Q: So what is veganism and what does it mean to be vegan?
Because I'm unoriginal, I'll quote from Wiki.
Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products, particularly in diet, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. A follower of the diet or the philosophy is known as a vegan.
Q: How is a vegan diet different from a vegetarian one? What can you eat?
In my experience, in Singapore we have varying levels of vegetarian diet which we do not distinguish when we generalise the term "vegetarian", which becomes super confusing and I always need to seek clarity whenever someone tells me they are vegetarian or whenever someone tells me the food is vegetarian.
- There are vegetarians who eat anything as long as it's not meat (and fish. I don't distinguish meat and fish, they are "meat" to me though I've met some people who differentiate between them).
- Vegetarians who eat what vegetarians in group 1 eat but without egg (mostly Indians due to religion).
- Vegetarians who eat what vegetarians in group 1 eat but without the 5 pungent spices like onions and garlic (these are usually Buddhists).
- Vegetarians who eat what vegetarians in group 3 eat but without egg and dairy too.
- Vegetarians who eat what vegetarians in group 1 eat but without egg and dairy.
- There is another subset that don't eat mushrooms (it's not very common in the Chinese community, but I've found that it's common in Indian community).
- And there are Jains as well (I've never met any in my life, so I'm not 100% sure that their diet is also known as vegetarian diet in SG...)
Vegan diet is very similar to number 5, but a little stricter as all animal byproducts are not consumed. This includes honey for example which are avoided on animal suffering grounds. There are certain foods which are surprisingly non-vegan like wine as although the ingredients are plant-based, some of them use fish bladder in the filtering process.
Q: Is veganism only about diet?
In the early days when I first turned vegan, I was very passionate about the subject, reading everything I could on it. I used to inform others that veganism is not just about the diet but a lifestyle. 😅 It might have been too much information for my poor friends who were still trying to grasp what I can eat. I no longer do so unless asked. I guess at that time, it just felt like having a new hobby and wanting to share with friends.
It wasn't just about diet for me. Being vegan meant that I evaluate every item before purchasing for animal byproducts and signs of animal cruelty. I started developing an awareness that many consumer goods like cosmetics (carmine, a red dye, which is extracted from crushed cochineals are used in some lipsticks) are not "vegan". I became aware about animal testing and only sought to buy products which are cruelty-free. However cruelty-free is not as simple as the brand declaring itself to be. Many times, a brand might declare that they don't test on animals, yet they sell in China, where animal testing is required by law to be carried out before the products can be sold there. Unfortunately, China has a huge market so companies who want more market share and profits would obviously sell their products there.
In the first few months of being vegan, I was often Googling "is Brand XXX vegan?". I would spend a looong time in Watsons, Guardian and supermarkets keying different brands for a product (e.g. shampoo) into Google search just to find out whether or not the item is vegan when it is not labelled. Luckily, there are multiple sites dedicated to compiling a list of brands that are vegan or not. The people behind the sites claim to have emailed the big-name companies to fact-find so in a way, research has already been done for me. For not-so-known brands, sometimes there are no answers online unfortunately.
One thing about Singapore is that you cannot walk into any of these major stores and expect the staff to be helpful in telling you which products are vegan. They would be clueless. That's because there's no awareness at all. Staff members are not trained to know what a vegan product mean. Unless you are specifically at a cruelty-free shop like Lush where their staff members are aware of what vegan means, you are better off finding the answers yourself.
On this non-diet part, I do try my best, but there are always certain items like toothpaste and floss that prove difficult to find good vegan alternatives for despite expanding my search online... Through this entire process, I discovered that majority of the household products sold in supermarkets are owned by the big companies which sell to China and thus cannot be considered as cruelty-free/vegan-friendly. Options have been slowly increasing especially with online shopping. I do see more vegan brands being available these days for people living in Singapore, so I'm hopeful... Anyway, I'm not sure if all vegans go through this phase, as it feels extreme to me. I probably could have spent the time researching whether a brand is vegan on other causes. On the bright side, it's a one-time research.
My response to this is really lengthy but I just wanted to add this. I'm really thankful that my closest friends understand that for me veganism is a lifestyle, and I'm incredibly moved when I receive a gift that is vegan as I know they must have spent a good deal of effort picking it out. I do feel guilty at times because while being vegan is not easy as it goes against the norm, it's even harder for the people around me especially when they don't share the philosophy completely and yet have to compromise for me.
Q: I don't think it's healthy to be on a vegan diet. We need to consume meat to be healthy. Where do you get your protein from?
