The vegetarian diet has been part of the Buddhist and Hindu lifestyle for the longest of time. However, recent eating trends have shifted from plainly skipping meals to healthy vegetarian diets.
Despite not consuming meat, vegetarians can still get their dose of protein from various other sources. One prime example of a protein-packed veggie would be broccoli. Even tofu, lentils and beans, among others, are great sources of protein.
source: pain doesn’t hurt
Surprisingly though, Malaysia has been ranked the 3rd most vegetarian-friendly country in the whole world!
If you ask most Malaysians today, they would often say that they cannot live without consuming chicken. #gengayamgoreng
However, there’s actually a larger portion of citizens whose daily diet often do not include much meat, but they don’t necessarily strictly follow the vegan or vegetarian lifestyle.
Of course, it is unexpected to see our country come out on top, especially when there are other largely vegetarian-populated countries such as India and Sri Lanka.
To measure the data for this Global Vegetarian Index, the researchers at Oliver’s Travels took into account the number of vegetarian-friendly restaurants, the number of the country’s population, and the annual meat consumption per capita.
source: oliverstravels
Overall, Seychelles, a country in East Africa came in first place with a score of 328 while Thailand came in a close second with 326 points.
Malaysia received a total of 311 marks, which actually tied with Soa Tome and Principe, a country located in Central Africa.
However, Malaysia was awarded the third place thanks to the higher volume of people per vegetarian restaurant. We also have 1,185 vegetarian-friendly restaurants opened throughout the country, which is almost 200 more stores compared to Thailand.
Singapore didn’t fall very far either as they achieved sixth place with 305 points. Shockingly, India came in at the 11th place with 288 points.
It seems that they only have 679 vegetarian restaurants throughout the whole nation. But with a population of 1.3 billion, that would mean that each restaurant would be catering to 1.9 million people.
For a country which probably has the highest number of vegetarians and vegans, it is quite shocking to find so few restaurants that cater to this diet.
It is interesting how our country, which is not particularly known for consuming a lot of vegetables, could be placed in the top 3 most vegetarian-friendly countries in the world.
What do you think of our placement as no. 3?
Also read: 6 Struggles Every Vegetarian in Malaysia Will Understand
