Diary 16: Vegetarians at A Typical Chinese Wedding Dinner

24 Jan 2010. My family attended my nephew’s wedding dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Kuala Lumpur. This was one of the rare occasions as we normally only attend wedding dinners of relatives. Not that we are anti-social. Rather, we do not see the necessity of attending wedding dinners practically every week as invited by colleagues and normal friends. The energy and time could be better utilized for something else.

In any case, of the 14 tables served during this special Chinese wedding dinner, one was for the vegetarians. This reflects the situation of Chinese who are vegetarians in Malaysia. In other words, of the estimated 1350 people attending the wedding dinner, only 9 (1%) are full time vegetarians. We looked around and found that many of the elders do not seem to have good health. This is to be expected.

At the vegetarian table, Mr Liew, a close friend of my brother-in-law, was sitting next to me. He became a vegetarian about 15 years ago, for religious reason. So, he was our peer group in terms of becoming full time vegetarians. The other three full time vegetarians were Mei Lan (village mate from Air Jernih in Terengganu), her daughter and son-in-law. Mei Lan was into full time vegetarian about 25 years ago. She is my senior, to be saluted.

Mei Lan was enthusiastic to share the good side of becoming vegetarians. One looks younger. One has little pimples. One skin is smooth. Of course, vegetarians are generally healthy compared to the non-vegetarians.

Well, I personally hope more people would become vegetarians one day to ensure healthier living.