Veganism the future of food

Veganism is increasingly becoming mainstream across the globe. Vegan food does not include any animal ingredients. Although people consider milk or dairy vegetarian, some say eggs are vegetarian too, they come from animals. If you are a true believer of ahimsa, you would not use animals for your own benefit. This earth belongs to animals as much as it does to us. We have no right to restrict someone's freedom, let alone abuse them for our own purpose.

Today we have vegan alternatives for almost everything, it's a no-brainer; why would someone want to harm a fellow living being when one can live a happy healthy and peaceful life without doing it?

The growing demand of veganism has also brought a rapid increase of the restaurants that serve the vegan foods.

One such vegan store, Plantarium is a one stop shop for all vegan things, starting with vegan alternatives for meat, dairy and ice creams to eco friendly, personal care and home care products that do not use any animal ingredients nor tested on animals.

Deepika, Founder of Plantarium shares, "It's a collective effort and idea of my family to start the store. I always wanted to run a vegan business, either a cafe or a store. The idea of going to a store and not worrying about scanning through the ingredient list of each and every product, searching for hidden meanings all over the internet, sounded wonderful. We all wanted a place like that. Since there was none in the town, we thought of starting it ourselves. We already see the demand for vegan products increase steadily. It's certainly going to grow manifold in the near future."

One can become a vegan by being mindful of their choices. Be it food, clothing or recreation, just pause for a moment and think if the food you eat, or the clothes you wear or the place you go for entertainment involves any animal use or abuse.

Saleena, a 20-year old who works with selection and screening at ADP, has shifted to being a vegan for more than a year now says, "It is always in your power to say no to eating animal products, wearing silk or wool which involves another being's suffering, visiting a zoo or a circus or a tourist spot where animals are caged and held against their will, tortured to perform tricks to entertain people. Just imagine yourself in the place of the animal in question. Would you want that torture for yourself?" However, vegan foods or diet is not just a step towards the decrease of animal cruelty but also helps in making your health and body function much better.

"Understanding the concept was a bigger challenge & I loved it. Plus It helped my body to function much better. Blood pressure got normal plus weight got balanced with a perfectly healthy heart. It was a bit difficult for me to change my diet but no change comes easily. Good things come after a bit of struggle. But it's worth it. Being kind is my thing so is vegan," says Sukirti Michael, a 40 year old yoga instructor, who was a vegetarian by birth but chose to become a vegan around 5 years ago.

While some believe that to make the future of food to change into veganism depends on the mindset of the larger population, some believe that depends on the Government's policies about food chains. Present generation is living a dream of success & working in that way very hard.

Sukirti adds, "Not much time is left for thinking about vegan or not. They eat whatever they get easily available. Which is for sure dairy & meat."

If you are facing trouble going vegan or even staying vegan, try reaching out to the vegan groups in your city. Nowadays pretty much every city has a facebook/whatsapp group led by animal welfare advocates, encouraging and helping newbies in their vegan journeys. 'Hyderabad vegans' is one such Facebook group. Pre- COVID-19, there were regular meetups, potlucks, volunteering opportunities to raise awareness about veganism.

They wish to get back to moving freely so they could resume these kinds of activities soon. Try searching for vegan businesses like vegan stores or cafes in your city, that's a good place to start. You would be surprised to learn how easy it is to be a vegan in today's world!