Green Business
Anuradha Sawhney, who is credited with establishing PETA in India, on her vegan sweets venture, and more…
Q: What made you get into vegan food line in particular and sweets in general?
After retiring from serving as the head of PETA India for over 9 years, I -of course- still wanted to help animals. And so, I first put together a celebrity vegan cookbook, where over 50 celebrities from Bollywood and the fashion industry gave me vegan recipes. Then I started a vegan bakery since there was a big gap in the market for vegan cakes. Next was a plant-based cheese by the brand name ‘Bombay Cheese Company’. My latest venture has been ‘Meethi Kahani’, which consists of mainstay sweets, but made without dairy. I sell barfis, pedas, laddus, jalebi, katli, mathri and so much more. There is a dearth of good quality dairy-free sweets in the country. Website is www.meethikahani.com
Q: What is special about vegan sweets?
The best thing about my vegan mithai is that one can consume them knowing that no baby calf was deprived of its rightful share of milk, and no cow was made to stand for hours on end with milking machines attached to her udders, just so people could consume milk. Cruelty aspects aside, much of the milk being sold in India is highly adulterated. The adulterants that are added to milk are many, from earthworm slime to detergents, caustic soda, dirty gutter water, pus, and blood (from the udders due to the constant milking the cow is subjected to), and oxytocin.
Q: What major challenges you faced in setting up this business and how did you overcome them?
People in India have always considered a cow as their mother, and believe that drinking her milk (which is meant for her babies) gives them divine blessings. Traditionally the first roti of the day used to be fed to the cow. But times have changed now. Cows and calves are mistreated terribly and deprived of natural life, milk adulteration is on the rise, and the protein in milk has been linked to all types of cancers and diabetes. Slowly, people are realising this and are giving up dairy.
Q: Are you in a comfort zone now or are there miles to achieve still?
Anyone who stands up for animals can never sleep. As long as there are animals being ill-treated, I will continue helping them.
Q: Being a hardcore animal welfare person, was it difficult to cut yourself off and adopt a different field?
I was and still am a 'hardcore' animal rights believer. And no, I haven't cut myself off, I am still helping animals have rights, albeit from a different side. As PETA says, animals are not ours to eat, to wear, to experiment upon, or to use for entertainment.
Q: What is your advice to those who want to trod on your path as well?
India is a very large country. The number of animals that are used for food and in the dairy industry is the largest and growing daily. Stand up for animals, they have no one else to stand up for them. Start vegan businesses, and teach people the health benefits of turning vegan.
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