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brownrice
Jun 17th, 2004, 03:16 PM
I am a vegetarian. It is difficult to buy healthy vegetarian food in Singapore. Most of the vegetarian foods sold in food courts and eating outlet are very oily and according to my doctor I have high level of bad cholesterol in my blood.



As I have a job a 9 to 6 job as a receptionist and I have no choice but to eat oily vegetarian food sold at food court near my office. I can cook quite well. I plan to open a small vegetarian café, that I can provide healthy vegetarian food and brown rice to vegetarian in Singapore. I need US$15,000 to open a small café and with my salary of about US$700 a month, I do not have enough saving to start the café.



I hope to raise more capital by getting loan from vegetarian all over the world. I wish vegetarians would each loan me US$50. I am asking for US$50 because it would be easily to return the loan quickly. My concept is first come first return policy. That means the first vegetarian to loan me US$50 will get the loan return first and I start making payments within six months after starting the café. Depends on the profit, I hope to return the loans to everyone within 3 years. From the profit I allocate 10% to be given away to charity organization.



I hope you will help me and at the same time I can provide healthy meals to other vegetarians in Singapore.



If you need more information, please contact me by email: brownricebox.yahoo.com.sg



Jane Hoo

rujoon
Jul 15th, 2005, 02:17 PM
Hmm, this was posted like more than a yr ago dunno if its too late to reply..
Anyway, if u r interested to find out where to get healthier veg food in Singapore, you may want to visit
http://www.vegetarian-society.org/forums/
and ask the people there. Many of them stay in Singapore and will be able to help u out.
If u r on a vegetarian diet, maybe u would want to consider going vegan. To the best of my knowledge plant foods has no cholesterol, so it can help ur cholesterol level to a certain extent. Animal products(Diary, eggs) have cholesterol.

Helga
Jul 16th, 2005, 08:03 AM
Hi Rujoon,
Nice to see another VSS Forum member posting here :).
Jane Hoo never posted here again.... I wonder why she did not approach VSS or posted in our forum to get help or maybe find partners to join her :confused: .

rujoon
Jul 17th, 2005, 03:09 AM
Hi Helga,
who are the other vss forum members??:)
Hmm..maybe she didnt know a vss forum exists? Besides my reply to her was more than a yr later lol:p

Helga
Jul 17th, 2005, 09:22 AM
It's only you and me so far. :D.

rujoon
Aug 1st, 2005, 02:21 PM
Ok I will post a thread in vss and invite vegans and vegans-to-be here hehe;)

SpideySpirit
Aug 6th, 2005, 04:19 PM
And Spidey.... lol

Helga
Aug 7th, 2005, 03:08 PM
Hi Spidy, great to see you here! :)

rujoon
Aug 8th, 2005, 03:00 PM
Hello spidy:) welcome here:D

VeganJohn
Aug 8th, 2005, 05:55 PM
I have quite a desire to visit Singapore, my last flatmate at University raved about the place.

Is it true that they make you clean up rubbish in the street if you drop litter? :D

Are any traditional Singapore dishes veggie or vegan and what is the availability of vegan food like?

AbFab
Aug 8th, 2005, 08:37 PM
Obviously the Singapore residents can answer this question a lot better than I can, but I thought I'd pip in anyway! I loved my time there, I was only vegetarian at the time, but I don't remember anything I ate being vegetarian and not vegan - I think I probably ate vegan inadvertently. Lots of gorgeous curries, from all sorts of countries. The food was wonderful, I highly recommend you go. Only bad thing was those stinky durians! :eek:
Oh, and there's no disgusting chewing gum all over the pavement - it's so clean, it's just lovely!

Helga
Aug 9th, 2005, 11:19 AM
Stinky Durians? :confused: You mean those heavenly creamy and aromatic fruits ;). I don't mind having them for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert:D. Mmmm.... frozen durian flesh scooped into an ice cream cone... yum!

VeganJohn, finding vegan food should not be a problem as there are many Chinese vegetarian restaurants here and also vegetarian stalls at hawker centres and food courts with lots of traditional dishes like Laksa, "chicken" rice and so on. It's mostly vegan except for cakes and some desserts which may contain dairy. You will get healthier meals at the organic outlets, with more real vegetables and brown rice.

Here is a listing:
http://www.vegetarian-society.org/revamp/html/index.php?module=Static_Docs&func=view&f=listing_name.htm

Don't worry about the littering... they will probably just fine you a few hunderd dollars ;)

eve
Aug 10th, 2005, 11:57 AM
durian and sticky rice Mmmmmmmmm :p

AbFab
Aug 10th, 2005, 05:16 PM
No offence meant to the durian, I am sure they scrub up really nicely and make for a delicious treat, but left out, they do stink a bit.

