Vikash Bihani is an environmentalist and a
vegan for animals and the planet. He has worked for the environment and animal
organisations including Greenpeace India and FIAPO (Federation of Indian Animal
Protection Organization). At present, he is the co-founder of Kolkata's first
vegan cafe named "UBUNTU Community Cafe".
How did your vegan journey start?
I am an engineer and quit my job as one in
2013. I joined Greenpeace as a full-time employee after that because my passion
was the environment. During those days, I realised how much plastic we were
using. Right from our toothbrush to our daily use products, we use a huge amount
of plastic. I started the change with myself by using eco-friendly products and
always taking public transport. I have worked on myself a lot. In that journey,
I got to know about how food is affecting our climate. Around 5 years back,
when I got to know about all this, I turned vegan. Nobody used to talk about
that back then. Now the situation is better, the awareness is increasing.
Although I was a lacto vegetarian, dairy also
has a huge carbon footprint on the environment. I gave up dairy within a month.
Initially, it was a little tough but the fact that I was living away from home
helped. Even after quitting dairy, I didn't term myself as a vegan because I
realised many products which I was using that time had milk solids, or they
were animal tested. Gradually, in 3-4 months, I removed all the non-vegan
products like toothpaste, shampoo, soap etc. Even today, I keep myself aware.
During this journey, I considered starting a
vegan cafe. I thought it would be a good example to make vegan food accessible
and also to show people how we can have equally good food without causing
cruelty. Our cafe embodies Bengali dishes. We have vegan dishes of meat,
chicken and prawn; everything is veganised.
Tell us more about the Ubuntu Community Cafe.
How is the response?
The people of Kolkata love food, and they say
that they are ready to die for good food. I decided to start a vegan cafe in
Kolkata because even though it is a metro city, it has no vegan cafes. Thus, we
started Ubuntu Community Cafe. Through this cafe, we also support activism,
giving discounts to local activists who do street activism. We also have a big
place on the terrace which we use for screening movies and documentaries
related to health, veganism, and the environment. Recently, we did a screening
of ‘The Game Changer’ and ‘A Prayer for Compassion’. We do a lot of engagement
and through this, we bring together not only vegan communities but a lot of
other communities as well because it's very important that others too get to
know about veganism.
So far, the response is really good. Nowadays,
even some non-vegetarians are coming to try these food items. Even in the
present situation of lockdown, some of our customers are calling us and
enquiring if we deliver our food. All this is quite motivating.
Big organisations working for the environment
like Greenpeace, often don't say directly about animal agriculture. In your 3
years at Greenpeace, what are your insights about it?
When I was working with Greenpeace, I didn't
know about animal agriculture and veganism. Even our campaigns had no mention
about it and they never spoke about it. However, in recent times, they have
started talking about animal agriculture. I asked the higher authorities about
it, and they said we can’t suddenly come up with a new campaign without
researching it. I understood their point. I got to know about another
organisation called FIAPO - Federation of Indian Animal Protection
Organisations. Earlier, I was volunteering with FIAPO during the weekends and
doing my activism. Then, I realised that I'm done with Greenpeace and I moved
to FIAPO as a full-time employee at Chennai. Till May 2019, I was working with
FIAPO and then I moved to Kolkata and started my cafe.
How was your experience at FIAPO?
I was working in FIAPO at Chennai, the only
employee there at that time. It was a little challenging compared to Greenpeace
but yes, that was also related to sustainable development. I was mostly working
with Jain communities in Chennai. These communities follow the path of ahimsa.
My job was to talk to their religious gurus. I made them aware of how our milk
is produced and how we can substitute that with plant-based milk. The campaign
was more focused on ahimsa rather than veganism. I made them understand about
animal cruelty. Because of their busy schedule, I used to go visit them early
in the morning and had to wait in long queues. However, I did enjoy it and got
to know a lot of the Jain community in Chennai.
What were your challenges while starting
Ubuntu Cafe?
The first challenge was to find a place.
Another issue was that it was a vegan food place so I received less support
from my family. Also, we were starting in a place (Kolkata) where the majority
of people eat non-vegetarian food. My partner and I started it with our savings
and with the help of our friends. For one month we searched for a small and
nice place to start the cafe. After that, we started setting up everything and
finally, we launched in September 2019. We are India's first fully eco-friendly
cafe. We don't use any single-use plastic. All the furniture is upcycled from
waste material. We have a sofa seat which we got from an Ambassador taxi.
During the time of setting up the cafe, we used to visit Rabindra Sarobar, a
very famous lake in Kolkata. We used to talk to random people to make them
aware of the issue as well as to tell us about our venture. We went for around
100 days and met many people. We met many vegans during this time as well. We
met a person who is vegan for the last 30 years. However, all of them were
isolated. After that, we also started potluck to get together. Throughout this,
we met a lot of new people and it was a good experience. In September, when we
started the cafe, most of our customers were vegan or someone in the transition
phase. After 2-3 months, many non-vegetarians also started coming when they got
to know that there is similar food available to what they are used to, except
that it is plant-based. The good thing is they are liking it.
How is the vegan community in Kolkata?
I know around 200 vegans, so there are many
vegans in Kolkata. On January 19th this year, The Telegraph, the leading
English Daily in eastern India, covered our detailed story. It was only possible because of the support by many of them. The entire community is helping us move ahead.
Is there anything else you would like to
share?
We all are learning and vegans aren't mocking
anyone. The problem is not about right or wrong, but the lack of awareness. I
would request non-vegans to explore those things, which are kept hidden by the
media, government and the businesses. We need to work on ourselves to make the
Earth a better place.
One more thing I would like to add is that
many non-vegans and people who are in the transition phase say that being vegan
is expensive. It is expensive only if you opt for high-end products like almond
milk, mock meat or mock chicken every day. But most of the regular Indian food
is vegan by default and full of nutrition. Be it rice-dal, roti-curries or
idli, dosa, poha etc are by default vegan, given you don't add ghee or butter
in them.
A message to non-vegans...
Every vegan was once a non-vegan and we all
are learning every day and working on ourselves to become better. We are
together on this journey of compassion. Believe me, if I can be vegan, then
anyone can.💚💚