A Taitung mom turns her love for her child into 20 kinds of vegetarian dishes — a countryside vegan restaurant opens

Text and photos by25°C Blank

Sometimes I wonder, how hard is it to change someone’s eating habits? These days, most kids dislike vegetables and only like meat or fried fast food. If one day your own child tells you, “I want to be vegetarian — eating vegetarian saves the Earth,” this mother, because of something her child said to her — “Mom, can we go vegetarian? Vegetarianism saves the Earth” — decided to make a change.

Originally working in meat-based cooking, she immediately and wholeheartedly supported her child’s idea. After all, if it was the child who took the initiative to choose healthy vegetarianism, how could any parent not support that? And even more so, it was a mother’s love for her child.

From then on, this mother began transforming her skills in meat-based cooking into vegetarian cuisine and creativity. In order for her child not to have a monotonous vegetable-only diet, but to enjoy the deliciousness of various vegetarian dishes, she started developing various methods — ensuring that the child could eat healthily without sacrificing flavor. Eventually, she honed her vegetarian cooking skills. With encouragement from many, she was able to let everyone enjoy healthy and delicious vegetarian food. This little shop finally opened, named “The Vegetarian Boy,” as that was exactly how the whole family began their vegetarian journey.

This mother, whom everyone calls Sister Ruiyun, runs this small vegetarian eatery tucked away in the lovely alleys of Guanshan. When her child and relatives encouraged her to open a shop, she didn’t particularly think about looking for a separate storefront. She thought using her own yard as a small restaurant would be fine. So she casually said to her son, “Why don’t you help me design the yard into a restaurant, and then I’ll open the shop.” Unexpectedly, her son immediately worked magic, turning the family yard into the lovely place it is today. And so, The Vegetarian Boy really did open for business — offering a menu-free dining experience full of vegetarian delights and Sister Ruiyun’s love for her child.

Sister Ruiyun says that when you come to The Vegetarian Boy, you will definitely get to eat at least twenty different kinds of fruits and vegetables. Isn’t it usually said that five servings of fruits and vegetables a day are enough? But here you can have over twenty. As for which fruits and vegetables you’ll get or how they’re served, it depends on the seasonal or daily offerings. Sister Ruiyun also has farmland where she grows her own produce. Since it’s originally meant for the family to eat, there’s naturally no pesticide use. So about 30% of the ingredients at The Vegetarian Boy come from her own farm, while the other 70% are purchased from the Guanshan market.

Sister Ruiyun explained why she doesn’t call herself a vegetarian restaurant, but rather a fruit and vegetable restaurant. Because vegetarian food often includes a lot of processed items, which honestly aren’t very healthy. Fruits and vegetables, on the other hand, are all fresh produce. Moreover, in order to get her child to love fruits and vegetables, she thought up many cooking techniques, just to make you realize that vegetarian food can actually be this delicious.

That day, I had their set meal, where the dishes were served one by one — appetizers, salads, soups, main courses, and so on, just like a fine-dining experience. And truly, every dish was packed with fruits and vegetables. Even the salad dressing was made by squeezing fruit — natural and healthy.

The cooking is light but each dish brings out the true flavor of the ingredients.

Some people might feel that after eating vegetarian food, they feel empty, but probably because the portions are so generous, you actually feel very satisfied afterward. Sister Ruiyun says, “You must eat your fill here. Otherwise, vegetarian food digests quickly, and you might get hungry again later.” I’m just an ordinary person. After returning to downtown Taitung, I actually went out to buy midnight snacks again at ten o’clock. Haha.

The Vegetarian Boy isn’t just about vegetarian food — it’s also about comfort. It offers travelers in Taitung a new dining option, featuring healthy recipes full of a mother’s love for her child, making you feel not just well-fed, but also right at home.

Guanshan Vegetarian Boy
Pricing: NT$280–380
Reservation phone: 089-814320 / 0921814320
Address: No. 6, Bade Rd., Fengquan Li, Guanshan Township, Taitung County

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