For the past year, more consumers are choosing to eat vegetarian and vegan meals. Resturants that once had elaborately packed meat-heavy menus, are now adding plant-based dishes or changing their standards completely. With that being said, it’s still a huge deal (and a celebratory moment) when restaurants ditch meat! Today, we’re congratulating Sabay Vegilicious, who recently stopped producing dog meat, and turned into a vegan establishment!

Cambodian eateries are still big on dog meat. Sim Bonith, manager at Sabay Vegilicious, said, “Dog meat is very popular among Cambodians. We estimated that at least 60 percent of all Cambodians have consumed and/or consumes dog meat – and the prevalence of such practice is on the rise.”

For five years they sold dog meat from their kitchen.

When owners Soksyna and Mong met with Marc Ching from the Animal Hope and Wellness Foundation, they had a change of heart. They said, “We wanted to put an end to the slaughter, while at the same time, make a decent living for our family; so, we decided to go ahead and open a plant-based restaurant.”

Now on their menu, you’ll find tasty vegan dishes like deep fried mock beef, pate salads, vegetable spaghetti, Singapore fried noodles, red curry soup, locally made tempeh plates, stir-fry tofu and eggplant and more.

Congratulations, Vegilicious!

Want to make some similar dishes at home?

With these recipes from our Food Monster App, you can enjoy delicious meals, meat-free.

Goan ‘Beef’ Curry

This Goan ‘Beef’ Curry is a good dish to serve when you need to please different palates, including carnivorous ones. Plus, it’s so filling!

Red Curry Soup With Lentils 

This flavorful Red Curry Soup With Lentils is simply perfect. Serve this very slurp-able soup with large soup spoons. For a brothy soup, add more coconut milk or water.

Crispy Tofu Vegetable Stir-Fry

You can’t really go wrong with a crunchy tofu recipe, so enjoy a Crispy Tofu Vegetable Stir-Fry. It’s super easy to make, perfect over a bed of rice, and you’ll have plenty of leftovers, too!

You can find them at Sabay Vegilicious on Street 288, Phnom Penh.

Also, make sure you look to these 5 Organizations Working to Rescue Dogs From the Meat Trade.

If you enjoy great news and meat-inspired vegan recipes like this, we highly recommend downloading the Food Monster App, it’s available for both Android and iPhone and has free and paid versions. The app is loaded with thousands of allergy-friendly & vegan recipes/cooking tips, has hundreds of search filters and features like bookmarking, meal plans and more!

Lead image source: Sabay Vegilicious/Facebook