Kerio
Jan 19th, 2006, 01:10 AM
Actually, Durian has a Very Strong Smell, but most asians are used to it and have grown to like it. It is terribly high in saturated fats though, and er, it's an acquired taste, shall we say.

To revive this thread, I'm a Vegan in Singapore, and it's really difficult here :(

P&G has a large market here, so does Colgate Palmolive, both notorious animal testers (P&G owning the IAMS brand). I only found out recently that the shampoo and soap I'm using was produced by P&G and the toothpaste I was using was Colgate.

Alternatives are extremely hard to find since we're a nation which has been subject to propoganda from the large companies and therefore has had the ethical alternatives pushed out bit by bit until the alternatives are not only expensive, they're hard to find and are dying out gradually.

We need more imports of Vegan Stuff!

indianvegan
Jan 20th, 2006, 04:44 PM
Woodland restaurant in singpore is vegetarain one, you can ask for Vegan food there.

Manish Jain

rujoon
Jan 21st, 2006, 03:36 PM
Hmm.. I think finding certain alternatives isnt too difficult, just that some are expensive and that there isnt much variety of them to choose from :D . Mock products arent hard to find. As for shampoo I just discovered one at my nearest NTUC - natures organics: no animal testing, no animal ingredients and only a mere SGD 3 for a big bottle :), there is also liquid soap by the same company, but I havent check its labelling yet.

But I do agree we need more imports of vegan stuff, juz that they can be expensive :D .. it would be great if someone rich wanna invest here and sell vegan stuffs.

Kerio
Jan 22nd, 2006, 01:54 AM
Organics is under Clairol isn't it? And Clairol is under P&G? Or is "Natures" a separate brand?

And yeah, the stuff here's terribly expensive - I'm also waiting for investors to come sell vegan stuff here - but the problem is the demand isn't all that high. Most of the people here aren't vegan, just vegetarian, and the mock meat and stuff may contain eggs as well. :(

I think the best way is to cook ourselves, but that's a horrible option. Horrible also a good description for the mixed vegetable with tofu soup I make. (Which usually turns out tasting like soybean milk. I suppose I should be grateful.)

rujoon
Jan 22nd, 2006, 08:35 AM
Hi Kerio,
the brand name is "natures organics"
http://www.naturesorganics.com.au/haircare_fruits_peach_nectar.htm

Which mock stuff are non-vegan? I always thought most of them are except maybe some brands of mock mutton which have eggs I think.

There are lots of veg recipes on the net as well as the libraries, I think they can help :)

Kerio
Jan 23rd, 2006, 12:56 AM
Actually, I haven't found any pure Vegan mock stuff, since most of them contain sugar. The exception would of course, be the Vegan Boca Burger, which is sold at Tanglin Mall and is prohibitively expensive. But to be honest, I can quite comfortably eat tofu, bean sprouts, long beans and the huge variety of plant foods without ever resorting to mock stuff. I only want to try to make vegan stuff taste good to my friends and family so it'd be easier to convince them that it's not all that bad :)

And I've checked out the recipes, they're incredible! I'll have to learn how to cook better though - I have yet to make any edible vegan dish, except perhaps cereals with soy milk. =.=

Jamie
Oct 8th, 2006, 08:05 PM
hi everyone, just jumping in here, as we are probably passing through Singapore in January (I know, it'll be STINKING hot!!), on our way emigrating from the UK to Australia (which is where I'm from originally, my hubby is British). We have only been once, for less than a day, when we overnighted.

Anyway, one of the main things we will stop for will be suit making, which I've heard is good, and cheaper, over there (and we did see lots of tailors shops when we went for a walk when we were there) - my hubby is 6'4 and about 30-32 waist, and will be needing some summer suits for working in Australia, so I think some affordable bespoke suits will be best since we can barely get any decent fitting stuff over here as it is, and there won't be anything for an Aussie summer in the shops in the UK now! lol ;)

I've just been having a little look online and there seems to be quite a few veggie and vegan/vegan-friendly restaurants on the island, and if we stay for about a week, I suppose we might as well go for an apartment so that we can do some self catering.

Does anyone have any advice etc?

Thanks,
Jamie :o

Kerio
Oct 9th, 2006, 03:29 AM
Heya! Not sure why you'd want to come to Singapore, it's extremely...sterile, shall I say.

