What is the best substitute for meat? This is the common dilemma faced by all vegetarians. And the number of vegetarian in the country is increasing every year according to the Duedro Rangwang Zhidey Tshogpa, a registered Civil Society Organisation which promotes vegetarianism. Meat tends to be good sources of complete protein but a combination of the vegetable can also be the source of protein. For this, some 25 individuals from five districts were trained in vegetarian culinary arts in Punakha for the first time in the country.
“The number of vegetarians has increased drastically compared to earlier years. Earlier, our people used to take meat items assuming it compulsory due to a lack of knowledge. But after creating awareness by forming groups like Karzey Tshogpa, the meat consumers have decreased immensely,” said Kinley Yangdon, the Coordinator of Duedro Rangwang Zhidey Tshogpa.
Most of the trainees were homemakers and cooks from various institutions. They have learned to prepare around 60 varieties of vegetable curries during the two-week-long programme.
“We have been left without exploring the knowledge of cooking vegetable curries so far. It is more delicious than meat items if we really know how to cook it. They have made so many varieties of curries with different tastes here. Likewise, even we do not have many people using meat items in our village after His Holiness the Je Khenpo issued a decree now. We mostly serve vegetable curries unlike in the past during Lochhoe,” said Tshering Delker, from Toedpaisa Gewog in Punakha.
“People are asking us about how to quit eating meat and switch to vegetarian. So, I have helped them as far as I know. Likewise, I am still optimistic to help them as far as possible with the knowledge I got from the training,” said Tshering Tshomo, a participant.
“We have been preparing a lot of curries this time. The number of curries we make in a day is not fixed. But then most of the time we prepare more than eight items. We have been making dishes like Chinese, continental, and then Korean. We have also been engaged in trying to blend some Bhutanese cuisines during the training,” said Tshetrim Lhamo, the Trainer.
As per the records with the Duedro Rangwang Zhidey Tshogpa, more than 10,000 registered members in the group have pledged to stop eating meat items.
Since 2015, the group has been creating awareness regarding the benefit of being a vegetarian through various social media platforms.
Changa Dorji, Punakha
