Several of us on this forum would like to try to start a Vegetarian/Vegan Club. Thanks to all of you who already responded to my PM. This thread is for us to have a starting point to communicate and share ideas.

My initial thoughts for activities is that we can get together for dinner once a month. We pick a restaurant, and if it is not a pure vegetarian restaurant, then we let the restaurant know before hand when making reservation that a group of vegetarians/vegans will be coming and ask that they prepare a veg menu. I think there are many restaurants that are vey nice about accommodating vegetarians/vegans and I think they would be happy to accommodate us.

We can also do pot luck dinners from time to time. Cooking has become my new hobby since I turned veg 2 years ago. It will be fun to gather regularly to share ideas, news, info etc. And it will be fun to dine together where we are not always the "special meal" person.

I think there is strength in numbers. If we are an "official" club, then we can show support to restaurants that are veg friendly, and in turn it will help restaurants know that we are out there and that there is a demand for veg friendly options.

Another thing is that we can as a group make suggestions to supermarkets about stuff that we'd like to buy. I think for example City Market tries to carry some veg stuff, but since they (from what I can observe) are not vegetarians, the stuff they carry are not always the best tasting. If a group of us make suggestions regularly andwe let them know that we will buy stuff we suggest, again, there is strength in numbers and we can in the future have better/more options.

Another idea I have is to list our monthly gathering in magazines like That's Shanghai and Talk Shanghai or City Weekend so that other vegetarians/vegans can join us. Maybe we can get one of the magazines to have a small regular monthly Veg column where we can submit restaurant reviews and advice for vegetarians in Shanghai.

I will start by collecting email addresses. This is my dummy email account that I use for online purchases: waisu972@yahoo.com. If you want you can send your email address to me and I will include you in my email list so that we can all receive notices about where will be meeting for dinner, etc.

I will of course send you notices from my real email account which I prefer not to disclose here to avoid spam. I'm a real individual, not a marketer. I will not share your email address with anyone not in our group or use it for any purpose other than for starting a Veggie Club. For added assurance, this is me on my firm's website: http://www.pamirlaw.com/professionals/alexa_chiang. You're welcome to call me at my office to confirm my info.

For those of you who'd prefer not to send out email to someone you don't know, I will try to keep this thread updated. I will also ask a moderator to make this thread a sticky for a while so we can all find it. But no guarantee that they'll agree.

Please feel free to post your thoughts and ideas. I would like to try to host our first group dinner this month. Right now I'm open for dinner Wednesday March 24 or Thursday March 25. We can post ideas for where to meet.

I really like the owner of Anna Maya and depending on group size it may be a good place to have our first group dinner. But I know their portion size is too small for some people. So all other thoughts and suggestions are welcome.

Alexa

Moderator Note: This seems a worthwhile opportunity to build your community and we applaud your efforts. So long as the topic stays on topic we are happy to support your effort. We will keep an eye on this thread as well. Good luck in your endeavor; trying to stay vegetarian in Shanghai can be challenging yet rewarding.

In Hainan last month, I asked for a plate of no-meat fried rice at an outdoor restaurant. They gave me a plate cooked with that fake lobster stuff made from fish. After I complained, they brought out another plate that was the exact same thing. In total, they brought out the same thing three times.

I sent you an email. Sign me up!

Thanks for starting this thread AChiang! Unfortunately I am not available the 24th or 25th this month but hope to join in on a future event. I am interested in learning how to cook healthy Chinese Vegetarian foods.

Count me in! I was never healthier than when I stuck to a vegetarian diet for more than 20 years. Unfortunately, laziness got the better of me and I'm back eating meat though can't say I enjoy it too much, especially in Shanghai. I'll send you my email address so you can keep me up to date.

Humac can't do nights so dinner the 24th and 25th won't work for him either. It would be good if he can join us too for our first gathering. Plus next week may be too short a notice. How about we try lunch on Saturday April 10th after the Qingming holiday?

Sorry, it's not easy for me to make arrangements. Saturday lunches are not great either as I have a music class at 2. But count me in on any Saturday night, Sunday lunch, or Tuesday night. But don't let me stop you getting together at other times!

Hey! I'm coming too!
I sent an email to you. I'm available on March 24 and 25. April.10th is also fine with me. I'll recommend this thread to my vegetarian friends. XD

I've not yet replied to the PM through nothing more than laziness. I'd definitely be in for this. I'm away this week so will join in the second one.

