In this story, Wang Ming (王明) keeps forgetting that his friend Li Hong (李红) is a vegetarian.
There are many ways to say “I’m vegetarian” in Chinese, though vegetarianism isn’t particularly common in China outside of religious circles, so the term has different connotations. You could say, “I don’t eat meat,” (我不吃肉), “I’m a vegetarian,” (我是素食者), “I eat vegetarian” (我吃素), or a few other permutations. However, if you say that to a waiter, it doesn’t ensure that you don’t end up with meat your food, so if you don’t eat meat and you’re traveling to China, your best bet is to remember a few dishes that are simply never made with meat, and then just order those, instead of asking for food that is typically made with meat to be made without it.
Key vocab
菜单 – càidān – menu
牛肉面 – niúròumiàn – beef noodles
服务员 – fúwùyuán – waiter/server
想起来 – xiǎngqǐlái – to remember/recall
素食者 – sùshízhě – vegetarian (person)
不好意思 – bùhǎoyìsi – embarrassed/sorry
摇头 – yáotóu – to shake one’s head
王明和李红是好朋友。有一天，他们一起去餐厅吃饭。李红去洗手间的时候，服务员来了。王明看了看菜单，给自己点了一碗牛肉面。然后他想给李红也点一碗，但是他不记得李红喜欢吃什么。他想了想，说：”她也要牛肉面吧。”
李红回来以后，两个人聊天，等吃的。不久，服务员端来两碗牛肉面。李红看着面，没有说话。王明这才想起来——李红不吃肉！他的脸马上红了。
李红叫服务员把牛肉面换成素面。她没有生气，只是笑着对王明说：”我们认识十年了，你还不知道我是素食者。”王明非常不好意思，说下次一定记住。李红笑着摇摇头，说：”你上次也这么说。”
Wang Ming and Li Hong are good friends. One day, they went to a restaurant together to eat. When Li Hong went to the restroom, the waiter came. Wang Ming looked at the menu and ordered a bowl of beef noodles for himself. Then he wanted to order a bowl for Li Hong too, but he couldn’t remember what Li Hong liked to eat. He thought about it and said: ‘She’ll have beef noodles too.’
After Li Hong came back, the two of them chatted while waiting for their food. Soon, the waiter brought two bowls of beef noodles. Li Hong looked at the noodles and didn’t say anything. Only then did Wang Ming remember – Li Hong doesn’t eat meat! His face immediately turned red.
Li Hong asked the waiter to change the beef noodles to vegetarian noodles. She wasn’t angry, and just smiled and said to Wang Ming: ‘We’ve known each other for ten years, and you still don’t know I’m a vegetarian.’ Wang Ming felt very embarrassed and said he would definitely remember next time. Li Hong smiled and shook her head, saying: ‘You said the same thing last time.’