Being vegan

What does it take to become a vegan and how easy is it to be a vegan in Hong Kong?

Reporter: John Yip

It is a Monday and also the day of the mid-autumn festival. The smell of fresh bell peppers and mushrooms fills the air of an apartment living room at Tin Hau full of happy faces and delicious festive dishes. There are around 50 people sharing a feast – a vegan feast containing no meat or any animal-derived ingredients.
In fact, this group of people meet every Monday for a weekly “meat-out’”gathering as part of the Hong Kong Meatfree Movement organized by the Hong Kong Vegan Association.
Living in an affluent modern society, we have the freedom to choose what we buy, what we wear and what we eat, in order to make sense of what we believe in and who we are. Being a vegan is one personal lifestyle choice.
Vegans have different reasons for opting for such a lifestyle. Some are taking a stand for animal rights and environmental protection, some act according to their own religious beliefs while others choose veganism because they believe it is a healthier diet and lifestyle.

It can take courage, effort and sometimes a leap of faith to become a vegan. A vegan diet is a type of vegetarian diet that excludes meat, eggs, dairy products and all other animal-derived ingredients. While a vegetarian’s lifestyle focuses mainly on food, a vegan also avoids using animal-derived non-food products, such as sheep’s wool and leather and products tested on animals.

Meat-eaters might imagine that it is hard to exclude meat from one’s diet but it is hardly a problem for veteran vegan and Hong Kong University (HKU) student Helen Kwok, an initiator of the Less-Meat Monday Campaign at HKU. Kwok says following a vegan diet in Hong Kong is not as hard as most non-vegans imagine as a great variety of fresh fruits and vegetables are available here.

She says vegans usually visit local wet markets for seasonal ingredients and supermarkets like Three-Sixty and City’super for better quality groceries and organic products. Kwok usually prepares her own meals every day in order to ensure there are no animal products in her diet.

Apart from preparing animal-free meals, vegans can also dine out. Shara Ng, one of the organisers of Meatfree Hong Kong notes there are more and more vegan restaurants opening in Hong Kong.

They include restaurants like Loving Hut, a chain of vegan restaurants that started in Taiwan and now has branches around the world. The chain serves up vegan versions of a variety of familiar foods such as Taiwanese noodles, Chinese buns with stewed soya mince, American-style veggie burgers, Japanese sushi and tiramisu.
Helen Kwok adds vegetarian restaurants are usually sufficiently flexible to cater for vegans. “Vegetarian restaurants, or even traditional fast food stores, are willing to provide vegan food upon request, even though they aren’t on the menu,” she says.

Vegans not only apply their animal-free philosophy to choosing what they eat, but also to what they use in everyday life. With the help of a smartphone application “Animal-Free”, developed by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Kwok is able to track down the less obvious animal-derived substances in cosmetics, toiletries and other daily necessities. It also helps her identify brands that do not carry out animal testing.

Moises Mehl, who became a raw vegan (a vegan who does not eat any food that has been heated to more than 46 degrees Celsius) three years ago, shops online for animal-free products. “It’s very convenient and cheap when you order in bulk,” says Mehl. More and more online vegan shops offering a wide range of animal-free products, from shampoo to pet food, have opened in recent years. Many also offer low international shipping costs for imported products.

Despite these conveniences, being a vegan is challenging. Vegans not only have to make an extra effort over apparently minor details in their daily lives and adjust accordingly, they also have to deal with the misconceptions people have about them.

One common misconception is that vegans do not eat. Andrew, who has been a vegetarian for 30 years, since he was ten years old, sees the issue from a different perspective. “I think, to a certain extent, vegetarians/vegans are the real creative eaters as we pay attention to the taste, texture as well as nutrients of the food,” says Andrew, as he grinds some cucumber into pasta and tops it with a tomato basil sauce in his kitchen. Andrew likes preparing different vegan dishes at home, such as Vietnamese rice paper rolls, organic green salad and energy bars with dried fruit and cereals.
For Wing , socializing has been the greatest obstacle since she adopted a vegan diet 10 years ago. Wing’s mother had told her that she would die if she did not eat meat. “When I first started taking the vegan diet, my parents did not understand it at all. They were very traditional. To them, eating meat is a must, as well as a symbol of wealth,” Wing recalls, laughing gently.

Wing emphasizes how misconceptions about veganism come from ignorance and a lack of direct experience. She says her parents’ views changed once they experienced for themselves the vegan diet that she was adopting. She once prepared a vegan meal for her parents and they became more receptive to her chosen lifestyle after they found the food surprisingly tasty.

Rania Hon, who now works at Loving Hut, also acknowledges the importance of direct experience in increasing public acceptance of veganism in Hong Kong.

According to Hon, Loving Hut wishes to encourage non-vegans to try vegan food by offering affordable fast-food that fits the city’s quick pace of life. The opening of five Loving Hut restaurants in Hong Kong in the space of just a few years may say something about the growing market demand and how veganism is being received by society today.
Sharing a similar view is the managing director of Life Café, Moosa Al-Issa. Life Café is a vegetarian café that also offers vegan options on its daily menu. “Most of our customers are not vegetarian. Our clientele is 50 per cent local and 50 per cent expat. The greatest growth in interest in vegetarian food in the last couple of years has come from the local community,” he said. Al-Issa is positive about the future development of vegetarian and veganism in Hong Kong.
Even though vegans in Hong Kong may continue to be a minority group in the near future, they have never thought of imposing veganism on their family and friends. They would rather live actively and happily as “living proof” against misunderstandings from society.

As Andrew, the only vegetarian among seven siblings says, “It’s a personal choice. It’s great if you want to be a vegetarian or a vegan and I’d love to help you through it, but it’s also okay if you are not ready to give up meat.” Andrew says that he respects the choice of those who do not give up meat, but adds, “Just when will you respect mine?”