The Misunderstood Vegetarian

I was shown this article on The Slate and I think it accurately sums up how I think about food. Being a vegetarian in Thailand can be difficult. And people always find out because one of the first questions Thai people ask is "Do you like Thai food?". I say oh yes I love Thai food, which is true. But I love vegetarian Thai food. Most people look at me with horror in their eyes. "What do you eat?" they ask me. Truth is, I eat the same things as them, but with fake meat. They look at me, perhaps assessing if I am a real person who has lived in Thailand for a year. I like to think of it as expanding the minds of the people who ask...but they probably can't begin to understand why someone wouldn't want to eat som tum with fermented fish or pork balls in their soup.
Khon Kaen has 10 vegetarian restaurants that I know about and probably more. It's very easy to find vegetarian food but very difficult to go to a random restaurant and order vegetarian. It is likely to be told a restaurant doesn't have vegetarian food even when I ask for a fried egg. It's almost sinful to cook without fish sauce and some people seem scared to give it a try. The scared people make the people who will try so much more memorable. I've realized how much I love a "can do" attitude and many people will try to make me something to eat. Because the only thing worse than someone who won't eat meat is someone who is hungry. I never go hungry in Thailand.