Day 5 Vegan Bangkok

“Eat real food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” – Michael Pollen

8th January 2023

It’s Veganuary so the topic of vegan food offerings in Bangkok is especially appropriate. On the 19th of January it will also be five years since I last ate any meat, fish, seafood or poultry.

A number of weeks before that I watched the film, Forks over Knives, which has one central key message: many chronic diseases can be controlled or even reversed by not not eating animal-based and highly processed foods.

I was intrigued and started looking up some of the doctors featured in the film, like Caldwell Esselstyn and Colin Campbell. Through them I found other doctors advocating a mainly plant-based diet, such as Michael Greger, Neal Barnard and John McDougall, and started reading everything I could find about their work and others like them. After reading numerous books and listening to their talks I came to the conclusion that they are right, that a plant-based diet is the optimal diet for good health.

I decided to stop eating all animal products and highly processed foods and see what impact it had on my health. I was strictly vegan for the first three years after that and it has been quite a journey of discovery.

It takes quite a bit of learning and adjustment to make the transition to a wholly plant-based diet because it is a different way of eating. Overall, though, I didn’t find it difficult to give up eating animals because there is such a huge bounty of delicious flavors and variety in plants. Some people have said to me that they couldn’t possibly give up eating meat but it’s a fallacy that you need to eat meat. We grow up eating meat and fish and it becomes an ingrained and unexamined habit. It’s just what we’re used to and it is surprisingly easy not to eat any meat if you give it a try. There are also so many resources and options available now if you want to follow a plant-based way of eating.

For the past couple of years I have been drifting more into vegetarianism and have been eating some animal products, like cheese, eggs and honey. I still eat a mainly vegan diet for between 70 and 90% of the time and I definitely feel much better for it.

Bangkok has a very good choice of vegan restaurants and eateries and we have visited three of them on this trip. There are also many more vegetarian restaurants offering vegan options as well.

We just happened serendipitously upon the first one on our first night in Bangkok because it is near to Sara’s Hotel. The Vegan Table was a great find and we had a very good meal there. The ambience was appealing, the service was very attentive and the food was very good. We had black bean quesadillas and felafel with salad, pesto and pita bread.

The next day, Day 1, we had a light lunch at Veganerie Soul in Siam Paragon Centre. We have eaten there – and at their other Bangkok outlets – on several previous trips and the food was still up to its previous high standards. It was a delicious light lunch.

Vegan Guide to Bangkok

Today we went to a fairly new place, Broccoli Revolution, that opened shortly before the Covid lockdowns. We found it through the Vegan Guide to Bangkok but until we walked past it last night, we didn’t realise that they have 3 outlets, one of which is in Charoen Krung Street which is very close to our hotel.

The entrance is tucked away and doesn’t exactly stand out. The restaurant opens up into a surprisingly open and light space once you come out into it at the end of the starkly minimalist corridor you walk through to get to it from the street.

The food was very good: we had spring rolls, quesadillas and mushroom gyozas and some lovey fresh juice.

An Insider’s Guide to Bangkok’s Best Vegetarian & Vegan Spots

There are 3 main reasons for adopting a vegan diet: for its health benefits; out of compassion for animals and out of concern for the future well-being of the planet. I started eating a mainly plant-based diet for my health but the more you read about it, the more compelling the other two reasons become as well.

I have always loved animals and been against anything that causes suffering to any animals; I was very involved in protesting against the use of fur for clothing when I was a teenager. It has always bothered me that an animal has to die to provide me with a meal when there are so many other options available. All in all, I feel much more at ease with myself and my conscience for eschewing the eating of other living creatures. That is my choice for now.

I was surprised by the negativity and vehemence of some people’s response to my decision to forgo eating meat. It was as if, by doing so, I was judging them. I suppose it also has something to do with people not liking to hear bad news about the things they like. Anyway, I don’t force my views on anyone else – it is up to each person to make their own decision about what they eat.

In case you’re wondering, Michael eats a mainly plant-based diet too. When we are out he will sometimes order a dish with meat or seafood in, depending on what he feels like. As Michael says, “Eating mainly plants is the only viable and sustainable way forward, economically and environmentally. It’s a no-brainer.”