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Chef and author Peggy Chan, with fresh produce grown at the Zen Organic Farm, in Ta Kwu Ling, the New Territories. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Should there be a tax on eating meat and dairy products? Chef’s manifesto for a carbon-neutral food industry - and plant-based recipes to help us play our part

  • In Provenance – Principles of Plant-Based Cookery, Hong Kong chef Peggy Chan creates plant-based dishes so tempting even the most ardent omnivores won’t resist
  • She also makes the case for a zero-waste, carbon-neutral food industry and shares her research into practical ways to achieve it that can be scaled up

Food lovers in Hong Kong will remember chef Peggy Chan’s vegan restaurants, Grassroots Pantry, which morphed into Nectar, with a menu that made even the most ardent omnivores realise the possibilities of a plant-based diet. Sadly, both restaurants have closed, but many of Chan’s recipes live on in her book, Provenance – Principles of Plant-Based Cookery (2021).

Chan isn’t just a vegan; she also advocates and strives for zero-waste and sustainability.

In the introduction to Provenance, Chan asks some provocative questions. “Our food system is now hanging on a thread. According to a recent study conducted by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), it is estimated that more than a third of global greenhouse emissions caused by human activity can be attributed to the way we produce, process and package food today.

“Meanwhile, knowing what we know now, shouldn’t we be taxing meat and animal dairy consumption on its carbon footprint? Why should we allow industries that exploit the Earth’s finite resources to take advantage of subsidies when they are contributing to the damage of our planet?

The cover of Provenance – Principles of Plant-Based Cookery, by Chan. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

“A system that demands us to pay substantially more for the cleaner and more sustainable option is a system that not only isn’t viable for more than 90 per cent of our global population, but also fails to protect our ecosystem.

“Everything is interconnected. Restaurants cannot operate without the help of suppliers who we trust in bringing us quality ingredients from the farms. While switching out single-use plastic for biodegradable plastic and turning waste into compost are important first steps, we must face the imminent fact that checking off the list of best practices no longer matches the gravity of our climate crisis.

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“And because of this realisation, I have spent the last year researching scalable solutions to help our industry meet carbon neutrality targets while shifting our dependence away from ‘fast, cheap and convenient’. We need to make the well-being of chefs, farmers and soil our number one priority. Instead of using subpar ingredients that were mass produced, we should aim for better quality produce with higher nutritional values.

“Blind luxury is a fad of the past and the future lies in how we can shift away from archaic and patriarchal mindsets. I’ve always believed that restaurants aren’t just places of consumption – they are platforms for making a change on our planet where chefs can use the power of their voice to set trends and alter habits.”

Being vegan isn’t easy, fast or inexpensive. To cook from Provenance, you’ll need equipment that includes a Vitamix blender, food processor, juicer, dehydrator and micro-scale. Chan talks us through techniques such as dehydrating, fermenting and sprouting, all in an effort to help us rely less on convenience products that include additives, chemical preservatives and artificial colourings.

Breakfast dishes from Provenance – Principles of Plant-Based Cookery, by Chan. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Recipes include vegan versions of the five “mother sauces” (from classical French cuisine), such as cashew hollandaise and mushroom espagnole. Other recipes include vegan nuoc cham (which uses seaweed in place of the fish sauce), Vietnamese rice rolls, popcorn “chicken”, “lamb” stew, wild yam soup, daikon pancake, shimeji mushroom bisque, lentil mushroom pâté, vegan spinach pasta, zucchini cacao nib loaf, and coconut chia mochi.

​Like what you read? Look for more food and drink in SCMP Post Magazine.
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