurant is going badly, walking towards the nearest temple is a better strategy than another search.

Good to know

• chay is the word — look for quán chay or cơm chay on the sign
• Say không nước mắm when you order, not after the food arrives
• The 1st and 15th of the month widen the options everywhere

Sources: Vietnam Tourism — A vegetarian guide to Vietnam · Vietnam Tourism — FAQs · Updated Jul 2026