It's Friday afternoon at the Venetian Macao hotel's Portofino restaurant, and on the terrace a handful of chefs in white uniforms are preparing the casino hub's famous pork chop bun for waiting guests.

But today, the bun has a difference. As guests dive in, they're biting not into pork but into a vegan pattie created to mimic pork's taste and feel.

In a region where pork is king — it is the favored meat in most dishes — switching diets to a tasty vegetable substitute could be a major way to curb climate change, experts say.