Among all the clutter of No-Shave November and NaNoWriMo posts in social media, I discover the 21-day Vegan Challenge. Though not as popular as the Mannequin Challenge, the global event has been widely promoted by societies such as Go Vegan, The Vegan Society and Animal Aid during November, which also happens to be World Vegan Month. I log on to the Vegan Society website to register for it. After filling in my age and the region as South Asia, I scroll down to see how many animals I would save in the next 50 years if I turned vegan: the automated result shows 78.
A little guilt-ridden by the number of animals I would kill otherwise, I join Chennai-based Facebook community Chennai Vegan Drinks, to interact with those who have renounced meat, dairy and other animal-based products. The over-1,000-strong network serves as a platform to connect local vegans with first-time visitors to the city. Niranjan Amarnath, who started the group in 2011, says “We get enquiries from foreigners who want to know the vegan eateries here, or whether dosa, idli and vada are vegan. We also organise informal meet-ups and potlucks. The next one is scheduled on January 21, 2017, in collaboration with VegVoyages, which organises adventure tours that focus on giving back to society. It is not difficult to survive as a vegan in Chennai; traditionally, South Indian food doesn’t use meat and cheese, and even if you go to any of the cafés today, you have an option to order black coffee or soy milk.” For example, Starbucks has a whole range of soy latte, soy mocha frappuccino, caffe misto with soy, and Cafe Coffee Day’s menu includes a vegan shake.
At The Brew Room, while I decide between vegan banana nut bread and an almond milk smoothie, Niranjan, an HR employee-turned-editor of VegPlanet (a vegan lifestyle magazine set to launch in January) tells me about the activities of the community, which is a branch of a larger global platform. “There is London Vegan Drinks, San Francisco Vegan Drinks, Brisbane Vegan Drinks, and so on… So I thought why not have one for Chennai,” he says, adding, “It includes all kinds of activists — from those who distribute leaflets, screen movies, and chalk messages in public spaces, to those who buy shares in corporates so that they have a say in company policies (and make them animal-friendly).” He recently participated in the first edition of the Ahimsa Festival, a vegan fest in Mumbai.
Koushik Raghavan, an activist who is also a member of Living Free (a campaign initiated by the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations), came to know about the vegan movement while he was still a student pursuing his Masters in Biochemistry at the University of Texas in 2014. “Many in Chennai do not even know what vegan means. In the West, the culture is different. Meat is their staple diet, and slaughterhouses are closed spaces. So when they are exposed to what goes on inside these places, they are more likely to change, unlike in India, where people are already desensitised about cruelty to animals,” says Koushik, who branded himself with a hot iron during one of the campaigns in the US to voice out against livestock branding. “I think from the time we started the Living Free campaign six months ago, the success rate (converting people to veganism) has been close to 20 per cent,” he adds.
The scenario is changing. Now, there are more designers (Baggit and Anita Dongre) vouching for cruelty-free fashion wear, more celebrities (Sonam Kapoor, Kangana Ranaut, Dhanush and Parvathy) who are vegans, more people who are opting for vegan weddings, and many more are now aware that animal agriculture is the number one cause of global warming (according to a report published by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations). “But vegetarians contribute to it as much as the non-vegetarians, because the meat industry is closely linked to the dairy industry. Every cow that stops giving milk is slaughtered for meat,” he adds. “Globally, people are converting to a plant-based diet, which is a healthier diet and requires a lot lesser land and resources. The movement is in full swing in places like Berlin, Portland, Australia and Israel,” says Niranjan, who has travelled to Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos to explore vegan food options. And there are plenty, he finds. For example, cow’s milk can be replaced with that from almonds, peanuts, oats, brown rice, pumpkin seeds and coconut, and cheese can be made using cashews.
I visit a pop-up by Mumbai-based Vegan Bites at Ashvita Nirvana, Besant Nagar, to find out how it tastes. The founders and chefs, Samir Prasad and Hemali Gala, recount the day when they invented their most popular dessert: cookies and cream ice cream. “We have brought up our two children as vegans. One day, my son came back from school looking glum, because his friends teased him saying he cannot eat ice creams because he is vegan. To make him feel better, we concocted an ice cream with coconut milk, natural sugar and cookies,” says Hemali. I eat a spoonful, and it tastes as good as an ice cream can get. I also order the mushroom risotto from the menu that features dishes such as lasagne, zucchini noodles, and pesto pasta. Hot and creamy, it tastes sinful, only it is not. “It is just cashewnut cheese and coconut cream,” says Samir. “We have replicated Mexican, Lebanese and Punjabi cuisine… but there is just one ingredient that we haven’t been able to crack — the hard cheese,” he says.
For those who cannot imagine their pizzas without sliced chicken breasts, Marieen (who runs VeggyTABLE) has brought out a whole range of mock meats. Probably the only one making them in the city, she specialises in vegan mayonnaise (original plain, fresh mint, fresh celery, pepper garlic, chilli jeera) and mock meat nuggets, made using soy protein. “They can be used in burgers, steaks, fried rice, noodles, kati rolls, sandwiches, sausages and samosas,” she says. “Humans are the only species who drink the milk of another species. It is not necessary, and what many do not know is that these animals are injected with growth hormones for increased production of milk. Consumption of this can lead to allergies and in a few cases, cancer,” she adds.
Another alternative is the lab meat, and in the US, companies like Memphis Meats and Perfect Day produce it. “But there is more to veganism than food; it involves a complete change in lifestyle to bring about a change, to break the chains and open the cages,” says Niranjan.
