If you’re a diehard vegetarian who can’t bear the smell of cooked meat, or even the thought of living near someone who likes to consume meat, you’ll soon be able to move into a vegetarian-only apartment complex in Russia.
Veda Village, an ongoing construction project in the suburbs of St. Petersburg, Russia, was designed for vegetarians looking to practice a healthy and ethical lifestyle in a community of like-minded people. The first and most important requirement to buy or rent an apartment here is to be a vegetarian. Clients will undergo interviews with sales agents, and if they fail to convince them that they are true vegetarians, their application will get denied. But a meat-free diet is not the only thing required to earn a place in Veda Village. According to developers, smoking and the consumption of alcohol in the residential complex are also prohibited.
Photo: Veda Village/Instagram
“The main thing about this complex is an opportunity to live and evolve together with like-minded people,” Maya Podlipskaya, manager of Veda Village, told Russian news agency TASS. “If you are a vegetarian, you are welcome.”
Veda Village aims to become a sustainable community whose residents will become self-sufficient in terms of energy, water, waste treatment, and food production. The apartment complex will feature a yoga centre, gym, spa, shops, day-care facility, education center, as well as a vegetarian restaurant.
Photo: Veda Village/Instagram
Two of the seven multi-floor apartment buildings in Veda Village have already been completed, with another scheduled to be finished early next year. The entire complex will be be able to host up to 210 families.
Veda Village is the first vegetarian residential complex in Russia, but apparently not the only one in the world. In India, demand for such developments dates back to the early 2000s, with the first one being built in Chennai, in 2012. They too require potential buyers to be strict vegetarians.
While health-conscious vegetarians are in awe about Veda Village, due to the many restrictions imposed by developers, it has been labeled by some as the most boring place in the world to live.