Meat promoter to plant-based diet: Yuan Oeij’s vegan journey
How Yuan Oeij implemented veganism and a plant-based diet throughout The Privé Group and his own life
Text: Yuan Oeij
“It was around 2017 when my wife Tracy suggested Meat-Free Mondays at home. This quickly evolved to her becoming vegan and following a plant-based diet, both for health and compassionate grounds. I did my best to be supportive, but despite being a huge animal lover I couldn’t quite join her on her mission for healthy food in Singapore.
A year later I spotted the book Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer on Tracy’s bedside table. I’d read it a few years earlier when I tried (and failed!) to become more mindful about my own meat consumption. I decided to re-read the book, and this led to me catching up on all the literature, movies, documentaries, videos and podcasts relating to veganism, our food system, climate change and health. Once more, I was convinced that I needed to transform my lifestyle into a more compassionate, healthful and conscious one — and this time I wasn’t going to give up.
Perhaps due to my huge attachment to food (I am in the F&B business because of my obsession with food), I experienced a lot of internal resistance. I struggled to reconcile my love for food with my love for animals, my believe in justice and compassion, my repulsion to what was happening to animals, my horror at how human beings treated animals, and the unimaginable scale of what was happening in factory farms.
Plant-based fish & chips
Credit: The Privé Group
Chickens have feelings too
I started by giving up eating mammals and dairy (the dairy industry is after all arguably even more cruel than the beef industry). I discovered that while I loved eating steaks, lamb chops and pork chops, I could do without them. Even giving up my favourite chicken rice was okay as I’d already learnt one of life’s great tips for happiness: to focus more on what you have rather than what you don’t have.
After a few months, I realised I had to do more. I started encouraging myself to see chickens and birds as sentient and social beings capable of feelings. Through my F&B channels, I also managed to visit a chicken farm and egg farm in Malaysia, which then led to a visit to a chicken slaughterhouse in Singapore. I renounced chicken and eggs that very same day, recording the sounds, images and smells in my head to help seal my decision. After all, I loved seafood (I opened seafood-centric restaurant Bayswater Kitchen) and thoroughly enjoyed vegetables too.
A few months later in mid-2019, I travelled to Los Angeles for business and decided to fully immerse myself in the active veganism scene. I made private visits to three farm sanctuaries (Farm Sanctuary, Gentle Barn and Kindred Spirits Care Farm), met with international animal advocacy group Animal Equality, had lunch with the producer of Cowspiracy (a documentary on the cattle and dairy industry), participated in a pig vigil (showing kindness to pigs cramped in trucks by giving them water at the last leg of their journey), and embraced meetings with vegan F&B entrepreneurs.
I made the decision to fully embrace the vegan lifestyle just before making the LA trip, and I used it as a portal of inspiration and learning that would mark a major milestone in my life. Upon my return, we slowly started to introduce a very limited number of vegan meals in our menus at The Privé Group outlets and our Chinese restaurant Empress. In the beginning, it was admittedly quite boring dishes like mushroom risotto and grilled vegetables. But then I decided to push boundaries and become a pioneer by having all-inclusive vegan-friendly menus in my mainstream restaurant groups.
Innovative vegan dishes
Our chefs were only familiar with cooking typical vegetable dishes and there was a lack of familiarity with how to replace dairy, eggs and meat with plant-based diet substitutes and veganism. But fortunately, we had a willing team of creative chefs who were willing to open their minds to culinary explorations. They put their heart and soul into creating many of the dishes on our menus today.
Being avid cooks, Tracy and I experimented at home with plant-based ingredients, finding ways to create vegan versions of old favourites and trying out new dishes, drawing inspiration from our travels, social media and magazines. I worked with our chefs, introducing techniques and ideas whilst allowing them to go forth with their own trials. To this day we are constantly tasting and trying new products, and more often than not the clever ideas originate from my culinary genius of a wife.
Within Privé and Empress, when our menus became vegan-friendly, we gained a strong reputation amongst both the vegan and the wider community. Today our menus are ever-changing to include a wide range of innovative vegan dishes such as Impossible Biryani, Banana Blossom Fish & Chips, Scotch Egg Shakshuka, Impossible Banh Mi and Plant-based Singapore Laksa.
I thoroughly enjoy plant-based food now, have fewer unhealthy cravings, and certainly no cravings for meat or eggs. What I may miss are the experiences of eating personal favourites and comfort foods like bak kut teh, mutton biryani, steamed pomfret and sashimi, but there are so many plant-based versions.
I see eating a plant-based diet and healthy food in Singapore as a rising trend here, but it’s not rising fast enough. Still, I think Singapore will become a leader in the plant-based movement within Asia and I am thrilled to be part of this, both as an individual and as part of a leading F&B group.”
About the author
Yuan is the chairman and founder of The Privé Group, overseeing 10 Privé all day dining and drinks venues, Empress, Bayswater Kitchen and Privé Grill. Since his dad passed away from colon cancer in 2007, Yuan started learning more about health, wellness and the cruel realities of our food system, and over time has gained a passion and deeper insight into how lifestyle, in particular food, exercise and mindfulness impacts upon one’s wellbeing. Apart from introducing more plant-based, vegetable-forward options and healthier choices in his restaurants to encourage people to dine more responsibly, Yuan is also taking steps towards making an impact on reducing the suffering of animals and humans in this world.
