Program Overview: The Good Food Fund (GFF) – a Chinese non-profit promoting sustainable food systems – is the China partner of the Meatless Monday campaign. GFF has always believed that chefs can play a significant role in transforming the food system – as leaders, thinkers, and innovators. However, that belief has not traditionally been shared by many of China’s chefs. That’s where Chef Li Yan comes in. In 2020, he participated in two GFF-related activities: First, he organized sharing sessions at a Western-style restaurant in Guangzhou to promote the Good Food concept. Then, he developed plant-based menus that he showcased on four episodes of GFF’s broadcast called “Good Food – Mama’s Kitchen.” These experiences set Li Yan on a path that led to co-founding a restaurant in Yunnan Province that is an authorized partner of the Meatless Monday campaign in China.
Objectives: Li and his partner, A Niu, opened Xiao Lou Restaurant in 2021 in the ancient city of Dali. They wanted the new enterprise to be guided by GFF’s “Good Food Pledge,” which serves as a framework for food system reform that the public can support. Meatless Monday dovetailed well with the goals of the Pledge, particularly its emphasis on plant-forward eating and its benefits for individual and planetary health. The restaurant wanted to practice Meatless Monday to allow the public to accept more healthy and sustainable foods, thus contributing to human health, climate change mitigation, environmental protection, and animal welfare.
Process: Li and A Niu have put significant effort into developing innovative dishes that showcase plant-based diets and continually refine them to maintain public interest. They also source meat from local non-industrialized farmers, and plant ingredients from local small farmers, including natural farming practitioners.
The chefs use natural spices and herbs instead of artificial seasonings and make their curry, burger buns and other items in-house.
Outcome: In the early stages of promoting Meatless Monday, Xiao Lou was up against the public’s inherent preference for meat and misunderstandings about the motivations behind Meatless Monday.
In its first year of Meatless Monday, Xiao Lou lost many regular customers, as they generally did not recognize or accept the concept. Initially, some guests believed the restaurant only offered vegetarian food on Mondays because the owner was Buddhist, while others thought it was a marketing gimmick. When customers saw he offered only plant-based meals on Mondays, most would leave.
Xiao Lou soldiered on and eventually won greater acceptance of Meatless Monday by continually evolving its plant-based dishes and through savvy use of social media. Every Monday on its official WeChat group, the restaurant shares plant-based recipes and information about Meatless Monday's environmental, health, and sustainability benefits.
Li has also influenced other Chinese chefs, in part by participating in two “low-carbon cooking” workshops at Peking University where he demonstrated plant-based dishes and explained the design concepts behind them. He also described the journey of founding Xiao Lou and his insights on sustainable and healthy cooking.
As of 2024, Xiao Lou is in its third year of operation and has accumulated a stable customer base. The next major challenges are attracting a broader customer base and promoting Meatless Monday on a larger scale.