Hi EVeryone,

I'm so glad to hear from all of you and to receive ther private IMs/emails. So our first dinner together will be Saturday April 10th, 7pm at Anna Maya. I know Anna Maya has a limited menu but for variety of reasons it's a great place to have our first gathering. We can go to all variety of places around town the next times.

I spoke with the owner of Anna Maya about trying to form this club and having our first dinner gathering there. She's all for it and said she'll tell her customers about this too since her customers are mostly vegetarians. I'm planning to leave some flyers there next week announcing our first gathering.

I will email back all of you who emailed me with my REAL email address too with this updated info. Looking forward to meeting you guys. -- Alexa

FIRST DINNER GATHERING:

Date & Time: Saturday April 10, 7pm
Location: Anna Maya's

Anna Maya's Address:
3 Taojiang Lu,
French Concession
near Hengshan Lu
桃江路3号
近衡山路


6433-4602

I started a new email address to help with easier communications. All who wish to join us or with inquiries please email: ShanghaiVeggie@gmail.com.

Also, I listed our upcoming dinner at Anna Maya's on CityWeekend and That's Shanghai's community events sections on their websites. Hope the announcement will make their April printed edition.

That's a nice idea

I'm in too

I miss the vegetarian only restaurants in Taiwan -- there are a fair number of them over there. Where I live now, in the outer suburbs of Shanghai, mei-you rho seems to be an unimaginable concept.

great initiative

Hi, for anyone who posted here who hasn't emailed me, here's a reminder that our first group dinner is tomorrow night at 7pm.

I've gotten very positive responses by email. Am expecting anywhere from 15 to 20 people to come. Looking forward to meeting you all!!!

Alexa

Hello AChiang, I'm a chef/caterer who is providing support to the owner of Annamaya. I want to promote vegetarianism in Shanghai. Looking forward to the event and meeting you all.

Ignatius Lau
Moveable Feasts
Catering
Shanghai

Hi everyone!

I've just moved to Shanghai, to live here for a brief 3-months, but I'm excited to see a group organizing around vegetarianism!

I grew up in the United States, in Vermont (a state in New England), and I've been vegetarian my entire life.

Given that my mandarin is not very good, I'm definitely looking forward to hearing from you all where around the city one can get good vegetarian food without need to carefully explain that I don't eat meat!

I'm bummed I just found out about this list and missed your dinner last night, how did it go?

Looking forward to finding out more and meeting all of you.

Best,
Josh

PS.. thanks to Erin C. who pointed out this group to me.

Thanks a lot AChiang for starting this group. I hope to see more new faces at the meetups.
Looking forward to sharing on recipes, sourcing fresh ingredients and were everyone usually eats
in Shanghai.

I was out of town at the weekend so missed this dinner. How did it go?

@jzzzzzzz: It was a really nice evening at Anna Maya with a group (~20) of friendly people. We had a delicious veggie buffet (with an optional veggie burger) and two desserts.

I hope that you can make it to a future get-together.

I'm so excited to find this group! Thanks to Jimmy for telling me about it

Nancy

Hi everyone,

Our last event went very well. We had about 20 people who came. Also our group now has about 30 people. If any of you have not already emailed me but want to be added to our mailing list for notices of upcoming event, please email us at ShanghaiVeggie@gmail.com.

Igantius Lau, who is a caterer and a chef at Anna Maya, has come forward and offered to help me with promoting this group and to co-host events. I'm very excited to have someone else to help get the words out and to brainstorm with ideas for future actitivities. If anyone else want to participate in hosting events and other ideas on events, we'd welcome your participation and input.

In the meantime, here's infor our next event:

Next Event: Brunch at Bukhara Grill
Date: Sunday May 16
Time: 12pm
Address: 3729 Hongmei Road, by Yan'AnRoad, Hongqiao (a district in western Shanghai, close to the Shanghai National Airport)
Phone: +86 (21) 6446-8800

Please RSVP to ShanghaiVeggie@gmail.com so that we can reserve enough seats for everyone who is coming.

Bukhara has an incredible Indian vegetarian buffet lunch. I will call them and make sure they have lots of vegan options of us as well. Will report back on that as soon as I can.

Finally, if you bring any non-vegetarian friends, we would be delighted to have them join us. However, since the purpose of our group to have this Club as the opportunity for pure veg dining experiences, we ask that your non-vegetarian friends to eat only vegetarian whenever they join us at meals at restaurants that are not pure vegetarian restaurants. The goal is not be be exclusive; we want to be as inclusive to everyone as possible. However, if our events are not pure veg dining, then our gathering will be just like any other meals we have with our non-veg friends and it would kind of defeat the purpose of our gatherings. Thanks for your understanding.

