Purchasing Animal-friendly Toiletries in China---Possible?

[atmartin50]

大家好！

Does anyone have any experience and/or success with searching for/purchasing vegan cosmetic products (i.e., no animal bi-products and no animal testing), such as toothpaste, shampoo, and soap, in Mainland China? And more specifically, in the Guangzhou area? Know of any co-ops, health food stores, or shops carrying imported goods that might have these types of products?

As a vegetarian slowly making the transition towards being vegan, this is an important issue to me, including during my time here in China. If need be I can continue to order from suppliers in the US and have them shipped here, but this gets quite expensive.

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[doumeizhen]

Well then, I just failed to find the word vegan in my super-fancy dictionary. I think we are off to a bad start. I don't know if the situation has improved much, but two years ago it was very hard to find any products that even listed their ingredients. I am allergic to petroleum products, so I just had to go without a lot of things.

I guess if it were me I would go to some international places that are known for animal friendly products, like The Body Shop, or an inernational food market, find products that fit your criteria, learn the vocab, and then start asking around, although you'll probably have a hard time...

Perhaps I should mention here that my 7 years as a vegetarian ended in China.

Instead of shipping from the US, why not see if you can find something in HK? They are far more developed/open to this kind of thing. If language is a problem, make a Guangzhou friend and they can help you place your orders...

Good Luck on your search!

[doumeizhen]

http://www.chinavegan.com

http://www.vegsky.com/Index.html

[md1101]

doumeizhen, can i ask was it something about china that made you start eating meat again?

im not a vegetarian myself but i had a few vegetarian friends in china that thought it was quite easy being a vegetarian there because of the huge variety of vegetable dishes there. plus they are usually cheaper than the meat dishes.

[doumeizhen]

Sure you can ask, mickdriscoll, although I am sure my answer will be totally unsatisfactory.

I started eating meat again because I didn't want to be fussy about the meat that was, as the line goes, just added as seasoning. I tried to explain it, and the restaurants that knew me understood and respected it, but I traveled a bit for work, and ultimately, I felt worse about troubling others than I did about just eating the meat-ish seasoning on my mapo dofu.

I should also clarify that I consider myself a practical vegetarian. Functional if you will. I do not buy meat with my own money to prepare, and do not order it in restraurants unless it is for other people. Every once in a while I order fish, but I don't feel good about it, so I should stop. I will some meat (sprinkles, not really pieces or slabs) if its served in my food, and given that I am not the one buying it, I sometimes cook with meat, because cooking to others tastes makes me happy, although I limit it to one dish per meal, and honestly, no one aside from my little brother has complained.

You know, for seasoning...

atmartin50, I'm sorry. I hope you aren't horrified....

[heifeng]

Isn't everything cooked in pork fat anyway? Even meat free dishes have animal cells mixed in there somewhere mohahah

[imron]

A lot of stuff is cooked in peanut oil. I've been out back in quite a few restaurants to pick up cooking tips, and that's mostly what they seem use (at least in Hebei).

Although not a vegetarian myself, I've known a few vegetarians who have given up being vegetarian while living in China, usually for practical reasons, because vegetarianism as a concept is just something that many Chinese have difficulty understanding. I know, because usually I was the person helping the vegetarian order their meal. You can tell the cooks or the waiters a hundred times that someone doesn't eat meat, but then they'll say "oh but this isn't meat, it's chicken", and so you get more specific and say that someone doesn't eat any kind of meat at all, and then they'll say "oh, but this isn't a kind of meat, it's fish" and then you say something like "they only eat vegetables, they don't eat anything that used to be a living creature", and the dish will still come out with meat in it because the cook thought it wouldn't taste correct without the meat and that the vegetarian should just try it because the cook is sure they'll like the taste

[heifeng]

hmm...I was thinking about this subjet the other day:

凉皮

shouldn't really have any animal parts or oils, right? plus you can watch them make it for you...

[Kiwijes]

Im a vege and I gave it up while in China too. If your Chinese is excellent and you know what you're ordering etc then you would have no problems continuing the vegetarian thing as their vege and tofu dishes are just delicious.

I just found that when going out with people who would order for you I didnt want to be difficult.

I once went out to the wall and got to a small place in jinshanling about midnight. They decided to cook me up a feed (all meat) and being as they had gone to all that effort that I couldnt just not eat it. I found that it's all well and good not choosing meat for yourself, but if it has been made for you then you might as well just eat it. Not a huge help to someone whose planning on going vegan, but I just found the whole process a little too hard with the language barrier.