> But Indian cuisine is the only cuisine I'm aware of where being vegetarian isn't a compromise in the creativity, quality, and sheer flavors available to you.
Of course it is. Vegetarian food is a strict subset of all food.
I don't dp this often or ever on HN, but....Bullshit, there are far more vegetarian foods available than your typical fish, pork, beef, lamb and poultry (and perhaps "game") dishes.
I'm not a vegetarian, but I can certainly say that products based on a previous living animal are certainly not a "subset" of vegetable based diets.
You're being downvoted because you're missing the point, and trying to argue semantics.
Yes, of course, by the number of individual ingredient options, keeping meat out is a "subset" in the strictest of mathematical definitions, but that is a largely useless argument.
The point is, while this is changing a lot in the US coasts for example, in most other places in the US (and even worse in parts of Europe I've travelled to), the dishes that are actually vegetarian (contain only ingredients derived from vegetables or spices), are a VERY small subset, usually side dishes.
But in Indian cuisine (and probably Ethiopian as the other poster stated), you could have just as much of a variety of dishes that are just made from vegetables, that you wouldn't grow tired of eating mashed potatoes, green beans, and salads.
Of course it is. Vegetarian food is a strict subset of all food.