I'm concerned about my health for sure and I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't think that I could still get the nutrition I need to be healthy on a vegan diet. In fact, I researched a lot into vegan nutrition as it was really the last thing that was preventing me from converting.
From my research, it turns out that, if a vegan diet is done correctly, it is completely safe. The most optimal diet is a plant-based whole foods diet, without the processed stuff, sugar, salt, and oil. For certain nutrients like B12 and omega, I sought alternatives. In terms of protein, it seems that a human doesn't really need that much protein to be healthy and plants do have protein. It seems that the more concerning problem for majority of people is a deficiency in fibre... This site answered a lot of my questions on the nutritional aspect for a plant-based diet and I like that the facts are researched and presented by a MD who is in the field of nutrition. As with everything, I still take it with a pinch of salt. I feel that the best way is to try it out and listen to my body.
I did try a completely plant-based whole foods diet for the first 6 months that I was vegan before I started consuming junk food again. Those were the 6 months I felt light, energetic and healthy. I lost about 2-3kg (I thought was because I eliminated cheese, but it's actually oil and processed food elimination as the weight did come back once I started consuming the latter). It does require quite a lot of commitment though in terms of cooking and saying no to eating out which I struggled with given time constraints. I do have more time on my hands now, so I'm looking to have that as part of my lifestyle again.
I would say that being healthy and being vegan are separate things that are often lumped together. An unhealthy diet isn't just determined by whether it's plant-based or not. It's also the amount of oil, salt and sugar, chemicals and preservatives, in the food.
For someone looking to go vegan, I would highly encourage to think twice about it. Is one prepared to make the commitment to monitor one's health? If you do not have the time or resources, I think it's best not to push it. Also, some people's bodies just don't react to certain foods/diets that well, and I believe in listening to one's own body and good intentions and thoughts are often good enough.
Q: Is it expensive to be vegan in Singapore?
I think it depends on what one is used to. If one cooks, I'm guessing that vegetables are way cheaper than meat (Unfortunately I have never bought meat/fish for cooking in Singapore in my life so I'm not familiar with prices).
Personally, I buy organic produce as much as possible (my rationale being that pesticides poisons and kills animals) unless the price difference is more than 2x and for me my staples are soy milk, oats, nuts, berries, quinoa, black beans, lentils, broccoli/cauliflower, carrots, kale, spinach, tomatoes. I do buy other fruits and veggies but I regularly switch those to have a more varied diet. I pay quite a premium for organic food - I estimate about 1.5x what a person would otherwise pay for similar food. It's a bit hard for me to give an exact figure since I share breakfast food with my dad, but if I have to give a number, it's about $300-400/month for groceries.
I hardly buy processed food for cooking (when I do, it's instant noodles) and I might be the only vegan who doesn't like tofu (although I have slowly come to accept it and eat them if necessary) and beancurd skin. I'm also not a big fan of bread and the surprising thing is, most of the bread in Singapore contains milk. Mock meats, dairy-free ice-cream, and mock cheese are expensive. I don't bake (I'm not a huge fan of dessert either except for ice-cream), so I'm not sure about vegan ingredients pricing for baking.
For household goods, it is likely to be more expensive as big brands have economies of scale especially with the Chinese market to offer their goods at a cheaper price than smaller companies which offer vegan products.
Q: Can you find vegan options when eating out in Singapore?
Yes, increasingly so, but it's not cheap. In Singapore, cheap foods are found in hawker centers or food courts, not restaurants/cafes. It is tough to find vegan options in hawker centres/food courts. My go-to are the vegetarian stall or the yong tau foo stall, with care to avoid egg and dairy. It is very very rare to find a vegan stall in hawker centres/food courts and I can understand why. The stall will go out of business! Less than 1% of the population in Singapore is vegan (I think), so it doesn't make business sense to only cater vegan food. Even though everyone can eat vegan food, it just wouldn't be preferred. Interestingly, the hawker centre in my neighbourhood has a high proportion of vegetarian stalls (~30%) as compared to others which usually only has 1 stall. It seems that many vegetarians know about this hawker centre and would travel there just for the numerous vegetarian options.
There are perhaps 10 or so well-marketed vegan restaurants/cafes in Singapore (you can find many such lists online). Call it fate, I stay in the vicinity of many of these vegan restaurants/cafes too.
For vegetarian restaurants, some are vegan-friendly, while some are not. It really depends because vegans are really a very small group in Singapore compared to vegetarians, and some of these restaurants just do not have a concept of vegan diet and do not bother labelling their menu as to whether eggs or dairy are present or not 😡.
