Masami is a Japanese currently living in China. Many people have been asking her how it is to be Vegan in China. Is it difficult? Do they understand it? She would say it’s actually not too difficult as people anticipate. Meatless Movement recently had a chat with her.
She told Meatless Movement that the mission of her Vegan Diary is to promote Veganism and Vegan Lifestyle, which can be fun and challenging at the same time, in order to raise awareness about the environmental, Health and Animal issues. She sincerely believes that Veganism is the best thing an individual can do as to contribute against global warming so that we can leave the comfortable livable environment and the planet for our future generations
Tell us more about yourself please
What we can do to love the Earth more💚🌍
Eco Vegan in China
From me as a Vegan living in China
I was born and raised in Japan, in a countryside close to the sea. In my mid 20’s, I moved to Europe for love, lived in Austria, UK, and Netherlands for more than two decades with my Dutch husband and raised two kids. We moved to China in the end of 2019 with our two lovely dogs leaving grown kids in Europe.
I am a Japanese Language teacher and have been teaching for more than 20 years now in every country I have lived and I love my job.
Experience “Harmony, Respect, Purity and Tranquility” with the full Mindfulness
ECO VEGAN IN CHINA
I am also Japanese Tea Ceremony practitioner since my youth. Chado, 茶道, is one of the very important elements of my life. Chado has four principals 和敬静寂(wa-kei-sei-jaku) harmony, respect, purity, and tranquillity and they speak to me a lot. Especially in this time of chaotic world and my own chaotic mind, chado always succeed to calm me down and focus on the nowness.
To cherish the moment, which will never repeat the same again. 一期一会 (ichi-go-ichi-e) is another aspect of Chado I love.
Moreover, Chado has all the elements of Japanese culture, from Kimono, Calligraphy, Flower arrangement, Manners, Cuisines, Ceramic, Lacquer wears, Bamboo utensils, many sorts of Japanese traditional crafts etc., not forgetting the study of Zen teaching. It’s a lifetime study and the more I learn, the more I realize my ignorance and feel humble. And I think Chado is really Vegan too.
Besides that I love classical music and enjoy playing Oboe, Piano and Saxophone.
And most of all, I love my doggies, Luna & Noah. Without them I might have gone depressive many times. They give loads of love and comfort every single day.
Why go Vegan?
VEGAN🌿
ECO VEGAN IN CHINA
for Planet🌍, Environment🏞️, Animals🐾, Health
It was the book called “Eating Animals” by Jonathan Safran Foer, that made me Vegan completely 4 years ago.
I have a long history regarding eating animals. When I was small, I couldn’t eat fish, because fish was so close to us in Japanese daily life. I still remember one traumatic incident when I was probably 5 or 6. One day my father came home with some live fish which he caught himself. When I looked in the bucket, they were still moving, then I remember lots of blood in our outdoor sink and that night the fish was on our dinner table. With many other small incidents accumulated, I hated to eat fish. There were often the whole fish with the head still on and eyes still open for dinner which horrified me.
Japanese also eat small fish just as whole. I also remember our fish tank in which dead goldfishes floating on the surface of the water, eyes open. I never liked Sushi or raw fish and gave my mother a hard time raising me. But the animal farming industry was not close to me, so I didn’t yet have the connection between meat and animals then. The ignorant time of my life.
When I moved to Europe, the animal farms became more familiar. But it wasn’t until my daughter declared that she won’t eat meat anymore at the age of 8, after a summer school visit to a pig farm. She came home crying and I understood her completely and supported her fully from that day on. But I was pescatarian those days, so hypocrite as I feel now, because I never or hardly saw the whole fish in the shops anymore in the places I lived in Europe.
After that, I started to notice more and more articles, films and movements about animal industry. Those were all very shocking that slowly awakened me inside, but having omnivorous husband and son, out of convenience, I was still resisting to fully acknowledge it. Then one day my daughter brought home the book mentioned above. After reading the book, there was no turning back for me of consuming anything related to animals.
💚My little contribution to the immediate environment🗑️
Eco Vegan in China
That was in the beginning of 2018. It took me so long which is my only regret of becoming vegan. I should have started way way long before. So I’m now fully vegan for 4 years. Since last December I have also stopped eating onions, garlic and other pungent vegetables too, following an advice of my Chinese vegan friend.
