Source:
https://scmp.com/magazines/style/news-trends/article/3019160/picky-eaters-can-avowed-meat-eater-get-taste-plant News & Trends
Picky Eaters: can an avowed meat eater get a taste for the plant-based fare at POP vegan?
Vegetarianism and veganism are on the rise, even in big meat-consuming Hong Kong, where plant-based food abounds. Will Douglas Parkes bite the bullet and give it a try?
Douglas Parkes (left), who struggles to eat fruit but does eat vegetables sometimes, with his vegan colleague, Lim Liying as he prepares to try a meat-free meal at Hong Kong’s vegan restaurant, POP Vegan.
Vegetarianism and veganism are on the increase worldwide.
According to the Vegan Society, the number of vegans in Britain has risen fourfold over the past four years.
In the US, the number of consumers identifying as vegan rose 600 per cent from 2014 to 2017, albeit from a very small base.
Closer to home, Hong Kong may not be veggie friendly – on average, Hongkongers consume nearly four times more meat than recommended by the Department of Health – but meat-free alternatives such as Beyond Meat, Impossible Food and Omnipork are gaining increasing traction.
And yet despite all that, and all the apparent health benefits, I still can’t quite buy into the whole green movement.
Fruits are a no-go area for me and have been my entire life. Perhaps there’s some deeply buried psychological trauma that explains all this but I have no interest in eating any fruit.
Even someone eating it next to me is off-putting. Appearance, smell, texture and the imagined taste is all unappealing. I fare better with vegetables – my mother is hugely relieved I’m not a complete carnivore – but there are probably a fair few days when I struggle to hit the recommended five-a-day.
Even someone eating fruit next to me is off-putting. Appearance, smell, texture and the imagined taste is all unappealing. I fare better with vegetables – my mother is hugely relieved I’m not a complete carnivore
Still, with more and more people jumping on the green bandwagon, I figure there must be something to this. It can’t hurt to eat more healthily, even if I don’t expect it to do wonders for my taste buds.
In an attempt to give healthier eating a go, I spoke with my vegan colleague, Lim Liying, about a new vegan restaurant that opened recently in Elgin Street, SoHo, in Central, Hong Kong. I promised to give it a try if she promised to dine at a more meat-focused restaurant and to see what’s suitable for vegans there.
Here’s what happened when we went to POP vegan …
You can now find the second part of the series here.
Video by Myron Spencer Lee