Try these websites :

http://www.vegetarian-society.org/
http://www.happycow.net/asia/singapore/

and go to "Veggie Food Outlets" for information on places to eat. It's not updated frequently, so personally, if you can afford it, I'd advise you cook or just hit one of the local hawker centres for vegetarian food. Take note that certain local foods are non-vegetarian even though they may look vegetarian. (I assume Lacto-ovo in this case)

This website gives you more info about Singapore : http://www.sg,

The Chinese New Year is on the 18th and 19th of Feb, so you'd have the dubious honour of being able to see all the bright red, tacky displays we hang everywhere in the month before Chinese New Year. You'd also be subject to loud chinese music blaring just about every where there's a flea market. There are all types of chinese goodies which are vegetarian, but take note that prices for nuts of all types (Cashews, pistachios, peanuts etc) will be severely inflated because they're major commodities during the CNY season.

Unfortunately, being vegetarian will deprive you of some of the "local delicacies" like Laksa & Lontong (Their broth is made with shrimps) Chicken Rice, Oyster Omelettes etc, but there are still local foods you can try, like a mediterranean restaurant : http://www.originalsin.com.sg/menu.htm or a Japanese restaurant serving vegetarian sushi/bento : http://www.sakaesushi.com.sg/promo%20-%20vege.php, italian : http://www.romascuisine.com/ and quite a few indian food stalls / restaurants are vegetarian as well. Of course, if you lack food, you could always hit the local supermart and buy a bottle of vegetarian pasta (ard S$5-6 a bottle) and some pasta (Ard S$2 per pack) for a quickie.

The latest opening (as of now) mall is the Vivocity, a huge huge mall with manymany shops. You can get there from the local Subway (MRT) and alighting at the Harbourfront station, which is also where you can take a bus to Sentosa. I haven't verified this myself, but supposedly you're able to take a cable car (those little boxes suspended on metal ropes overlooking a several kilometre drop into the sea - fabulous idea) into Sentosa as well.

This will also help : http://www.visitsingapore.com/publish/stbportal/en/home/e-services/ask_a_singaporean/food.html

A last few bits of stuff that might help :

- When you're out, don't flash your money in public. Hold on to your wallets or tie them around yourself securely. Singapore isn't all that safe.
- Travelling by bus may be an interesting experience - they sell bus guides in most bookstores. They're very tourist-friendly.
- Most cab-drivers will rip you off. Best get used to it. They rip off the local people as well, which is representative of our pledge "Regardless or race, religion etcetc".
- There're many places to visit - Heritage Museum, Fort Canning, Sentosa, (I won't mention "zoo" since I'm vegan and I think it's basically a prison tour) etcetc.
- Suntan Lotion.
- Breathable clothing (Sports apparel with material like Climacool, Dri-fit etc will be favourite)
- Umbrella. May rain anytime, and I mean that.
- Be suspicious of every hawker food seller who tells you "YES IT'S VEGETARIAN LOL" because sometimes the food they sell include fish, lard, shrimps, and all manners of dead animals because in their world, fish will drop from trees as long as they earn profit. You have been warned. Unless it says "Vegetarian" on the banner, don't trust anyone.

Jamie
Oct 9th, 2006, 01:22 PM
lol thanks!! :o I'm so excited now..................................! lol :D

any advice on finding an apartment to rent for a week?? Strangely it's quite difficult - is it not a common thing over there, or is there some website/list/guide/whatever I'm missing? I can find all manner of hotel rooms but not much with a kitchen!

And does anyone have a tailor that they can reccomend?

TA! :)

indianvegan
Oct 10th, 2006, 05:41 AM
Woodland's chain restaurant in Singapore is awesome place for food.

http://www.bombaywoodlands.com

Manish Jain

Kerio
Oct 10th, 2006, 07:41 AM
Jamie - it's not really common in our country to rent for a week - generally the landlords prefer several months/years as this maximises their profit and makes sure the person can be found for payment. It can be found, but it'd take many months of searching and even then they could turn back on their agreement without warning.

You could always find hostels or budget hotels or likewise to stay for a week though - they're abundant. http://hotels.online.com.sg/budgethotels.asp

Take note I've never been to any of the hotels in the site since well... I live here. You might also want to find a spot which is central because

1) A part of Geylang is the red light district of Singapore - but that "Part" covers several avenues and Singapore isn't exactly big to begin with.

2) Changi is close to the airport, which is really handy if you want to fly off...but just that. It's almost deserted, plus some parts are really haunted.

You could try hostels : (Try googling for "Hostels Singapore")
http://www.the-inncrowd.com/
http://www.betelbox.com/

which are rustic, cheap, and even offer tours.

Tailors are rather hard to find, but I've heard of a VERY expensive suits tailor who reputed makes the suits for all the hob-nobs and politicians (including our very own statesman, MM Lee, who apparently only wears his suits) by the name of CYC - it's situated at the Raffles Hotel Arcade, but I won't be able to give you much information about this, but here's a link for you to check out :
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g294265-i1748-k584241-Men_s_tailors_in_Singapore-Singapore.html

Cheers!