Nepal Now: On the Move
We're talking with the people migrating from, to, and within this Himalayan country located between China and India. You'll hear from a wide range of Nepali men and women who have chosen to leave the country for better work or education opportunities. Their stories will help you understand what drives people — in Nepal and worldwide — to mortgage their property or borrow huge sums of money to go abroad, often leaving their loved ones behind.
Despite many predictions, migration from Nepal has not slowed in recent years, except briefly during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. About 1 million Nepalis leave every year to work at jobs outside the country. Tens of thousands go abroad to study. Far fewer return to Nepal to settle. The money ('remittances') that workers send home to their families accounts for 25% of the country's GDP, but migration impacts Nepal in many other ways. We'll be learning from migrants, experts and others about the many cultural, social, economic and political impacts of migration.
Your host is Marty Logan, a Canadian journalist who has lived in Nepal's capital Kathmandu off and on since 2005. Marty started the show in 2020 as Nepal Now.
Nepal Now: On the Move
Younger generation turns to veganism in Nepal
What do you think? Send us a text
When I was thinking about the topic of today’s episode, veganism in Nepal, it seemed oddly out of place. It’s not that being vegan is new in Nepal—historically many Hindus and Buddhists have not eaten meat or dairy products—but I was associating veganism with the emerging movement in the west, which probably more than anything else reveals the overwhelming reach of western culture. Of course, the basic diet is the same, but there are similarities and differences, noted in my chat with Suresh Prasad Sharma, Chair of the World Vegan Organisation—Nepal.
Both here and abroad the new wave of veganism is being led by young people, and shared and promoted on social media. It has various motivations globally: to eat more healthily, to reduce the impact on the planet of a diet that includes meat and dairy, and to prevent cruelty to animals. For Suresh, this last point is what transformed him from being a vegetarian into a vegan: the treatment of dairy cows. Somehow I naively thought that in Nepal the cow—which is worshipped by Hindus and protected in law—was always pampered by loving farmers on small family farms. According to Suresh that’s far from the truth.
One major difference between being vegan in Nepal and say in my home country, Canada, is that made-for-vegan products are hard to find. The ones that do exist can be out of the price range of many people who are contemplating giving up meat and dairy. Suresh says that work has begun to start making products like non-dairy milk and cheese, along with mock meat, in Nepal. Perhaps the project will have progressed so that these vegan substitutes will be on display at the Himalayan Vegan Festival , scheduled for September in Kathmandu and Bhutan. In any case, one thing that I like about this episode is that it contains lots of practical information about being, or becoming, vegan in Nepal.
A couple of notes before we start:
-Suresh mentions the word ‘ahimsa’ near the end of the episode, when discussing the Buddha and tourism. It is the Nepali word for non-violence.
-Also, earlier in our chat we discuss the number of Nepali vegans who are not getting vaccinated for Covid-19. Animal testing of vaccines is one reason for that opposition, says Suresh. Afterwards I confirmed that animal testing of vaccines did occur. I’ve put a few links to that info in the Resources section.
What do you think? Are you vegan, or thinking about making the move? Let us know if this chat was helpful and if you have any follow-up questions. You can find Nepal Now, or Nepal Now pod, on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
My name is Marty Logan. I’m a long-time vegetarian but now thinking again about going vegan. I produce Nepal Now and I’ll talk to you again soon.
Resources
World Vegan Organisation—Nepal
Online Khabar article on veganism in Nepal
Animal testing of Covid-19 vaccines
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Music by audionautix.com.
Thank you to Himal Media in Patan Dhoka for the use of their studio.
