Korean Vegetarians

There is a day called International Vegan Day. People can visit a website which will tell them where they can go in various countries to sample vegan food. Local vegans prepare the foods for that day. While visiting the website I looked at a few different countries including Korea. I noticed that the group preparing the vegan food in Korea were followers of Master Ching Hai whereas in other countries they seemed more like ordinary groups of people. There are very few vegans/vegetarians in Korea. People assume that Buddhists are vegetarian but they are not. Buddhist monks are supposed to be, however a Korean friend translated something a Buddhist monk said which was that sometimes members of a Buddhist temple bring foods for the monks which are sometimes dishes with meat because they are concerned about the monks' health. I believe though that most or all monks are true vegetarians. Possibly a few very serious Buddhists in Korea are as well, but not many. Meat eating has become very popular here. Supposedly not long ago when Korea was a poor country people couldn't eat meat very often. It has really changed though. There's a huge number of Korean barbecue or fried/barbecued chicken restaurants.

Looking at Northeast Asia, I don't think there are many vegetarians in any of the countries. Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand seem to have more. Also Western countries have a lot. Especially young people in Western countries are increasingly becoming vegetarian.

The followers of Ching Hai run a chain of restaurants called Loving Hut which are around the world. I was looking at their flyer and found out there are at least 30 of them in Korea. Members of their association must make a promise to be vegan and I'm sure that it's very hard for them. Korean salarymen often go out to eat and drink and almost all the foods they eat are meat or fish-based dishes. Korean children love to eat pizza or snacks such as cheese or yogurt. Both adults and children in Korea don't really understand the need for veganism, therefore I am sure that they question any followers of this diet, and probably even look down on them. I was talking with a member of this group who told me that children make fun of children in this group, calling them 'wang da 왕따' which is a bad name in Korean with a meaning similar to 'very stupid.'