How it feels to be vegan in China
Before coming to China, I heard a lot of different opinions on this topic. A lot of people who know about my nutritional preferences asked me
„will you be able to stick to this?“
„Will you give it up?“
„It will be very hard in China, everything includes meat.“
„It's simply impossible over there.“
„There is no way you can stick to eat in China.“
„The culture is too focused on meat consumption.“
„They even put small amounts of meat in vegetarian dishes - because of taste, you know…“
I was faced with all these statements that sounded so pessimistic to me that I did not want to believe them. I always replied with, no, I will find a way, there must be options. No need to worry about me. But they never gave me the impression of trusting me on this one and to be honest, I often asked myself, why would you even care what I eat if you do not even care what you eat yourself. But that's just humans sometimes I guess. The best part about it, all the people who had this mindset of not being able to find vegan food in China, are not even vegan or vegetarian themselves. Therefore, they were never faced by the situation of seeking that kind of food. So who are they to make all these statements? Just because they would not be able to do it does not mean that you would not be able to do it.
„If people say that something is impossible, they are showing them their own boundaries and limits, not yours.“
That being said, Let´s dig into it!
First of all, this article will be about my perspective and my experience in China. Secondly, this will be a completely honest and real article and not some propaganda stuff. Thirdly, even if the statements above might not be entirely true, it really can be hard in China nonetheless and I will be sharing tips, habits and some rules that helped me stay on my path.
#1 ITS HARD
My answer, it CAN be. But to be honest with ourselves, it can be difficult in any country - if you go to the wrong places. As well as you cannot expect to get a nice pair of shoes if you got to the optician, you cannot expect to get a nice vegan meal in a steakhouse. Besides they have some nice fries and salads. But you get my point here.
One of the reasons people think it is very hard to find vegan food is they go to the wrong places and this does not have to be time-consuming. Everything you need to know is available online, you just have to type into google „veggie-friendly or vegan restaurants in China (or whatever city you are located at)“ and you will get a lot of options to choose from.
Well, I get that a lot of people might say, but you are very limited with you options this way and you can only go to a few places. For me, this is true, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Yes, when you go to vegetarian or vegan restaurants only, you can make sure that the food is really vegan or vegetarian, which is really calming and you can just go there and enjoy your food without worrying about anything. Nevertheless, you could also go to the street food places sometimes to have a meal with your friend. In fact, a lot of Chinese dishes are actually naturally vegetarian or vegan. Noodles or rice dishes with vegetables are the base of nearly every meal here and if not, ASK for it, they always have it.
#2 They put meat in everything, even in vegetarian dishes.
Unfortunately, I came across this situation a few times since being here. It is true. But what has this to do with whether you can be vegetarian or vegan? Right, nothing. You are always in charge of what you put in your mouth and guess what, if they put meat in it, you can simply say no thank you, I want one without. To be fair here, that does not only happen in China. It might be happening more often but this happened to me in Europe too. I ordered something without cheese or meat but they forgot about it or something. That happens everywhere! Just ask for another one.
„Make it clear to them that you cannot have it. Due to the Buddhism in China, they can relate to it and are often willing to give you a new dish.“
# make food at home
That’s too tiring, it takes too much time, Blabla. All these excuses. In the time you wait for your Waimai or other delivery, you can make a smoothie, muesli, sandwich, rice dish or whatever in 5-10 minutes, easily. In Addition, it's probably healthier too. The myth that making your own food takes a lot of time is just not true. And it gets even faster the more you do it.
There are tons of 5-minute dinners or breakfast ideas online, so you do not even have to be creative.
# Try different places & stick to some
That statement might be confusing but is really easy to understand if you think about it. Before you find something you like, you need to try it first, right? Therefore, if you do not try something you don’t know if you like it or not. So, if you think, omg, this place is so gross, I don’t want to eat this again, you do not necessarily should blame the food itself. Just go to another place, the staff there might be more friendly, the food tastes better and you like the atmosphere more. And if you find some really good ones, you can stick to them. Another bonus is, that the staff will even recognise you after a while and will know about your needs.
I once went to a noodle place not far from my home over and over again because I really liked their stuff. Someday, every time I walked in, they already knew that I do not want meat in my dishes and they should add beans instead. Which was great for me and I was really happy about it.
# Internationalisation
Yes, people, China is a global player and global player attract all kinds of businesses. The vegan movement is definitely growing here. In cities like Shanghai and Beijing, you can find a lot of vegan Cafés and restaurants without any problem. You can enjoy the same foods as in London or Berlin.
There you have it guys. There is a lot you can do. It can be hard and frustrating sometimes but it is definitely doable. Don’t let people tell you it is impossible. The longer you stay here, the easier it gets too.
Cheers,
Daniel