Meatless diet is focus of VegFest conference in Dubai

Sandhya Prakash, founder of Middle East Vegetarian Group, with Marly Winckler, chairwoman of the International Vegetarian Union, in Dubai for the VegFest. Reem Mohammed / The National

DUBAI // The threat of Ebola in the West African country of Ghana has sent a major global vegetarian conference Dubai’s way.

The 42nd World VegFest, a three-day conference and exhibition of all things non-meat, starts on Tuesday at the Dubai Exhibition Centre.

VegFest will feature 30 international experts speaking on topics ranging from the effect cattle-rearing is having on the Amazon rainforest to detoxing through drinking juice.

“It’s a noble cause because the fundamentals of vegetarianism are so important for the planet, for the health of the people and also, of course, for the animals,” said Marly Winckler, chairwoman of the International Vegetarian Union, who lives in Brazil.

Entrance to VegFest is free.

There will also be chefs demonstrating how to prepare vegetarian and raw meals and samples will be available from exhibitors on site.

Entry to VegFest is free and it is being held concurrently with the Middle East Natural and Organic Products Expo, which features more than 100 companies offering exhibits ranging from natural cosmetics to healing products.

The event aims to raise awareness not only of the health benefits of a plant-based diet, but also the environmental and global impacts, said Mrs Winckler.

She said that since she became a vegetarian as a young adult, many of the illnesses she used to suffer from have disappeared.

“I feel more protected from any kind of illness. I used to get a lot of headaches and would catch colds and everything like that, but nevermore,” said Mrs Winckler. “It’s very good for health maintenance.”

The conference will introduce a campaign called Meatless Mondays, aimed at getting the public to cut meat from their meals once a week.

Sandhya Prakash, founder of the Middle East Vegetarian Group (Meveg), acknowledged that meat was a significant part of the Middle Eastern culture and cuisine.

But Mrs Prakash said that considering the increasing incidence of obesity and diabetes in the UAE, it should not be practised at the expense of one’s health.

“I think the health aspect is so overriding right now that the cultural and family aspect is actually breaking at the seams because the amount of attention they need to pay to a diabetic patient,” she said.

“The entire family is affected by all of this … you have to open your eyes.”

Mrs Prakash has also given up all dairy foods, and said she noticed dramatic differences in her health 90 days after she cut them from her diet.

“I could actually see the effects on my body,” she said. “I can tell you I feel much lighter.”

Mrs Prakash, 45, who is from India, grew up on a vegetarian diet but decided stop eating dairy foods because she was concerned about the effect the hormones in milk products were having on her body.

“When you give that up, it is not that tough,” she said. “There is almond milk, rice milk, quinoa milk, cashew milk, coconut milk, soya milk and I was amazed to see it’s not as if you cannot replace dairy milk with something that comes from plant-based food.”

As yet, there have been no officially-recorded cases of Ebola in Ghana.