Vegans may follow the strictest diets, but they still have plenty of food choices in Indonesia. Foreign visitors may be pleased to learn that more than 1,000 restaurants across the country serve vegan and vegetarian dishes.
The Indonesian Vegetarian Society (IVS) and Vegan Society of Indonesia (VSI), supported by WVO is organizing “The Indonesia International Vegan Festival & Forum 2018” in Jakarta recently, to popularize veganism, a diet based strictly on plant-based foods to the exclusion of all animal-based foods, including dairy products.
The Indonesia International Vegan Festival and Forum on April 13-15th, 2018 sponsored by the Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Public Health, presented a variety of very interesting activities / events:
1. Vegan Health & Nutrition Talk (by more than 20 International & National Speakers),
2. 168 Vegan Culinary Festival’ (Opening Ceremony by Deputy of Tourism Ministry)
3. Vegan Green Speech Competition
4. Healthy Cooking Demo
5. Vegan Kids Competitions
6. IVS 7Days Vegan Challenge Talkshow & Declaration (by Famous Artist/Celebrities)
7. Grand Final - Mr. & Ms Vegan Indonesia
8. Talk Show ‘Touch My Heart’ (with Famous Artist)
9. Used Material Creativity Competition
10. Super Duper Vegan Culinary Chef Competition
11. Recycled Fashion Show
12. Art Performance (by INLA)
13. Blood Donation
14. IVS Charity
Approximately two million people in Indonesia are either vegetarians or vegans, WVO Chair Susianto said. This was relatively low for a nation with a population of 260 million, but veganism was gaining popularity, if not becoming fashionable, among health-conscious Indonesians.
One often cited benefit of veganism is that eating only plant-based foods reduces the chance of cancers, cardiovascular diseases and degenerative diseases by up to 90 percent.
Most people still have little knowledge about what it meant to be vegan, and where to buy vegan food if they decided to follow the diet, Susianto said.
