The primary ever Himalayan Vegan Competition was initially scheduled for 2021, however the world well being pandemic led to postponement. Preliminary plans have been for the pageant to happen on consecutive weekends in Kathmandu, Nepal and Thimpu, Bhutan, however as a result of ongoing journey restrictions in Bhutan the choice was made for Nepal to host each weekends. So after greater than two years of planning, postponements and rescheduling, the Himalayan Vegan Competition lastly came about over two weekends in Kathmandu and Pokhara in Nepal.
The checklist of audio system was spectacular and included Dr Susianto Tseng, the President of World Vegan Organisation, and Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, Indian parliamentarian and founding father of Individuals for Animals. We have been really honoured to be featured alongside so many specialists of their area who had travelled from world wide to share their information and experiences. The checklist of esteemed audio system additionally included a trio of plant primarily based meals innovators, Seth Tibbott, the vegan meals pioneer and founding father of Tofurky, Derek Sarno, vegan chef and co-founder of Depraved Kitchen, and Abishek Sinha, CEO and co-founder of GoodDot, the main plant primarily based meat producers in India.
Additionally current and talking on the pageant have been Ken Spector from HappyCow, the go-to web site for vegans worldwide, award profitable conservationist and founding father of Save Elephant Basis and Elephant Nature Park in Thailand, Lek Chaillert, and Dr Harsha Atmakuri, the director of Maa Ka Doodh, a floor breaking documentary which exposes the dairy business in India. The possibility to attend the world premier while in Kathmandu was a chance we didn’t need to miss, together with different delegates we packed out an area theatre to look at this difficult and thought scary documentary.
Having labored all through the area, supporting lodges, resorts and eating places of their efforts to embrace the quick rising demand for vegan and plant primarily based meals, I used to be invited to guide a sequence of talks and workshops with friends and hospitality professionals attending the pageant.
While in Kathmandu, pageant delegates have been hosted by The Soaltee Kathmandu who provided an ideal base during the pageant. Thought-about to be one of many best lodges within the metropolis, that they had beforehand welcomed teams, conferences and friends from world wide with a variety of dietary necessities. They actually embraced the vegan idea and delivered a big selection of plant primarily based delicacies throughout our keep. We cherished that they created a vegan counter at breakfast and we additionally cherished the possibility to eat idli each morning, the right begin to the day.
We have been made to really feel very welcome by Ms Pratiksha and Mr Sharma throughout our keep at The Soaltee, we loved speaking to them about future plans to supply extra vegan meals, they usually additionally invited me to a particular vegan lunch ready by Chef Vinay Singh. Having the possibility to take pleasure in a real style of his culinary creations was a spotlight of our time at The Soaltee, the momos have been divine and the pea and potato desserts served with a trio of chutneys actually hit the spot too.
After they contacted us after the Himalayan Vegan Competition with the thrilling information that they have been internet hosting their very own 10 day vegan pageant to coincide with World Vegan Day we have been over the moon. We will’t wait to have the chance to return to Kathmandu and see how they’ve continued to develop their plant primarily based providing at The Soaltee.
Pokhara had tons to reside as much as as a number metropolis after the joy of Kathmandu, however that they had an ace up their sleeve. The merely mesmerising and ever altering lakeside and mountain vistas will reside with me perpetually, and I’m fairly certain that the opposite delegates really feel precisely the identical. Whether or not throughout a lakeside boat journey to absorb the sundown, or an early morning journey on the Annapurna Cable Automotive to admire the views with fellow delegates together with Yukari and Priyanka, in all places you look in Pokhara will make you are feeling alive, we’re excited to return and discover the world additional.
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Additionally being nicely versed at internet hosting giant and numerous teams, the wonderful Pokhara Grande was our dwelling through the pageant weekend in Pokhara. They excelled themselves by making certain that the pageant delegates weren’t solely welcomed with that famed Nepalese hospitality, however the government chef and his crew labored tirelessly to create scrumptious vegan meals together with vegan croissants for breakfast! It’s not each day that we get to eat vegan croissants so we actually made the a lot of the alternative. Our breakfasts at Pokhara Grande additionally featured regional favourites akin to dosa and idli which all the time make us completely happy. Different meals noticed us take pleasure in a large and various choice of vegan curries and stir fries, which means that going hungry throughout our time at Pokhara Grande was by no means going to occur.
The pageant wouldn’t have occurred with out the beneficiant sponsors that included the award profitable Vegan Journey Asia who’re the main vegan tour operators within the area. Providing small group excursions that help communities while respecting the surroundings, it’s no shock that they have been lately the winners of ‘Asia’s Accountable Journey Award’ on the World Journey Awards for the second consecutive 12 months. We’ve been working with them to create vegan excursions in Cambodia which launched in December 2022, while in October they led the primary ever vegan trek to Everest Base Camp, supported by vegan mountaineer Kuntal Joisher, the primary vegan to summit Mount Everest.
The primary ever Himalayan Vegan Competition was an unbelievable expertise and we have been blessed to have the chance to be concerned and meet so many inspiring vegans from world wide. For anybody contemplating a vegan journey journey to Nepal, then we’re certain that any time spent in each Kathmandu and Pokhara will ship on so many ranges, they have been the right host cities. This was our first glimpse as to what Nepal has to supply, and we’re excited to proceed our personal vegan journey journey to Nepal within the very close to future.
Paul Eyers is Founding father of Vegan Meals Quest. Vegan Meals Quest have turn into luxurious vegan journey specialists as they proceed to search out, eat and write about the perfect vegan meals on the earth.
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