Going vegetarian.

Header image: Vegetarian sushi platter from Sticks’n’Sushi, London

 Being vegetarian was never one of my life goals like graduating from college with first class honours or running 10km under an hour. I had started my journey to being an almost herbivore about 4 years ago. ( “Almost” because I still consume eggs and dairy products) I never actively spoke about going vegetarian till recently in the last half of 2017 when I had finally completely stopped consuming meat.

There have almost never been any negative responses from my friends or random folks when I share that I do not consume meat, its usually curiosity. Lots of whats, whens, whys, hows and wheres. I guess its a little bizarre to have dietary constraints not due to health reasons in a first world country where food is plentiful and, more often than not, mouthwateringly delicious.

Vegetarian Ramen from Ippudo, Singapore

How? When?

This is usually the first question.

In my final year of college, the friends that I hung out with the most were mostly vegetarian Hindus. Since I pretty much lived in school working endless days and nights on my graduation collection, and so did they, my diet naturally became vegetarian. The breakfast discussions, the complaints and whining over lunch, tea time encouragements, venting of angst over dinner and supper wind downs that we shared were the best despite being the toughest times.

After graduation, as I had developed the habit and actually enjoyed mentally eliminating meat options, at my convenience, when ordering food, this semi-vegetarian diet continued. There was no structured game plan for going vegetarian. I hoped to sustain this lifestyle long term, knowing the level of discipline I have, I took it slow. Real slow. Going cold turkey was not an option.

The first elimination was the easiest and quickest – red meat, I was never a great fan and wasn’t one to go all out for a slab of steak. During this phase, which lasted for about half a year, poultry and fish were still part of my diet. I would allow myself certain cheat days to have red meat, especially during the festive period. I recall that I had once declared that I would never be able to go vegetarian because of my weakness for bak kwa (chinese pork jerky). Like I mentioned, no self-discipline.

Poultry was next to go. This was probably the most emotional and dramatic period of about a year during my almost-herbivore journey. Chicken wings. Glazed. Barbecued. Fried. Baked. Anything. I would be right there. Unlike bak kwa, chicken wings were not festive period type food, they were meant to be eaten all year round. Getting out of the cycle that went from cravings to submission to guilt to inner turmoil to acceptance/ abstinence and back to cravings was tough. The key to it was patience and gradual building up of discipline. It was beautiful when I finally broke out of this endless fight with myself, though there are still occasions (even now), where I find myself drawn to the platter of honey glazed chicken wings at the next table.

Then, I got stuck at the pescatarian phase. It wasn’t that seafood was more indispensable to me than chicken wings, in fact, I’ve an allergy to shellfish. I couldn’t eliminate fish from my diet, it was either that or almost nothing. Singapore isn’t exactly the most vegetarian friendly city in the world but thankfully it is slowly changing. It also doesn’t help that most local dishes are meat based. Do a quick google on Singaporean delicacies and you’ll yield a page of chicken rice, laksa, hokkien mee, chili crab, char kway teow, satay, just to name a few. Also the same reasons why I took such a long time to eliminate meat from my diet or why I have no self-discipline.

Most of the mid-price range western food establishments have a small selection of options catered for vegetarians and this pretty much revolves around permutations of pasta, mushrooms, spinach, rocket and olive oil. It can get pretty dull, if I’m lucky that there are even any options at all. I wanted this to be a sustainable lifestyle, dragging all my friends and dining partners to purely vegetarian/vegan or high-end expat-catered eateries all the time wasn’t feasible.

Pescatarianism became my new comfort zone and I guess for a while I kind of gave up going full vegetarian. What I needed was a breakthrough and this came when I moved to London for a couple of months to study pattern cutting at Central Saint Martins. (A story for another time) Comparatively (to Singapore), I’m not even exaggerating when I say that it is ridiculously easy to be vegetarian and even vegan in London.

CSM’s canteen had a separate vegetarian counter that served a variety of amazing food everyday. On days that I had to settle for a working lunch, the Waitrose next to campus had the most wonderful take away options – oh, that avocado, feta and rice salad. From Wednesdays to Fridays, we had food trucks in Granary Square that each had at least one vegetarian option. Don’t even get me started on the vegetarian ramen, sushi, fish and chips and the vegan cafe at the yoga studio.

Thanks for sticking with me till now.
Vegetarian ramen from Mokbar, NYC

What? Why?

These ones often come next.

Shortly after graduation, while still enjoying all that meaty goodness every so often, I started to read about the benefits of being vegetarian to the environment. Prior to studying and eventually working in fashion, all my studies were geared towards the sciences and a significant part of it was environmental science. Leading an environmentally friendly and sustainable lifestyle was always at the back of my mind. I’m pretty certain that infographics or articles with such content have popped up over your news-feed on social media, as that is where I chanced upon it the first time. These words and images eventually lead me to the animal equality aspect of vegetarianism, and this sealed the deal for me.

Going into the definitions, arguments, statistics and facts regarding vegetarianism/ veganism in the animal equality context will be endless and I admit that I’m no expert in this field. However, here is an article from the BBC that is aptly named What if the world went vegetarian?I promise you I’m not digressing when I mention racial and gender equality or  LGBT rights, heavily debated topics in the current socioeconomic environment, that calls for equal opportunities and treatment for every person ignoring their physical characteristics. This is the equivalent of opening Pandora’s box, we are not going there, but please hold that thought about universal equality.

Many of us have pets and pamper our fluffy or not, little or big non-human companions even more than ourselves with select food, comfortable homes and even luxury items. The beef, pork and mutton that we consume come from domesticated animals, the cow, pig and sheep; they too are much like the dog, cat or rabbit that we shower with love and expensive grooming packages. Mention the festival dedicated to the consumption of dog meat and people are all fired up in arms with petitions and protests. There are plenty of  laws, awareness and cruelty prevention groups protecting the animals categorised as “pets” but much less for those termed “livestock” despite them being all animals and all having been domesticated by Man. Don’t the latter deserve better treatment and lives and maybe even love?

In my opinion, they do and as mentioned earlier this sealed the to-be-vegetarian deal for me.

I do not expect the world’s entire population to go vegetarian or vegan, it may not be everyone’s cup of tea. Just a little consideration or thought to start with the next time you pick up a burger or slice of beef for your Korean barbecue, to cut down on the amount of meat consumed and at least not waste it. A little goes a long way.

Bear with me, just a little more. Heres more vegetarian ramen!
Clockwise from top left: Shoryu, London; Wagamama, London; Bone Daddies, London; Umamido, Antwerp

Where?

Finally, where do I even eat now.

Now that I’m back home in Singapore, I’m not struggling as much at current point as I’m not eating out as often as before (due to unemployment) and therefore my meals are not restricted to a menu. When I do head out, I make the effort to research beforehand to make sure there are vegetarian options or call up the establishment to enquire if some dishes can be made vegetarian. After finally beating pescatarianism, I don’t intend to revert back to it, so I guess I can’t be picky. Send that plate of aglio olio my way please.

Thank you for reading what I had to say till the end!
Vegan satay and laksa from Loving Hut, Singapore

 

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