Written by Gina Song Lopez
Image credit: Photo by the author. No Meat Festival 12.0 in April 2025.
With the recent mainstreaming of plant-based lifestyles and growing social mobilisation on animal issues, Taiwan not only stands out but also deserves far more attention as a key site for understanding the rise of veganism in East Asia and its distinct features within the global vegan movement.
To begin with, veg*n foods and diets (inclusive of vegetarian and vegan) are generally quite accessible in Taiwan due to the social prevalence of Buddhist vegetarianism and Daoist fasting practices. In fact, Taiwan’s capital, Taipei, has been internationally recognised for its vegan-friendly food scene by media outlets like CNN Travel and international organisations like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
Based on this socio-cultural background, it is not surprising that most of the research that has touched upon Taiwan’s veg*n setting has often been coupled with discussions on religious history and practices. For example, in relation to the work of socially engaged Buddhist groups and their eco-spiritual leanings, or in connection with the evolution of groups like Yiguandao. On occasion, veg*n foods and diets have also been noted as part of broader ethical consumption or sustainable food movements.
Taiwan also features a solid contemporary history of animal advocacy that has developed in tandem with its own democratic path. This is well illustrated in the work of the Life Conservationist Association (LCA) and the Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan (EAST), which have been leading the public conversation on animal ethics since the 1990s. These organisations have played important roles in improving the status of animals in Taiwan, including the enactment and subsequent amendments to the Animal Protection Act.
After the sunflowers
Amidst the various societal shifts that followed the Sunflower movement, increased concern over animal issues and the emergence of new approaches to meatless diets are developments of particular note. To be clear, it is not that the sunflower movement caused the emergence of veganism in Taiwan. Rather, politically awakened youth and a receptive social context reshaped Taiwan’s social movement landscape, creating the conditions for novel problematisations, long-marginalised issues, and other issue intersections to enter the broader public sphere.
The rise of a ‘new’ generation of actors actively promoting veganism as a concept and practice since the mid-to-late 2010s illustrates this. This younger cohort of advocates helped launch contemporary veganism by advancing clearly articulated narratives of animal justice, climate action, and public health. As such, they also distanced their distinct approach to meatless diets and foods from traditionally religious precepts. Ultimately, this process was facilitated by the opening of new spaces for group mobilisation and individual engagement via the work of new NGOs such as the Taiwan Animal Equality Association (TAEA) and Kindness to Animals (KITA), by foregrounding ethical consumption through vegan fairs such as the Taiwan Vegan Frenzy (TVF) and the No Meat Festival (NMF), and by making use of digital platforms in the case of new media actors such as Traveggo, GoVegan, and Veggie Deer.
Here, it is important to note that while the inception of veganism in Taiwan aligns with the worldwide expansion of veganism and plant-based food products, the rise of Taiwan’s new vegan movement is not simply a Western import. It is a story of how ideas travel and become translated by local actors, the role of technology in the further diffusion and adoption of such ideas, and how they come to inform as well as become informed by generational change.
Image credit: Photo by the author. Taiwan Vegan Frenzy event for Earth Day in 2025.
To begin with, advocates have certainly been inspired by international developments and brought home the concepts and tactics encountered abroad. This is well noted in the life stories of individual activists, the translation work of important pieces of vegan literature such as Tobias Leenaert’s How to Create a Vegan World into Chinese, the hosting of events like the Center for Effective Vegan Advocacy (CEVA) workshop, and the work of vegan content creators making veganism accessible and identifiable via local vegan restaurant features, plant-based product reviews, and instructional cooking videos.
However, considerable nuances also involve cultural translation, strategic adaptations, and syncretisation of motivations and identities between the local and the global. In this regard, a main socio-cultural challenge for Taiwan’s vegan movement has not really been gaining wider acceptance of meatless lifestyles, as in other parts of the world. Rather, it has become a matter of establishing conceptual equivalence, differentiation, or continuity between the terms ‘vegan’ and su’shi (素食). These debates also highlight both the diversity of identities that exists within the movement and the ongoing generational change in Taiwan. Whereas meatless eating was once largely stereotyped as the domain of monks, nuns and religiously pious elders, it is being recast as young, diverse, as well as increasingly individual and distinctively subjective.
Looking at Taiwan’s vegan futures
While earlier vegan advocacy can be characterised by its grassroots animal rights-focused ‘do it yourself’ (DIY) efforts, a sector of the movement has also grown to engage with policy processes connected to Taiwan’s sustainable development goals. This is well illustrated by the 2023 Earth Day parade organised by Taiwan’s Meat-Free Monday Network (MFM), which drew about 2000 people from across the meatless food advocacy spectrum calling for greater governmental action to facilitate the transition toward low-carbon plant-based diets and meet the targets set out by the Climate Change Response Act. This parade not only resulted in a widely attended public hearing where various groups came together to put plant-based food and diets on the public agenda; it jump-started a series of events that more recently has resulted in discussions surrounding the formulation of a National Plant-based Diet Action Plan, as well as updating Taiwan’s vegetarian food labelling to align with international standards.
Though these recent developments highlight the rapid evolution and professionalisation of Taiwan’s vegan movement, it is important to note that this is a phenomenon still in the making. The landscape of vegan advocacy continues to shift; some actors have moved toward more radical approaches to demonstrate and draw attention to the plight of animals slaughtered for food, while others are seeking to broaden the conversation beyond plant-based diets to address other social justice intersections. This last point is perhaps best illustrated by last year’s release of the Chinese translation of Carol J. Adam’s The Pornography of Meat (肉食色情論) by TAEA, which is based on her pioneering work examining the connections between the sexual objectification of women and the consumption of animals.
All the while, Taiwan’s veg*n foodscape is becoming increasingly rich and dynamic. Many of its vegan, vegetarian, and plant-based offerings have gained recognition from respected international dining outlets such as the Michelin Guide, while programmes such as TaiwanPlus’ Veggie Island are bringing Taiwan’s evolving meatless food culture to international audiences. Yet what is taking shape in Taiwan is clearly a phenomenon that goes beyond its exciting dining scene and is closely tied to a changing social landscape and the work of vegan advocates, vegan fairs, and new media actors. Ultimately, these different developments make Taiwan’s distinct approaches to veganism not only deserving of further attention but also suggest several paths for further inquiry.
Gina Song Lopez is a lecturer at the Centre for East and Southeast Asian Studies at Lund University. Her recently completed doctoral project focused on the rise of the vegan advocacy movements in Taiwan and China. She is also a member of the Lund University Critical Animal Studies Institute (LUCASI).
This article was published as part of the special issue on IJTS Research Article Competition Winners.