After becoming vegan, the more I learn, the more I become concerned about the environmental issues. That’s why I want to call myself Environmental Vegan and am trying to live accordingly as much as I can.
Absorbing my daily dose of Power of Nature😇🙏🪴 Gratitude
Eco Vegan in China
As soon as I became Vegan, I felt that my body is lighter and I have more energy. I used to hate running, but I was amazed that I felt very much like running. I started to run once a week gaining distance gradually and participated 10K runs twice in the Netherlands.
My skin has also cleared and is in a great condition ever since. My mind seems decluttered than before and I become more of a minimalist. Around the same time I started to practice Yoga every day for mental and physical developments.
I should say it’s actually not too difficult as people anticipate.
ECO VEGAN IN CHINA
When I became Vegan in the Netherlands, it wasn’t such a big issue eating out. There were more and more restaurants offering vegan dishes besides their already existing vegetarian plates. I used to phone them in advance when I wasn’t sure and many would just adapt to my request. In the shops there are loads of vegan products too, clearly stated VEGAN. Travelling around in Europe was also not a big problem either. I have visited England, Scotland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, France, Belgium, Italy, Turkey as Vegan and always found good food to eat and found local people very supportive.
Only when I was invited to other people’s house or pot-luck parties, I felt a bit awkward explaining them what I can eat. I often brought my own food in a big portion just in case. But amazingly my family and friends were very supportive as they were to my daughter for years.
There are always a couple of Vegan restaurants around temples and they are very affordable too
ECO VEGAN IN CHINA
When I moved to China, things were a bit harder. The number one reason was the language, I guess, and I felt not being understood when they suggest fish or eggs or even chicken to me. But now I can explain myself a bit better in Chinese and I have found out that the Chinese cooking is quite adaptive that they would just fry some veggies for me out of the menu card. The Buddhist restaurants around temples are great and less expensive too. And I see there are gradually more and more places that serve vegan food nowadays.
At the shops I read the ingredients of every product I purchase, except fresh fruits and vegetables. My Chinese reading is getting better at it especially for non-vegan ingredients.
Due to Covid-19, the most of 2020 I was stuck in Japan. Sadly I found out that Japan is harder for Vegan than China. They use fish bullion for everything and the awareness for veganism is still very low. As long as you cook yourselves, you are safe, but just as in China, you need to look at the ingredients of every product you buy.
You can buy all kinds of vegetables and there are so many kinds of Tofu products here to choose from
ECO VEGAN IN CHINA
The best way to overcome the problems is to cook yourself. I basically cook every day at home, not eating out often. As I don’t like ready-made or processed food, I make myself as much as possible from soy milk, soy yoghurt, miso to cakes and sweets.
When eating out, do some research in advance. If not, learn the way to explain what you can eat at restaurants and the way to ask if they can fix something for you.
Let’s live kindly for our planet💚🌏
ECO VEGAN IN CHINA
and for our cohabitants of the Earth🐄🐖🐔🐣🐟🦀
I feel great myself, physically and mentally, with the notion of I am contributing, even it’s a tiny bit, for the future of our planet and the future generation. At the same time, I am not harming any sentient beings, I am trying to be an example for others and am planting a seed of awareness to the people around me.
But socially I am feeling a bit less in China. Unlike in Europe where I have many long-time friends who accept me as vegan, I am finding difficult to make friends here. It’s difficult to join lunch/dinner parties or get-togethers with food. I don’t want to explain every time that I don’t eat certain food and I don’t want to be one of those very difficult persons who is asking impossible each time. That’s why my WeChat account name is Masami.Vegan so that I already select people by my name who wants to contact me or not. Luckily, I recently made friends with local like-minded people, so things are getting better.
This confirmed me once again that I rather love this simple lifestyle, not owning too much, not wanting to have anything else but health
ECO VEGAN IN CHINA
I won’t ask or force anyone to become vegan or vegetarian. I am not a fighter. I am a pacifist. Rather I will tell them how much positive impact they would make to the environment, for example by reducing the meat consumption, how healthy and delicious the plant-based diet can be, and I will suggest that there are good meat substitutes too.
And that is what I am trying to do at the moment. I had several opportunities here in China to give Vegetable Sushi workshop where I also gave the presentation on the relation between the environmental issues and the veganism. Also, I am involved in a community group including active university students in Japan to talk about those issues monthly with Zoom. I am also trying to find a way on social media to raise awareness in a gentle and more fun way.
