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Hello Chengdu people! I just came in Chengdu like one week ago, and healthy food is really important for me. I am vegan, and I would like to ask, maybe you guys know where to buy like nuts, healthy soy yogurt, milk, stuff like that, which would have really good quality. I was living in Beijing 4 months before, and I understood that need to be careful what you’re eating in China (chuckle)
Thanks ! Beijoss
You might want to try some of the larger grocery stores, like Ito Yokado or Carrefour, they should have everything you need. Both of these places have locations all around Chengdu. I think those are the safest bet for getting good quality for the items you describe.
Ole supermarket is the closest I’ve found to a Whole Foods (US) type place. It’s at the Mix C center on 2nd ring. Prices get pretty high for organic stuff, but worth checking out.
There’s also an Ole under Tai Koo(Gu?) Li at Chunxi Lu behind the IFS.
You can find nuts and yogurt and soy stuff in a lot of places, but it might take a while to figure out which locations have what you’re looking for and at what price. I’ve come across those things in Wal-mart, Carrefour, and the likes. You might also be able to get the laoban at your neighborhood chaoshi to carry it if you tell him you’ll buy it.
I share the same concerns as you, caramelbent. If I buy food from Trust Mart, I stick to eating food that I can identify and know to be healthy: peanuts, oatmeal, and fruit like apples, oranges, etc. I haven’t been able to identify any soy milk thus far.
My recommendations are to start some kombucha on your own (I have scobies if you want), and then, as mentioned above, stick to raw/unprocessed/minimally processed grains, nuts and dates,etc from Carrefour, Trustmart, Metro or other shopping markets that carry quality /imported goods. Or Taobao is quite helpful if you shop online. And several people in this forum have posted links to online local dealers who have quality (even organic perhaps) produce, but I don’t have them on-hand right now. If interested, reply and I’ll try to track them down. Alternatively, you could search the forums and likely track them down that way, as well.
A lot of the packaged nuts like almonds and cashews seem to be loaded with salt and finding unsalted ones is sometimes a bit of a challenge. Most yoghurt seems to be overloaded with sugar so have now resorted to making my own but you can buy a natural yoghurt in some of the western(ised) supermarkets. There are companies who sell organic food (allegedly) but you pay a premium for it. Much of the imported food seems to be overloaded with either salt or sugar to the point where I find it inedible. I generally buy fresh veg in the vegetable markets because supermarket vegetables are best described as “wilted” unless you get lucky. Auchan seems to do reasonable quality meat that is typically packaged rather than pawed.
I don’t even think the soil itself in China is “vegan”. Until the wealthy classes of this country start trending on the luxurious “vegan” concept (which will require a logo), you’re gonna have to DIY or buy imports at 300% cost. Trying to eat “Halal” in this city is equally ridiculous.
Have you considered Portland, Oregon?
I’m thinking of moving to Saudi Arabia myself. I’d like to have a bacon-bloody mary every morning and a pork chop with whiskey/beers every night.
Ole supermarket sells some (pricey) products you may like. Yogurt sold in supermarkets is always loaded with sugar (or sugar replacements), I did not find any plain natural yogurt there. The only option I found is to buy Yak Yogurt from Farmdelivery. This yogurt is handmade in the Tibetan region, and is really just yogurt without any additives. Very yummy! Email them at [email protected] and they will send you an order form. They also sell all kinds of other products so may have more stuff you like. Also check out the blog http://www.market2meal.com/ for good ideas on where to buy products. There is another thread on this forum about organic farms that sell their vegetables either on the farm or as home delivery. Soy milk should be easy to find I guess. Unlike the comments above, I would not only stick to things you know, but start trying out the local grains and products such as the many varieties of tofu, millet and sorghum as well, healthy and available easily. Also, don’t be too stressed about food quality, it’s true there are many food scandals in China but it’s also true that most products are perfectly ok. Looking at how my vegetarian friends have difficulties eating out, I think being vegan would seriously limit your options for eating in (local) restaurants. I don’t think the concept is understood at all.
Buddhists are all vegetarians.
And there are lots of buddhists living in Chengdu.
As a vegan, you gonna enjoy living in this city.
If you ever wanna eat out, Wen Shu Yuan (文殊院) is your best choice.
Most restaurant servers there think they are sinners. Therefore, they volunteer to work there to redeem themselves.
Food there are delicious. All made of beans or vegetables. But taste is really good. I hope you enjoy their food.
actually, not all Chinese buddhists are vegetarians, that’s exactly the problem if you are a vegetarian in China. And vegan is not the same as vegetarian. There are several vegetarian restaurants in and around the buddhist temples.
Buddhists are all vegetarians.
This is definitely not true, Buddha himself was not vegetarian. Most of the Buddhists that I know personally are not vegetarian, in fact.
If you ever wanna eat out, Wen Shu Yuan (文殊院) is your best choice.
I agree, this is a wonderful place to check out. Delicious.
Another option is “vegetarian life” (not sure the Chinese name) on 4th floor @ Platinum Plaza on Ba Bao Jie, one of my favourite restaurants..
First time spotting cottage cheese today! Unfortunately it came with 33% of your daily sodium intake if I’m reading labels correctly. 19.50 for 100-150g @ Metro 😐
Thanks for some of those tips Kim!
Justintochina- I just came across this and that you brew your own kombucha. Any chance I could trade you some milk kefir for a scoby? I PM’d you about it 🙂
My recommendations are to start some kombucha on your own (I have scobies if you want).
Justintochina- See reply above
If your interested in organic food, you can order from one of several companies that will deliver directly to your home. I have been using the same company since 2012 and I’ve been pretty happy with the service. You can buy the fruits/vegetables on the bottom level of the Far Eastern building at Tianfu Square. You can also pay to have it delivered to your home, which is the service that I subscribe to. You can also take a trip to their farm to see the whole operation, if your into that sort’ve thing. They have other expats that volunteer there if your into woofing (work on organic farm) or just want to see it for yourself. One of the managers there speaks a little English, but not much. You can call them at 4006233265 or visit their website http://csa.igarden.cn/.
For those of you who mentioned nuts, I buy unsalted nuts from Costco. They have a distributor in Taiwan and they ship to the Mainland.
For those of you who mentioned nuts, I buy unsalted nuts from Costco. They have a distributor in Taiwan and they ship to the Mainland.
Good look! I didn’t realize that Costco delivered anything in the mainland.
Recently I have been getting nuts and dried fruit from this place on JD.com and can recommend them. Before the national day holiday I ordered a large box of stuff from there, great to have around for snacking.
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