Indonesia

Vegan Diet Gains Wider Acceptance
By Jakarta News Group (Originally in Indonesian)

[Jakarta] As more people around the world are choosing to be veg for the compassionate goal of saving the planet, fellow initiates from Jakarta Center have worked even harder to generate a wider acceptance of the vegan diet among the people of Indonesia.

On January 31, Golden Year 6 (2009), the Happy Yogi Kitchen Team once again went to Tarakanita Junior High School to hold a vegan cooking demonstration. With the hope of inspiring new lunch alternatives, simple vegan spaghetti, tempura and burger lunch boxes were prepared in front of the group. Many students and teachers said that they’ve been eating more vegetables since the last seminar presented by the initiates and they were grateful to receive more information from the SOS flyers.

On February 7 and 28, our Global Warming Seminar Team and Cinta Kasih (Love and Compassion) VegStall held presentations about climate change to predominantly Moslem audiences. It was the first time many of them had heard about the link between our diet and global warming. After savoring the delicious vegan dinner prepared by the initiates, some guests promised to become vegetarian for better health and a better life.

On February 22, in commemoration of Supreme Master Ching Hai Day, the 7th Walk of Love was held on a car-free day on CBD Road Thamrin – Sudirman in Central Jakarta, where over 1,000 packed vegan meals were distributed. The 8th Walk of Love was held in CBD Rasuna Said, South Jakarta in response to an invitation from the World Wildlife Fund to jointly promote Earth Hour. After discussing with a teacher and students how livestock gas emissions affect the climate, they were invited to hold a seminar at the London School of Public Relations in May.

On March 2, the top executive director of the Bank of Indonesia, impressed by the taste and variety of the vegan foods served at Loving Hut Restaurant, invited the Happy Yogi Kitchen Team to set up a “Dapur Sehat” (Healthy Kitchen) counter at the bank to meet the many requests for healthy food from bank employees. Two days later, they held a seminar on global warming and healthy plant-based eating there. One of the two Deputy Governors who attended the gathering said that he was delighted to have a vegan food counter in the building for the first time.

On March 15, Loving Hut Restaurant and Anjali VegStall participated in the “Healthy Foods, Healthy Minds and Healthy Earth” Vegetarian Food Festival organized by the Ekayana Buddhist Center. A total of 168 different types of vegetarian food were served to thousands of families at the festival. In addition to holding a seminar on healthy plant-based foods and climate change, the Ekayana Buddhist Center expressed interest in having the fellow initiates arrange a global warming seminar for its students.

The Jakarta brothers and sisters felt wonderfully blessed with Master’s love when conveying the urgent “Be Veg, Go Green, Save the Planet” message to the community. More activities are underway to draw greater attention to the need of adopting a plant-based diet to save the planet.