Ever thought of celebrating a major traditional festival without meat on the menu? On the evening of November 25,  over 50 guests gathered at Beijing's Vegan Hut, a cozy vegetarian restaurant, and enjoyed a delicious vegan Thanksgiving dinner. Though meat-free, the feast was complete with tofurkey (pseudo turkey meat made from tofu), local organic pumpkin pie, pesticide-free potatoes, meatless gravy and milk-free soy ice cream, in addition to eight other tasty Chinese homestyle dishes.

The hosts, Vegan Hut and Greening the Beige (Beijing's international eco-artist collective and platform to raise environmental awareness), also invited speakers to talk on subjects such as a plant-based diet, raw food, climate change, and living a healthy and low-carbon lifestyle.

"We hope more people can try something new and see that eating meals without meat can be a delicious – as well as a healthy alternative," Dr. Yu Li, the restaurant's owner and plant-based nutritionist, told ChinAfrica.

Yu, 42, a Ph.D in physics, quit his regular job in 2008, and restarted his career as a vegan restaurant owner. Having been a vegetarian for over 20 years, he made the big switch to fulfill his dream of promoting the healthy plant-based lifestyle in China.

Better health  

A plant-based diet has become popular with the health conscious worldwide. Due to mad cow disease in the mid-1990s, foot-and-mouth disease in 2001 and bird flu in 2004, many people are becoming wary of the danger that meat can pose. In addition,  the threats of cancer and other diseases mean some people have lost faith in the food safety of meat and changed to healthier organic and meat-free diet.

According to the American Dietetic Association, many scientific research findings suggest positive relationships between vegetarian diets and risk reduction for several chronic degenerative diseases and conditions, including obesity, coronary artery disease, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and some types of cancer.

Yu is also trying to spread the word about the health benefits of plant-based eating. He often talks about the diet and health issues during lectures at his restaurant or on local radio and television programs. "A well-planned vegetarian diet is a healthy way to meet your nutritional needs," said Yu.

"The China Study," a dietary study compiled by Cornell University, Oxford University and the Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine, found that people who ate the most animal-based foods got the most chronic disease, while those who ate the most plant-based foods were the healthiest and tended to avoid chronic disease.

"The Chinese who eat the least fat and animal products have substantially lower rates of cancer, heart disease, and several other chronic degenerative diseases," said Yu. "The findings of the study also show that heart disease, diabetes and obesity can be reversed by a healthy plant-based diet," he added.

Based on the recent health concerns of diseases caused by eating meat, and the reversing effects of plant-based diet, it's understandable why more people are choosing a vegetarian lifestyle.

"It's a misconception that you need meat to get energy. After eating meat, you get tired and sleepy. I eat protein-based vegetables and get more energy," Christian Lillieroos, Vice President of EU-ASEAN Social Club, told ChinAfrica. He is a former world-class table tennis player and a five-time U.S. doubles champion, who has been a vegetarian for 25 years.

Look and feel good 

Lacey Goldstein, 29, an American who is teaching in China, became a vegetarian six years ago after she took a 30-day detoxification program with fruit juices, raw foods and vegetables to lose weight. She feels a vegetarian lifestyle is especially good for females.

"In the beginning, the results [are] really dramatic. The more the food is processed, [the more] nutrients are lost. As fruits and vegetables come from the earth and are more natural, [when] you have more nutrients in your body, your skin is getting better, digestion is better and your body is working properly. For the 30 days, I cleaned up my body and [now] just cannot go back to eating meat," she told ChinAfrica.

American Virginia Hunt, 33, gave up eating meat for health reasons in college 13 years ago, after reading an article about the way meat was processed in The New York Times. "They add carbon monoxide in beef to make it look good, and you know too much carbon monoxide can kill people. So I stopped [eating meat] and this lifestyle makes me feel younger," she said.

Cui Lan, a Chinese office worker, feels the same. "I feel lighter, more relaxed, have more energy, and my temper becomes calmer. After I eat, I don't feel tired, because there are no chemicals in my body and I don't have to fight with the toxins," she said.