Alexa

BTW, our last event at Anna Maya was listed in CityWeekend's most recent edition!!!

Here's the link to their website listing for next Month: http://www.cityweekend.com.cn/shanghai/events/64792/

AChiang wrote:Bukhara has an incredible Indian vegetarian buffet lunch. I will call them and make sure they have lots of vegan options of us as well. Will report back on that as soon as I can.

Yes, vegans should watch out for paneer (a milk product) in the curries.

Hello Everyone,

I made a reservation at Bukhara for Brunch on Sunday May 16 at 12:00. It is tentatively booked
for 20 persons. I will make changes as the responses/ rsvps come into this forum or through the shanghaiveggie@gmail.com account.

For your information. The weekend brunch buffet (150RMB) offered may not be vegan. I will go and try first I'm negotiating with the restaurant for a special menu if necessary but will add to the cost per person for the meal. It may be as much as 200RMB for each.

Ignatius Lau
Moveable Feasts
Catering
Shanghai
13916349552

Hello Everyone,
Just an update of Bukhara's Brunch Buffet. I have been negotiating with the resto to provide a price fixed menu for our group. The chefs are testing some vegan recipes before giving me a per person cost. The regular Brunch Buffet is still an option for 150RMB
I will receive a reply to my request with a Vegan menu selection and price this morning. Estimate is 150- 200RMB

Will post an update ASAP.

Ignatius Lau
Moveable Feasts
Catering
Shanghai
13916349552

Hello, I called and talked with the manager about a special Vegan option. The price and menu is as follows:
A special vegan set menu can be offered for min 5 persons which includes the following:
175RMB excluding beverages

3 starters : veg samosa , grilled mushrooms, mix veg kabobs
3 mains: mixed veg curry (gr beans, carrots, peas)
chickpea masala , okra
fried dal (lentils)
with cumin fried rice, fresh salad and pappadums
also includes assorted breads( roti, naan)
dessert is fresh fruit

I think that it would be wonderful but it is still cheaper for you if several of you order dishes a la carte off the menu


Ignatius

Our new Club is definitely getting off to a good start. Ignatius and I were delighted to meet all who came to our brunch event last Sunday. For June, we have 1 event planned and 1 in the works. Also, be on the look out for the June issue of Talk Magazine. Talk's June feature is vegetarian restaurants. They are also writing a small article about us.....Alexa
________________________________________________________________________________________

Event: Dinner at the Loving Hut

Host: Club member Nancy Lewis

Price Range: Inexpensive ($)

Date/Time: Friday, June 4th, 8pm

Address: 506 Guoding Lu, near Daxue Lu, Yangpu District

Tel: 1 502 181 8032

Web Info: http://www.happycow.net/reviews.php?id=18422

Please RSVP to ShanghaiVeggie@gmail.com so we can make proper reservation.
________________________________________________________________________________________


Some Useful Information:

1. Vegefarm and Vegehome
Ignatius went to a food fair recently and got to know a Taiwanese company that distributes good quality mock meat. Below are their website and contact info. You can call and make purchases. Check them out!

The 2 mock meat suppliers are:

Vegefarm: 886-3-397-1818 http://www.vegefarm.com.tw

Vegehome: 29595848 or 15000059189 http://www.eating.com.cn



2. Wellness Health Fair, Saturday May 22nd

Club member K. Beate Richter helpfully sent us information about the Wellness Health Fair this coming weekend, and forwarded to us the email she received below. For further details, please contact Amena at the email address below.

Just a reminder of the Wellness Health Fair this coming Saturday (22nd May).

Come and find out where to buy organic food and fresh wheatgrass in Shanghai, meet yoga instructors, acupuncturists, join in a meditation, learn where to buy the best air filters, and there's a chance to buy a signed copy of Dr Zhang's new book on managing your emotions using TCM...... and so much more.

To sign up for any of the classes or meditations (Patrizia's meditation information to follow), please reply to Amena: amena@wellnessecity.com

I'm sure we'll see you all there.

Please feel free to forward this email to your friends to help support this great cause in Shanghai, and be a part of improving your quality of life and well-being in this great city.

Sian & Amena

so when is the next "meeting"?

The next dining get-together will likely be in August. Because of scheduling issues, there will not be a gathering in July.

Oh, ic. Looking forward to August then