Sylph O’ The Green

The Vegan View

• Say no to meat because the animals are bred in unsanitary conditions. Cattle legs are often cut off during transportation, to fit more in.
• Say no to dairy because it’s unethical; it can involve injecting cattle with hormones to increase milk production
• A meat-free diet lowers blood pressure, cholesterol, the risk of strokes, chances of obesity
• Eating meat contributes to pollution, uses more land, water and energy, leads to deforestation

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There are a growing number of other young urban Indians out there who have turned their back not just on childhood favourites like butter chicken and fish curry, but also dal makhni, ghee-spattered rotis and creamy shahi paneer. All of 23, Sneha Poojary, a Mangalorean living in Mumbai, was reared on a seafood diet—but you wouldn’t think so from the courage of her vegan convictions. “Being vegetarian isn’t enough, consuming milk contributes to the unethical farming of cattle,” says this avid organiser of vegan pot-luck dinners, busy building a vegan community in Mumbai through blogs and social networking sites. When in campaign mode, she can hold forth at length on the cruelties involved in dairy and poultry farming.

Lurking behind the allure of veganism for young people are a host of factors, ranging from animal love to health concerns, advice from spiritual gurus and the fad appeal of star-studded environmental and animal rights campaigns like PETA’s latest, which has actress Lara Dutta covered only in lettuce; or Pamela Anderson’s eye-catching ‘All Animals Have the Same Parts’ advertisement which has her posing in a bikini, her body parts tagged as if by a butcher. Says Manish Jain of Vegan Education Centre, Indore, who receives five to 10 calls a month from young people curious to know more about veganism, “With globalisation and outreach through various media, especially the internet, I see meat-eaters becoming more aware of the source of their food and the suffering attached to it.” There are no confirmed figures on the number of vegans in India, but Jain estimates that four out of five converts are below the age of 30.

Similarly, Sujoy D’Souza, now in his early thirties, turned vegetarian more than six years ago with his wife Karol, who he met in Canada. He was already uncomfortable, he says, with the weight he had put on after adopting a meat-heavy diet while living in the West, and Karol’s vegetarian ways proved decisive for him. After giving up meat, his energy levels shot up, says Sujoy: “A good two hours of badminton on weekends didn’t tire me out any longer.” When the couple moved to Bangalore a few years ago, they found themselves increasingly influenced by campaigns against dairy-farming and decided to turn vegan. As a result, their two-year-old daughter Nikita doesn’t even know what ice-cream is. “We freeze mango pulp and that’s the only ice-cream she knows,” laughs Karol. The idea of a young child growing up without milk would horrify many parents, but not them. “We ground black seed (kalonji) for immunity and sesame seed for calcium and sprinkled it over Nikita’s food,” says Karol. “We even make soya and almond milk at home”.

Dining out, however, is looking up for vegetarians and vegans. Cafe Coffee Day, a chain frequented by young people, has launched a vegan shake (using soy milk and coffee), a popular Mumbai pizzeria has a vegan (i.e. cheese-free) offering on the menu, Delhi eatery Yum Yum Tree’s wheat protein-based mock meat is a hit with diners, including its Vegetarian Peking Duck.

For some, however, the easiest way to adapt is learning to cook. Vasantha Rayalu, a 22-year-old iitian from Hyderabad who turned vegetarian more than a decade ago, and vegan recently, is adept at fixing a meal of aloo gobi when he doesn’t feel like stepping out for south Indian tiffin. Himani, a self-confessed foodie, swears by her shepherd’s pie, which substitutes soya beans for minced meat, while Sneha stands by her vegan gulab jamuns. Even young Manan experiments with vegan cakes and pasta.

Even so, parents—his and others’—are inclined to shake their heads in disapproval at what they see as an extremely restrictive diet. Diet guru and medical doctor Shikha Sharma thinks many of their fears are unfounded. “Any evolved society has to become vegetarian eventually,” she says. “It’s a good, healthy trend, and nutrition can be obtained through items like raagi, sesame seeds, nuts and oilseeds. Children too can do without milk once they are weaned off their mother’s milk.” However, Dr Randeep Guleria of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences treads a more cautious line: “Meat and milk products give us relatively better quality protein and in some cases being vegan can lead to severe deficiencies.” He stresses the importance of B 12 supplements, especially in the case of children who are still growing.

Some children, though, are getting backing for their cause from an unlikely quarter—their own grandparents. Pressed by her mother and father to at least eat fish, 15-year-old Delhi girl Aparajita Amar won support from her vegetarian grandparents, living examples of the health benefits of giving up flesh. Sneha, meanwhile, has managed to get her parents on her side, after their initial hesitation. “Their own health reports have been far better after they began eating less meat. But I doubt if they can give it up completely—it’s too built into their system,” says Sneha. Many young people, coming from families that have consumed flesh, milk and ghee for generations, could say the same. But clearly, it’s ideas that consume them, rather than meat and fish, butter, milk and ghee.