What ethnic foods are traditionally vegan?

Traditionally Chinese, Vietnamese, Ethiopian, and Jamaican have the most vegan cuisine options because they all have religious groups (Buddhists, Orthodox Christians, Rastafarian) who abstain from all animal foods during fasting periods. Vegan Thai and Indian can be very easy to make but restaurants use fish sauce and ghee (butter) respectively in nearly all the dishes so you have to specify when you order.

Spring Rolls would be a fun idea for a large group or some kind of dumpling.

Here are some recipes

http://blog.vegcooking.com/2008/05/bok_choytofu_sp...

http://eatair.blogspot.com/2006/03/spring-rolls.ht...

http://vegandad.blogspot.com/2008/05/chili-garlic-...

http://vegandad.blogspot.com/2009/01/chinese-dumpl...

There's an Ethiopian place I know and pretty sure their food is vegan. Is there anything like that near you? Something African? This one I'm thinking of has some interesting dishes like herb bread and also some lentil curries and stuff like that. Other types of Asian as well, for example have you tried Vietnamese? Bit different from Thai. Mine has a bunch of vegetable and tofu dishes served with rice which I'm pretty sure are all vegan. At Italian you can also ask for pizza without cheese.

Yeah I think you're best bet would be either Indian or Asian cuisine. I frequent a Vietnamese restaurant where a huge portion of the menu is vegetarian or vegan. The simplest traditional vegan food is what popularly called "Buddha's delight" and is comprised of fresh, steamed vegetables usually served over white rice.

Good luck!

As a lot of the above posters have mentioned - Indian food is a fantastic example. I live on dhal! Serve with chapati bread - totally traditional and totally vegan!

You could also look into chinese food too - the Chinese have been using tofu for thousands of years - they know what they're doing with it!!

If in doubt - classic Italian. Wholemeal pasta with tomato based sauce is to die for!

I am not sure if you wanted a recipe that is already a vegan (current suggestions) or take one that is not and convert it into vegan. If latter, I suggest going with Biryani (spicy indian rice dish that traditionally requires meat/yogurt/ghee). You can substitute with extra firm tofu (or soy nuggets), soy yogurt and canola oil. Also biryani traditionally goes with Raita (yogurt sauce). You can make with plain soy yogurt

A lot of Indian food is vegetarian and some of it is vegan. Try making dhaal, a lentil dish with a tomato based sauce. There are lots of recipes for it on the internet.

Indian food is very easy to make vegan. Here's a few recipes, not altered at all to be vegan:

Masala dal (spicy lentils): http://www.indianfoodrecipes.net/daal-recipes/reci...

Aloo ghobi (seasoned potato) http://www.indianfoodrecipes.net/vegetarian-indian...

Lemon rice: http://www.indianfoodrecipes.net/indian-rice-recip...

Curry (either omit the spoonful of yogurt, which is not needed, or use a soy yogurt) http://www.indianfoodrecipes.net/vegetarian-indian...

Tortillas.

Rice and beans.

Pico de gallo.

Hummus

Pita bread

As mentioned before, alot of Indian food.

mexican food

you can do guacamole and salsa with chips

or rice and beans

or a bean burrito with lettuce and tomatoes, etc etc

you can do sushi (vegetable rolls)

you can make couscous with grilled eggplant

Lots of Thai food I think.