You can also find some vegan options in non-veg restaurants. Typically it's rare to find vegan options in Jap cuisine. This is because the soup base (like for ramen or miso) or sauce contain fish. Also many vegetarian sushis have mayonnaise... I discovered that apart from rice/soba, my only option is the vegetable tempura. 😅
Thai restaurants can be more vegan-friendly as you usually can order food without the seafood/meat (though you have to pay the same price) like pineapple fried rice or pad thai, and the mango sticky rice for dessert. One thing to watch out for is tom yum as most tom yum pastes contain shrimps.
There are too many different Western and Chinese non-veg restaurants to generalise them... However, I would say that it's better to go to a hip Western place that expats visit as usually the place is more aware of 'vegan-diet' and thus would have more vegan options. In my experience, a pasta place is not a safe vegan option unless it offers whole grain pasta noodles. Also a pizzeria is not a good bet for vegan options as most pizzas contain cheese. For some places, it's possible to switch to a pesto/tomato base. But in general, there's a good chance of vegan options for Western restaurants.
Chinese non-veg restaurants in general are not that vegan-friendly. Those that sell individual veggie dishes can be vegan-friendly depending on the sauce, but I feel that those are last resort kind of dishes as the vegetables are usually so cheap and easy to cook, it is hard to justify the hefty price tag (like 10 times cost price).
For Indian food, I think the non-veg ones are really not veg-friendly. But the veg-friendly ones are not necessarily vegan-friendly as well since many of the dishes might be cooked with ghee (butter), even the rice! There's usually no way to tell other than to ask the chefs directly...
Q: What about special events like wedding banquets?
Usually hosts will ask for dietary requirements, so that's when I will let them know mine. I don't expect the hosts to cater for me specifically as I understand that I might be the only vegan guest!
For buffet style weddings, my hosts did not specially request for vegan food when I asked due to catering company's reasons, but turns out that I was quite lucky in the two buffet style weddings that I've attended, as a couple of the dishes were vegan. Unless the host invited a lot of vegans, I doubt they will cater to vegans specifically (but vegetarians, definitely), so I will eat before going!
For hotel weddings with multiple courses, I've never once had a full vegan menu. I was always presented with the vegetarian menu... Sometimes this is communicated to me prior to the event, but in majority of the cases, I only found out when the service staff informs me they cannot cater full vegan menu when I'm seated. It is quite surprising given that weddings happen so often in hotels (in my case, I was at W hotel, Capella, Mandarin Orchard, Furama). I can't be the first vegan they've encountered. I think it's likely that the chefs are not familiar with making vegan food taste good, and are unable to come up with 8 vegan dishes. Anyway, I'm usually glad that I don't have to eat 8 courses... It's way too much food!
Q: What about eating with friends or family?
My parents are not vegan. Currently, they are 2-days-of-the-month vegetarians. I don't eat with them often but it's not a problem as they don't cook much. If we do cook, we will cook separately just because they don't like eating what I cook. 😅
It can be a bit of a challenge to cook for 1 person, but I realised that frozen vegetables are the best solution for me as I can take my time to consume them. That said, during this Covid-19 period, I think more people are hoarding frozen goods. I haven't been able to buy much frozen veg, so I am just consuming fresh ones, but also running a huge risk of food wastage.
Dining out with friends... Thus far, my friends have been very accommodating. Most are fine with dining out at a vegetarian/vegan place. They are always pleasantly surprised that vegan food can taste good or that something that isn't vegan can be made vegan. As they are over the novelty of vegan/vegetarian food, I find myself compromising these days and dining at a non-veg place with vegan options.
With extended family events, it's a bit tricky because food gets cooked separately for me and I think it's a lot of extra effort on their part. Also, they are always checking with me to know what I can/cannot eat. Luckily these events do not happen often so I only feel bad several times a year. When possible, I would propose bringing my own food to avoid the hassle of them cooking for me.
For dining out with extended family, it's like dining out with many many friends... So imagine having to make sure that everyone is happy with the dining option. It's pretty hard tbh as a vegan because it restricts the choices available for everyone, not so much vegetarian, but I'm blessed that my extended family would take into consideration my diet when choosing a place.
At the end of the day, as different as we might be individually and the choices we make, we are all humans and every single moment we are changing and evolving, learning as we go about life, and sharing our experiences. Thanks for reading till the end of this lengthy Q&A 😊