A little step to love the Earth – Cook your own meals
ECO VEGAN IN CHINA
Because I make my own soy milk, I have Okara (soybean pulp) always in my fridge. I make loads of things using Okara; Okara hummus, Okara balls, Pasta sauce, Miso to Bread, Cakes and Cookies.
At the end of last year, I learned with a shock that Chinese people don’t eat Okara. In Japan Okara is popular as healthy and nutritious food. But here I heard that they compost it or use to feed animals or just dump it. Of all the Soybean products on the market, I can’t start to imagine how much okara is disposed every day.
A friend of mine who was impressed with my moist Okara Chocolate Cake, went to a Tofu shop and got kilos of Okara almost for free. She gave me kilos of it, so I have started to experiment and create more dishes with Okara. I am trying to promote Okara on my account too.
I sincerely hope that I could plant tiny seeds in each one’s mind🧠 which will florish in the near future
Eco Vegan in China
Some regards veganism as a kind of religious sect. They know that it exists but they don’t want to know any further. Probably they are afraid and trying not to know the facts because that would change their lifestyles.
Also, some think vegan diet is not nutritious enough. They think that without meat there are nothing left to eat but salad, when vegetables, fruits, legumes, grains and nuts are so varied and full of nutrients. Yet lots of people think that we need meat and milk to become strong and keep healthy, when more than 90% of Asian don’t have enzyme to break down dairy products and simply animal products are the cause of many health problems.
I am afraid the majority of them are unconsciously brainwashed by the industries only for their profits and kept away on purpose from the facts and from thinking about the link between their food choices and the health of their body and the environment.
I was one of them before, so I understand them. It’s inconvenient to change what we are accustomed to. Especially if you are living with other people, making your own food choices can be hard.
So that our future generations👶👦🏻👧🏼 can enjoy the comfortable and livable environment🏞️💚🙏
Eco Vegan in China
But to those people, I would like to point out our current situation on the earth and how it will be in the very near future. If we care enough about our only planet and our children’s future, I believe people will start sooner or later to think about the choices they make every day.
And I think it is very important to educate children too. Because they are the one who face the hardship. They may find it difficult to make choices in the family, but I would like to plant a seed there so that when they grow up and start to make their own choices, they would take the right path.
Some started to eat less meat and some have decided to become Vegan💚😊
ECO VEGAN IN CHINA
Advice to those who are starting a challenge to become Vegan
Explore and enjoy. Take B12, otherwise don’t be afraid of malnutrition.
There are loads of recipes and products on internet. Don’t be too strict to yourself. Many people imperfectly trying meatless is so much better than one person doing perfectly.
Come dine with me whenever you like. I will cook a delicious meal for you.
A little step each time👣
Eco Vegan in China
That tiny ripple🍥 everyone of us
makes will form a big wave of love🌊💓
One of my biggest quests is to live with someone who loves to eat meat. My husband is supportive for me being vegan, but he declared that he would continue eating animal products for the rest of his life. It seems that the more I talk to him about veganism, the more stubborn he becomes. I guess I am not alone here, conflicting with own family.
Usually, I would cook everything vegan at home. For dinner, I would just fry a piece of meat or fish for my husband extra and he is fine with it. As I don’t like processed food myself, I don’t usually buy any fake meat. But I once bought Beyond Meat to serve him. He didn’t dislike it. He also occasionally comes to eat out with me in vegan restaurants. Probably I should serve him more of those fake meats.
Nothing tastes better than the food and time you share with your dear people😇
Eco Vegan in China
Anyhow, I guess my mission here at home is just to create good and delicious vegan food to serve him, so he wouldn’t crave too much for animal products. It’s a long process and truly the one of the biggest quests of mine.
I am so happy to see this kind of movement as Meatless Movement do and deeply respect your efforts. I think we the vegans should be heard and exposed more, so that people start to see us more familiar and start to get more curious about veganism.
Eco Vegan in China
ECO=Environmental🌍+Compassionate🐾+Operative👍Vegan💚🌏
Small Step Each Day👣
从我做起🦶今日から
素食主义者💚完全菜食主義
Living in China
Born in Japan
Lived in Netherlands, UK and Austria
all images courtesy of Eco Vegan in China