Vegan practice along with sufficient vegan option is a blend of a good lifestyle
How difficult is it for a person trying to #GoVegan in Hong Kong to find food ?
In Hong Kong, about 3.7% of the population are vegetarian or vegan, and about 25% are flexitarian which means they are willing to substantially reduce meat intake or practice Green Monday. There are about 15,000 restaurants, but only 300 are vegetarian or vegan which is only 2%.
We can see there is still a lot of room for increase of vegetarian or vegan restaurants, and green menu options in regular restaurants.
I recently read on internet, someone commented on the large number of good vegetarian indian food in Texas, USA. This person moved from DC to Texas, just to find out that he has 30 different Indian vegetarian restaurants in 5 mile radius, compared to 1 restaurant in 10 mile radius back in DC. This person has been wanting to go vegan for quite a long time, but just because vegetarian food was not convenient, he has been procrastinating. After moving to Texas, even it is also a place where steak & mutton are mainstream, he is still able to go vegan almost every meal due to the easy accessibility.
Our goal, is to influence as many restaurants as possible to increase vegan options on their menu, with data support of vegan receipts uploaded. We need to prove to the restaurants who are struggling with revenue and high rent, that providing more vegan menu will not only increase customers but also improve their social image.
Imagine we go into a regular restaurant in Hong Kong, open the menu, and find 1/4 of them is vegan, meaning : no meat, no seafood, no oyster sauce, no cow milk sauce, no animal cheese, no butter, no egg; and you don't have to be frowned upon just because you asked what ingredient is in the sauce.
Many still ask, what do vegan eat except salad ? Well, in the world of internet, there are thousands of vegan bloggers, vegan recipes, vegan cooking classes, vegan youtube, vegan restaurants, why not go explore the world ? Chinese & Indian have some most delicious and tasty vegan & vegetarian menus, you don't even know there is no meat. In Japan, 精進料理 Shojin Ryori is gaining popularity among the young as occasional cleansing of the busy mind. It is a vegan menu that is mindfully prepared by monk chefs as spiritual practice and service to people. The variety and beauty of it will blow your mind. Next trip to Japan, do not only look for sushi or Kobe beef, also look for Shojin Ryori.
There are also tons of vegan restaurants you will find on HappyCow App.
So back to the question, "How difficult is it for a person trying to #GoVegan in Hong Kong to find food ?"
From 1 to 10, 1 being the easiest, I would say 7. It is not easy unless you make up your mind to cook most of the time. As a regular HongKonger who work full time, most probably he or she will have breakfast and lunch take away or restaurant or fast food. The option is very little. Vegan in Hong Kong may have to repeat the same place, same menu, and relatively have to pay high price. For example, some cafe do charge extra dollars if you ask for alternative milk. We may also by mistake swallow curry with milk, or pesto with cheese, so the difficulty level is pretty high.
We hope to change all these, and we need a lot of help from those who cares for a blend of a good lifestyle !