Jockey Club and green groups encourage vegetarian cooking in meat-eating Hong Kong
Hongkongers eat more than double the meat of their US counterparts, but their diets could change with next month's start of a vegetarian cooking programme, Green it Yourself.
Most of us like to consider ourselves environmentally aware. We’ve changed our light bulbs; stopped or at least cut down on buying bottled water; and sort recyclables from trash. Yet, according to David Yeung, co-founder of Green Monday, a social enterprise established in 2012, you can’t be a hand-on-heart greenie and vociferous carnivore at the same time.
“The excessive consumption of meat and resulting food wastage pose a huge burden to our planet,” he says. “Eating green has evolved to be a lifestyle, to show love for ourselves, loved ones and the earth.”
That might be hard for some to swallow in the meat-eating capital of the world. According to Beef2Live’s 2015 ranking, Hongkongers top the chart for carnivorous consumption, gobbling 56kg of beef each, per capita, per year. That's reportedly more than double the intake of Americans and Australians.
As part of a greener lifestyle, then, it seems logical to switch to more plant-based eating. Online resources can help with the transition.
In the coming weeks, Hongkongers can learn how to cook vegetarian food at home, thanks to a Green it Yourself programme funded by the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
Starting in July, a series of monthly cooking demonstrations will be held at selected Link-run wet markets, as well as at the cooking studios of various culinary partners. A MasterChef-style vegetarian cook-off will also be staged during the promotion, and a 52-recipe bilingual vegetarian cookbook is being produced. For details, visit the Green Monday web site http://greenmonday.org/.
Hongkongers eat more than double the meat of their US counterparts, but their diets could change with next month's start of a vegetarian cooking programme, Green it Yourself.
Most of us like to consider ourselves environmentally aware. We’ve changed our light bulbs; stopped or at least cut down on buying bottled water; and sort recyclables from trash. Yet, according to David Yeung, co-founder of Green Monday, a social enterprise established in 2012, you can’t be a hand-on-heart greenie and vociferous carnivore at the same time.
“The excessive consumption of meat and resulting food wastage pose a huge burden to our planet,” he says. “Eating green has evolved to be a lifestyle, to show love for ourselves, loved ones and the earth.”
That might be hard for some to swallow in the meat-eating capital of the world. According to Beef2Live’s 2015 ranking, Hongkongers top the chart for carnivorous consumption, gobbling 56kg of beef each, per capita, per year. That's reportedly more than double the intake of Americans and Australians.
As part of a greener lifestyle, then, it seems logical to switch to more plant-based eating. Online resources can help with the transition.
In the coming weeks, Hongkongers can learn how to cook vegetarian food at home, thanks to a Green it Yourself programme funded by the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
Starting in July, a series of monthly cooking demonstrations will be held at selected Link-run wet markets, as well as at the cooking studios of various culinary partners. A MasterChef-style vegetarian cook-off will also be staged during the promotion, and a 52-recipe bilingual vegetarian cookbook is being produced. For details, visit the Green Monday web site http://greenmonday.org/.
