Beijing’s Vegan Community on Challenging Meat- and Dairy-Free Lifestyle Stereotypes

Veganism has never enjoyed a higher profile than it does today. Alongside the traditional concerns about animal welfare and healthy eating, there is a new motivation for avoiding meat and dairy in your diet. A global study in 2018 confirmed previous research into the devastating environmental impact of our addiction to cheeseburgers.

“A vegan diet is probably the single biggest way to reduce your impact on planet Earth, not just greenhouse gases, but global acidification, eutrophication, land use, and water use,” according to Joseph Poore from Oxford University, who led the project.

The study found that meat and dairy used 83 percent of farmland, while producing just 18 percent of calories and 37 percent of protein. With an area of rainforest the size of a football pitch cut down every day to clear land for farming, it’s not surprising that veganism has moved from the fringes to the mainstream. A quarter of a million people took part in this year’s “Veganuary,” giving up animal products for a month, and vegan products have been introduced by companies as diverse as Ben & Jerry’s and Ikea. In 2018, Guinness announced that they would no longer use fish bladders in producing their globally popular beer, after 260 years of brewing.

However, this higher profile has been accompanied by a backlash. While vegetarianism is now unexceptional, veganism still provokes strong feelings. The widely shared documentary Cowspiracy was criticized by scientists for its dubious use of statistics, and legitimate concerns have been raised about whether a vegan diet supplies essential minerals and vitamins.

There’s a disturbingly personal and aggressive tone to many attacks on veganism though, with vegans stereotyped as smug and preachy, or superficial: “a 19-year-old food blogger with pink hair who posts pictures of Amaranth grain with the caption ‘Nom nom nom’ is not a dietician,” as the Irish Times sneeringly put it. The introduction of vegan sausage rolls by UK baker Greggs triggered a storm of protest, despite the fact that the pork version was still available for those who wanted it. And a customer calling a British bank about a loan recently was astonished to be told: “all vegans should be punched in the face.”

So what is the reality? What sort of people decide to adopt a vegan lifestyle, and why? What challenges do they face, and does living in China make those challenges easier or harder? We spoke to members of Beijing’s vegan community to find out.

Read the rest of this article over on our sister site beijingkids.

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