CRI听力: Vegetarian Restaurants on the Rise in China

The quality of the food sells the restaurant through word of mouth. Without specific guidance, you might find it difficult to locate the vegetarian restaurant called He Tang Yue Se or 'Lotus in Moonlight', which is tucked inside a quiet residential area in Beijing's bustling Chaoyang District. But inside the restaurant, nearly every table was taken. Some diners say they enjoy the food and atmosphere in this vegetarian restaurant.

"Modern life is too busy and it's become fashionable now to enjoy a slower, healthier lifestyle. We usually have dinner in all kinds of restaurants, but this time my friends recommended this special place to us. So I've brought my parents here to try the food."(www.hXen.com)

"I think the taste of the vegetarian food here is similar to the taste of ordinary food containing meat. It's delicious."

According to a recent catering industry survey, the number of vegetarian restaurants in China has grown from less than 100 ten years ago to more than 300. There are more than 50 vegetarian restaurants in Shanghai and more than 60 in Beijing. The 'lotus in Moonlight' restaurant was among the first to be opened privately nine years ago in Beijing. Owner Sherry Xia recalls the time when she first opened the restaurant.

"Back in the year 2000, few people knew about vegetarian food or restaurants. I planned to cultivate the potential market myself. So over the past nine years, we've spread thousands of brochures promoting a vegetarian lifestyle."

Due to the initial cold reaction from customers more than ten years ago, many vegetarian restaurants opened and closed within a very short period of time. But owners like Sherry Xia tried their best to sustain their businesses. She still remembers a change in customers' attitude towards 100% vegetarian dishes.

"I once invited a friend of mine to have dinner here in my restaurant. He brought his high school aged son with him. On the way to our restaurant, the young boy came to know that they were heading to a vegetarian restaurant. At first he asked to stop the car and return home. After he got a bite of our food, he was so surprised he told all of his classmates to bring their parents to come here too."

Currently, most of the vegetarian restaurants in Beijing take the style of imitating meat taste by using beans, mushrooms, and the yam-like plant konjac. Their quiet and soothing environment as well as the novel way of making food attracts many customers. Sherry Xia says the procedure of producing vegetarian cuisine is more complicated than producing non-vegetarian ones.

"The food in vegetarian restaurants is usually made from all kinds of non-meat products. The resources are complicated.

Usually people would say there is nothing to eat in such a place, but in order to attract more people we have to make the food more delicious than that found in other restaurants. Every dish requires a very complicated cooking procedure, and every veggie restaurant is different in making their own style of food."

A renowned vegetarian restaurant 'Gongdelin', from Shanghai, has now opened more than 30 chain stores around the country, a brand new model for vegetarian restaurants to follow. In Beijing, a newly opened restaurant called 'Vegan', in the downtown CBD area, is the first restaurant promoting a simple vegetarian concept without imitating the taste of meat dishes. This is a new trend in China's vast catering industry which aims to test non-vegetarian diners' appetites as well as provide options for those seeking a vegetarian alternative.

For China Drive, I'm Liu Min.