Imperfect Vegan Newsletter #001

Hi there!

Welcome to the first edition of the Imperfect Vegan Newsletter. I am really excited to have you here. As promised this is going to be your resource for the best vegan recipes, vegan news, nutrition tips and anything exciting happening in this space. Make sure you stick around, this is going to be a fun ride!

Do you find it difficult to find vegan food when you’re eating out?

With these 5 tips you will be able actually enjoy your outing instead of being constantly stressed.

1. Preview the Menu: Look at the restaurant's food choices online before you go. Zomato is a great tool for looking up restaurant menus.

2. Become “That customer”: It’s totally ok to ask the waiter politely about the dishes. If they don’t understand the term “vegan” you can specify and say “no milk, no egg, no meat”.

3. Know the Sneaky Ingredients: It is very common for items to be cooked in butter. A lot of Indian restaurants even add ghee. Items like naan have milk or egg in them. Milk powder is another sneaky ingredients that is in a lot of dishes.

4. Choose Vegan-Friendly Cuisines: Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese- most Asian vegetarian dishes are vegan as they don’t use ghee or butter. They use a lot of coconut milk which is totally “A-Ok” for us!

   South Indian cuisine is also very vegan friendly, just specify “no ghee”. Idli, dosa, sambhar, rice dishes, chutneys are all vegan friendly.

5. Eat a bite before you go: This is my favourite tip: Eat a nutritious snack or a small meal before leaving. That way you’re not starving if there’s nothing and french fries is always an option! Remember, you’re going out to enjoy your time with friends and family and its ok to not have that “perfect” meal.

The best vegan market in India- “Namu Recommends Vegan Market” is back and we Bangaloreans are lucky enough to have this happening in our city! Make sure to drop by this weekend if you are in Bangalore. The venue is beautiful with free entry and free parking. There are going to be about 100 brands showcasing their best vegan products. You don’t want to miss this. I will be attending too- make sure to say “Hi” if you spot me :)

I just attended a Smart Protein Forum at Trans Disciplinary University, Bangalore. They are a private owned University in Bangalore whose goal is to combine the wisdom and experience of Ayurveda with the latest technology and science. Pretty cool right? It was a day long forum focusing on “Smart Proteins”. The Forum had experts from different industries talking about the need to switch to plant based proteins, especially if we want to feed our growing population.

Click on the link to watch the recorded event. It was a super inspiring day, I got to meet people in the food tech space, representatives of large companies like Reliance & Tata talking about why they’ve recently introduced plant-based meats and what the trends are for the plant-based food industry. It’s safe to say plant-based is not the future but the present! Click on the link if you want to watch the entire forum- it’s definitely worth it!

Thank you once again for subscribing. I am excited to have you on this journey with me! The newsletter will be sent every Thursday so look out for it in your inbox.

See you then!

Love,

Aashti