GO VEGAN THIS JANUARY: ALL ABOUT VEGANUARY
Why go vegan in January? It’s a great month to try it, after Christmas when people feel like losing any extra weight put on from all the extra food, and also because of the New Year, making new resolutions and new challenges. The idea of Veganuary is that you try it for a month, not necessarily committing yourself to it full term.
Chiang Mai is a great place to try Veganuary!
I became vegan fifteen years ago. It was hard at first. Now it is like second nature and I just can’t imagine eating dairy again. The same will be for you, too. After a couple of years you will wonder how you ever ate dairy. You’ll probably wonder why you didn’t go vegan sooner.
The resources below are quite western based and you will find that many of the products mentioned aren’t available in Thailand. There are plenty of vegan cheeses available in UK and America. So what can we do in Chiang Mai? Bread in Thailand, for example, is typically sweet and contains milk products.
Here are your answers!
Rimping Supermarkets sell a huge range of products from the west and many of your cooking necessities. You’ll still need to check the ingredients but they are always in English. Some vegan bread can be found here, but their local bakery items often have their ingredients listed in Thai.
There are seven Rimping stores in Chiang Mai now.
Chiang Mai Bread are the most amazing delivery company, all of their products are vegan so they are your answer to all of your breaded needs! They also do jams, peanut butters and other great spreads.
Wevego are another excellent company, who make delicious vegan cheeses, vegan pesto sauces and vegan yoghurts.
All of the vegetarian restaurants listed in this website will have more vegan options than vegetarian. In Thai restaurants, dairy products are rarely used. The one thing to be careful of is egg, make sure you ask them not to include it.
If your friends are going to a non-vegetarian restaurant, don’t think that you can’t join them! Call the restaurant, ask them what vegan options they can make for you. It’s been very rare for me that they can’t make me something decent.
Here are my top tips for going vegan (in Chiang Mai.)
Don’t see veganism as restrictive. In fact, it is quite the opposite. Going vegan opened my mind to discovering a whole range of foods that I didn’t know about. Be ready to learn!
Replace milk with soya milk. It is everywhere in Chiang Mai. I didn’t like it when I first tried it, now I love it and milk disgusts me.
Replace egg with tofu. Tofu can be cooked in a similar way, scrambled tofu on toast is one of my favourite meals!
Go to veggie restaurants and try all the vegan options, top recommendations for vegan dishes are Amrita Garden, Anchan, Happy Green or Free Bird Café, to name but a few.
Use the many resources on the Internet to get decent recipes.
Take small strides and do not give up! If you have a days lapse or whatever, just keep going and trying. It's not the end.
RESOURCES
If you are already a vegan, then some great sites you should know about are:
www.veganWALL.com This is a fantastic new socially interactive site which aims to connect vegans all over the world. All vegans can post recipes, articles, reviews, advice – basically everything vegan.
If you are trying out veganuary, of course your number one site will be
They provide all the tips, advice and encouragement you need to know. They aim to provide an answer to everything you need to know about switching to a vegan diet.
You should also look at:
This has great information for going vegan as well as for sustaining a vegan life.
For recipes, check out www.findingvegan.com which pulls together a whole load of recipes from bloggers around the world in the one website.
Good luck with anyone who tries out veganuary!! You can do it!
