List of Best Vegetarian Restaurants In Kenya

List of Best Vegetarian Restaurants In Kenya. Vegetarian cuisine is based on food that meets vegetarian standards by not including meat and animal tissue products (such as gelatin or animal-derived rennet). Lacto-ovo vegetarianism (the most common type of vegetarianism in the Western world) includes eggs and dairy products (such as milk and cheese without rennet). Lacto vegetarianism includes dairy products but not eggs, and ovo vegetarianism encompasses eggs but not dairy products. The strictest form of vegetarianism is veganism, which excludes all animal products, including dairy, honey, and some refined sugars if filtered and whitened with bone char. There are also partial vegetarians, such as pescetarians who eat fish but avoid other types of meat.

There are a wide range of possible vegetarian foods, including some developed to particularly suit a vegetarian/vegan diet, either by filling the culinary niche where recipes would otherwise have meat, or by ensuring healthy intake of protein, B12 vitamin, and other nutrients.

Cereals, grains, fungi especially edible mushrooms, seaweed, fruits, vegetables, legumes and nuts.
Soy products, including tofu and tempeh, which are common additional protein sources
Textured vegetable protein (TVP), made from defatted soy flour, often included in chili and burger recipes in place of ground meat.
Meat analogues, which mimic the taste, texture, and appearance of meat and are often used in recipes that traditionally contained meat.
Eggs and dairy product analogues in vegan cuisine (such as aquafaba, plant cream or plant milk).

This is a list of the best vegetarian restaurants in Kenya. Kenya has several top-notch vegetarian restaurants that offer a full range of delicacies and cuisines for pure vegetarians.

Commonly used vegetarian foods

Food regarded as suitable for all vegetarians (including vegans) typically includes:

Cereals/grains: barley, buckwheat, corn, fonio, hempseed, maize, millet, oats, quinoa, rice, rye, sorghum, triticale, wheat; derived products such as flour (dough, bread, baked goods, cornflakes, dumplings, granola, Muesli, pasta etc.).
Vegetables (fresh, canned, frozen, pureed, dried or pickled); derived products such as vegetable sauces like chili sauce and vegetable oils.
Edible fungi (fresh, canned, dried or pickled). Edible fungi include some mushrooms and cultured microfungi which can be involved in fermentation of food (yeasts and moulds) such as Aspergillus oryzae and Fusarium venenatum
Fruit (fresh, canned, frozen, pureed, candied or dried); derived products such as jam and marmalade.
Legumes: beans (including soybeans and soy products such as miso, edamame, soy milk, soy yogurt, tempeh, tofu and TVP), chickpeas, lentils, peas, peanuts; derived products such as peanut butter.
Tree nuts and seeds; derived products such as nut butter.
Herbs, spices and wild greens such as dandelion, sorrel or nettle.
Other foods such as seaweed derived products such as agar, which has the same function as animal bone derived gelatin.
Beverages such as beer, coffee, hot chocolate, lemonade, tea or wine. Although some beers and wines may have elements of animal products as fining agents including fish bladders, egg whites, gelatine and skim milk.

Foods not suitable for vegans, but acceptable for some other types of vegetarians:

Dairy products (butter, cheese (except for cheese containing rennet of animal origin), milk, yogurt (excluding yogurt made with gelatin) etc.) – not eaten by vegans and pure ovo-vegetarians
Eggs – not eaten by vegans and lacto-vegetarians (most Indian vegetarians)
Honey – not eaten by most vegans

Vegetarians by definition cannot consume meat or animal tissue products, with no other universally adopted change in their diet. However, in practice, compared to non-vegetarians, vegetarians on average have an increased consumption in:

Fruits
Vegetables
Avocados
Non-fried potatoes
Whole grains
Legumes
Soy foods
Nuts
Seeds

And in comparison to non-vegetarians, practising vegetarians on average have a decreased consumption in:

Dairy products
Eggs
Refined grains
Added fats
Sweets
Snacks
Non-water (often sweetened) beverages

This difference is observed, but is not required to be vegetarian. Nevertheless, it is relevant when considering research into the health effects of adopting a vegetarian diet. A diet consisting only of sugar candies, for example, while technically also vegetarian, would be expected to have a much different outcome for health compared to what is called “a vegetarian diet” culturally and what is most commonly adopted by vegetarians.