Vegging Out: A Week of Animal-Friendly Eating in Beijing

I am a self-proclaimed meat lover. It could be a cultural thing, it could be that I grew up near a couple of great farms, or it could be because bacon and chicken wings are just really bloody delicious. So it was with trepidation that I undertook the challenge to go vegan for a week. 

The health and environmental benefits of a vegan diet have been frequently reported on. With the ever-growing number of food scandals we face in China, many of which are related to fake or spoiled meat, veganism seems like an increasingly wise choice. But for a dyed-in-the-wool carnivore like me is eating vegan in Beijing achievable? 

DAY ONE
I kick off the week with a trip to Sanyuanli market, which is as much of a Mecca for vegans as it is for omnivores. First stop is stall 62, where the affable middle-aged proprietress peers out from a veritable Aladdin’s cave of grains and pulses, from black beans to basmati. Further along, the vegetable stalls are home to a dazzling array of produce both Western and Chinese (the selection is wider than anywhere else in Beijing), but be warned that looks sometimes outstrip flavor. The spoils of the shop go into a dish of curried eggplant stuffed with coconut and cashews. “This vegan thing isn’t difficult at all,” I think to myself.

DAY TWO
When you rely on plants and grains for the majority of your  nutrition, it is worth considering their provenance. I head to Lohao, one of Beijing’s biggest retailers of organic grains (including quinoa) and other products. One of the difficulties of being vegan in Beijing is that many of the products recommended by vegan food blogs in the UK and US – different types of non-dairy milk, nutritional yeast, coconut ice cream – are simply not available here. While Lohao does not fulfill all these requirements, it does stock a number of imported products and hard-to-find nutritional supplements.

DAY THREE
I confidently knock together a cold noodle salad with smoked tofu and a sauce bought from Lohao, before realizing that the noodles contain powdered egg. My smugness from earlier in the week pales; I feel like animal products are lurking behind every food label just waiting to trip me up.

DAY FOUR
Thankfully day four gets off to a better start. I meet up with Slow Boat Brewery Taproom manager, and long-term vegan, Michael Dobrowolski, who takes me to a shop specializing in vegan products just south of Xidan. The small shop is filled with all manner of exotic vegan food substitutes, from the more usual textured vegetable protein to whole fish made out of soy. I buy a pack of vegan “eggs”, ready-shaped “sunny-side up.” The texture is extremely off-putting and I’m left wondering, ‘why emulate the thing you are trying to avoid?’ 

DAY FIVE
My roommate has a friend in town, so naturally we are summoned for the usual Peking duck meal. I am apprehensive about finding enough vegan-friendly dishes to make a satisfying meal, but the waitresses are surprisingly accommodating, offering to leave meat out of the mapo tofu. Good vegan options on your everyday Chinese restaurant menu include spinach and peanut salad (果仁菠菜) and cold-tossed shredded tofu (凉拌豆腐丝). However, this does involve an element of compromise in that the dishes may well have been prepared with the same cooking implements as meat dishes. Other vegans I chat to reveal this is something they have come to accept since moving to Beijing if they want to have any chance of eating out with others. 

DAY SIX
On day six, I fail. I sit down for a work-related event and pop a canapé into my mouth, before realizing that it is topped with a rosy swirl of jamón. I put this down to the fact that I am not used to having to pick and choose what I eat, rather than the fact that I am craving pork products.  

DAY SEVEN
It being the weekend (and this being Beijing), I awake with a pounding hangover and  immediately curse the fact that I can’t eat eggs. A look through the cupboards reveals that I am pretty much out of anything remotely vegan than isn’t a raw cashew nut or a slightly black banana. This reveals a key flaw in my whole vegan eating scheme: preparation. It’s much more difficult to just pick something up and eat it, since few processed products are completely vegan and labeling in China is less than transparent. I decide to go back to bed instead. 

LOOKING BACK
I will admit that before I started this project I had considered making it a humorous paean to dairy and how much I missed it. However, over the course of my week of veganism and the research I conducted preceding it, I discovered there was more to it than simply saying no to steak. Choosing to be vegan is a commitment to a lifestyle that goes beyond food to a general awareness of the ingredients and processes that go into products, edible or otherwise. Just a few days into the week, I felt I had more energy and, as a keen cook, I relished the challenge of coming up with tasty vegan dishes. Being vegan in Beijing is not only achievable – it is enjoyable.

Acknowledgement: Thanks to Michael Dobrowolski (Instagram: @veganpunx) and Megan Sappenfield for their excellent contributions and advice

YOUR VEGAN EATING DIRECTORY
TRIBE
Tribe has a wide range of creative vegan options that are clearly marked on the illustrative menu. Read more in our review in the September issue.
China View 2-102, Gongti Donglu, Chaoyang District (8587 1899)
朝阳区工体东路中国红街一层

KING’S JOY
King’s Joy is unfailingly popular and for good reason – it is one of the few restaurants in Beijing serving up creative vegetarian food that doesn’t rely on mock meat.
2 Wudaoying Hutong, Dongcheng District (8404 9191)
京兆尹：东城区五道营胡同2号

ZHENG LONG ZHAI
This small shop just south of Xidan sells a mind-boggling range of fake meat products, from chicken nuggets to whole lobsters. They also have a good range of vegan sauces and seasonings.
3 Xinwenhua Jie, Xicheng District (6603 1051)
正隆斋齐善素食店：西城区新文化街3号 

LOHAO
Lohao is one of Beijing’s biggest organic and health food chains, with five stores across Chaoyang and Shunyi. The flagship store near Jintai Lu is well located.
1/F, 5 Vanke Park, Tianshui Xiyuan, Chaoyang District (6599 6287)
乐活城：朝阳区甜水西园万科公园5号一层

Photo: Sui