WE CAUGHT up with Davina Goh who was finishing up her lunch at Sala, a vegan restaurant located in Desa Sri Hartamas, Kuala Lumpur.
Veganism has become more than a passing trend, with more and more people are moving towards plant-based diets.
This is evident as more and more eateries are beginning to offer vegan food on the menu, or even going fully vegan.
Goh who is an actress, emcee, radio presenter and now a vegan lifestyle advocate, is also well known for her aptly-named website Davina Da Vegan.
Reflecting on how her journey started, Goh said: “As a child I always felt [I had an] incongruous way of life. I loved animals but I didn’t understand why we were eating them, other than it was seen as a normal thing to do.”
When she was about ten, she visited her grandfather’s home in Muar, Johor during Chinese New Year, where she saw a chicken with its feet connected with a rope to prevent it from wandering too far.
“I thought it was a pet – until it ended up on the kitchen table the next day. I did not know it was the same chicken until my mum or dad told me.”
This incident struck something in Goh.
“When you are bombarded with happy chicken pictures in restaurants, it puts a hood over your eyes about what it means to eat something that was alive.
“It was a very gradual transition [to veganism], because I only experimented with vegetarian food while I was in college because I had a bit more independence. I could go to a shop and order vegetarian meals.”
Her parents, who came from the ‘healthy diet includes meat’ school of thought were none too happy with their daughter’s new dietary preferences.
Nonetheless, she first stopped eating beef at age 16 (about 20 years ago), and slowly did away with other red meats, white meats and seafood.
“It was a blessing in disguise that I did not go fully vegetarian right away. I was glad I was given the chance to prepare myself properly.”
This included reading up on the subject and watching documentaries to find out how people follow this diet properly.
Goh regaled us with how she went through a mock meat phase, which ended up making her put on weight. “I was eating so much mock meat because I thought it was healthy. That was probably the only unhealthy phase I had. It was only when I learned about healthy eating that I noticed a change.”
By 2012, Goh had turned fully vegetarian. “I was pescetarian for a couple of years, so when I turned vegetarian it was really easy. When I was vegetarian, the one thing I noticed within the first couple of months was that I stopped getting sick so often. I was prone to colds and the flu every couple of months, and had to go to the doctor.
“During the first six months of being vegetarian, I noticed I hadn’t [needed to visit] the doctor. The only thing I changed in my life was my diet. I also noticed I stopped falling asleep at work. (Goh was prone to taking power naps in the toilet during lunch before that.)
“I also observed I had more energy. So I thought: ‘What can I do with all this energy?’ and so I started running in the morning.
“Strangely for me, my fitness journey started when I turned vegetarian. It blew my mind. My parents and people around me said I need meat to have my energy. That was not the case at all.”
Her dietary discoveries did not end there. She became lactose intolerant, causing her to look up more nitty-gritty details on nutrition.
“I never expected to go vegetarian, I never expected to go vegan. So when I became vegan four years ago, it gave me the energy and stamina to undertake activities I had never thought of doing, such open water swimming.”
At the time, restaurants selling vegan food were few and far between, so Goh started cooking her own food.
“I started with vegetarian recipe books, then moved on to vegan recipe books and vegan blogs.” She particularly loves The Minimalist Baker and Chocolate Covered Katie.
But cooking locally-inspired vegan food was another matter.
She explained: “When I started Davina Da Vegan in 2016 on Facebook, I was just posting up pictures of food that I was making.”
She was sharing recipes and even made a video about where we get our proteins from, which went viral.
Local celebrity Sarah Lian (also an actress and entrepreneur) saw the video, and suggested Goh turn her cooking into a career, and not just a hobby.
“She suggested that we not just follow the Western idea of what it means to be vegan, and use the opportunity to show what it is like to be a vegan in Malaysia and share Malaysian-inspired recipes instead of burgers and pizzas.
“It was a decision that cemented my [mission] as a Malaysian plant-based lifestyle advocate.”
However, she stops short of calling herself a celebrity chef.
“I don’t see myself as a celebrity, or a chef. I just happen to like cooking. I don’t know if I am good at it, but what I am presenting is something new and refreshing.
“And I am so blessed to have a community that is so supportive.”
