Aditi Bhat is a final year engineering student at NITK, Surathkal aspiring to make an impact in the field of sustainable civil engineering systems. With a passion for working for the betterment of the environment, she tries her best to do whatever is in her capacity to achieve that. She takes interest in actively reading research on the climate and the environment. Singing and playing the guitar helps her stay calm and stress-free.
What made you go vegan?
I watched a documentary called Cowspiracy that focuses on the impacts of animal agriculture on the
environment. The statement 'You can't call yourself an environmentalist and eat
meat' stuck with me. That was my first encounter with veganism and that
documentary got me thinking.
How was your transition phase?
I was someone who was addicted to dairy products. Before going vegan, I don't remember going a day without having curd for every meal and two to three glasses of milk. I was also a big fan of cheese. My transition phase was not a very well planned out exercise. It was more of an experiment on myself. While I was interning in the summer for three months, I was cooking on my own. And I did not follow the diet I was following at home which was rice, veggies, sambar and curd. I found it harder to eliminate curds from that meal plan in comparison to one-pot meals that I was cooking on my own.
So, for three months, I tried to not include curds in my diet. I replaced milk with lemon tea,kashaya and Ragi malt(a mix-spiced drink, a tastier one in comparison to the one recommended for medical benefits). I also ensured that I was making tasty meals. To my surprise, I didn't miss any of the dairy products.
When I returned to the hostel in college, I chose to continue that way, although I thought it would be next to impossible to eat mess food without curd. But I had no trouble. A major takeaway from my transition experience is how I became aware of the nutritional value of what I was eating. I learned so much more about my diet, I became aware of what I was consuming and in what proportions. I never did that when I was a vegetarian. Contrary to popular belief, the diet also improved my appetite and helped me improve my BMI. I'm not protein deficient now, in fact, I eat more protein than I used to thanks to all the people who suddenly became concerned about the nutritional value of my diet!You are involved in researching climate change and the environment. Can you mention a few important things which matter most but are generally not told to us?
What is a known fact is that the whole fossil fuel industry is one of the biggest contributors to climate change but what no one tells us is about the environmental impact of animal agriculture. If you go through in detail, what parts of our diet affect the environment in quantitative figures, a diet that has beef has a higher carbon footprint than most other types of meat. However, recently, I came across an article suggesting that the effect of growing shrimps is much worse than the impact of beef but I'm yet to study it in greater detail.
Another surprising thing is if someone is a vegetarian and very heavy on dairy, environmentally speaking, that person might have a larger impact than someone who is a flexitarian. Vegetarians who think that they have a lower impact on the environment might be wrong. By saying this, I'm not promoting a flexitarian diet, I am just showing the comparison.
From a dietary point of view, coffee and cocoa also have a large carbon footprint. Sometimes I feel like when we advocate giving up animal agriculture, we should do an informed study before saying that only non-vegetarian food has a huge impact on the environment. That is true, however, it's important to understand the bigger picture when it comes to your individual environmental impact before making conclusions.
Another aspect is that a lot of people say that they will give up plastic, spoons etc to save fishes whereas fishing nets are the biggest problem when it comes to plastic pollution in the ocean.
The latest UN climate change report by IPCC focuses on how plant-based diets are a major opportunity to mitigate climate change and includes a policy recommendation to reduce the world's meat consumption. It also mentions that, to limit the rise of temperature by 1.5° C, even if we completely shift to renewables it is essential to change the way we eat in order to be able to achieve that goal. I think that is a very important thing to be mentioned.
Another thing which people don't believe is that animals are given supplements, especially in India. But factory farms are being introduced slowly in India and I was shocked to know when I came to know about this fact. I saw a video of the opening of a factory farm in one of the two states Gujarat or Maharashtra. It showed all the supplements which are given to the animals, which is scary.
People don't want to believe all these facts or they are unaware of it. Even antibiotic resistance is a scary thing. A huge amount of antibiotics that are manufactured are going to animals. According to WHO, in some countries, the total amount of antibiotics used in animals is 4 times larger than the amount used in humans.
How did you manage being vegan in hostel life?
As I said, being vegan in a hostel wasn’t a big task. Almost everything we get in the mess is either vegan or can be easily veganised, except curd and ice cream. I started consuming more dal and sprouts. I was able to get non-vegan versions of certain curries on request. Earlier, only one of the girls' block messes was vegetarian. However, this year, because of increasing demand, they made both the mess vegetarian. The new vegetarian mess has more meal options, so yeah, that also has helped. While going for outings, if I go with my friend circle or smaller groups, it’s totally fine. They know me and accordingly, we decide on a place.
A small issue arises when we are going out with a bigger group, say a club or some other circle. I also remember the time when I gave a speech during one of the college events called Spark Talk, conducted by one of the clubs. It was on climate change and at the end of my speech, I had made a subtle reference to veganism and eating meat. After the talk, we all (along with the organising group) went for dinner and I noticed some people chose to stick to veg. I realised they were conscious that day. Even though it was just for a day, I was happy about the fact that people do become aware when the facts are put forward.
In all honesty, my only struggle has been dealing with other people after turning vegan. Based on my experience, I have understood that giving up certain food products does not feel like a sacrifice when you understand the major issues associated with it. If you strongly feel for the movement, for the animals and for the environment you will never want to go back to eating meat or dairy. In fact, I wish I made the change earlier.
How has been your experience while spreading the word about it?
At one time, I used to post on Instagram very frequently. A lot of people would reply and argue. Many would say that is misinformation and they would explain their perception. I would just explain to them why it is right by sending them facts more than pointing out and telling them they are wrong. The latter tends to offend people a lot based on my observation. By sending them plain facts or asking them to read or watch something helped.
Surprisingly, some people seem to have transitioned from being hardcore meat eaters to vegans, some others are vegetarian and still in the phase of transitioning. Most importantly, they had an open mindset that allowed them to consciously analyze and question their lifestyle choices after reading about it. This helped me realize that most people are open to learning and questioning the norm and societal conditioning, which is why it is important to share a new perspective and use social media for awareness.
You became more conscious of your diet after turning vegan. What things do you take care about?
When I say conscious, I don't mean that I calculate exact numbers. What I mean is if I compare to my previous self, I have become more conscious. Firstly, I had a very bad appetite before turning vegan. I did not follow the nutritional value of my diet and never gave it a thought because there was no discussion about whether my diet is deficient in any aspect. . I never used to think about protein either. After turning vegan, I started noticing my dietary habits more closely. I was consuming more protein consciously. I also use cronometer website to get a basic idea of whether my diet includes all the essential nutrients. I am fully aware of the bioavailability of animal sources versus plant sources which a lot of people point to when they want to criticize the vegan diet and I have gone through a good amount of research papers to understand it in detail. Fortunately, several plant-based foods have high proportions of certain minerals even though they have a lower bioavailability.
Also, certain Instagram vegan food pages helped me become aware faster about various options out there. I realised that there are many plant sources of calcium which are better than dairy milk. For example, Sesame or Til milk has much around 10 times more calcium than the normal milk of the same quantity.
My dad is a doctor and although he is not specialised in nutrition, he has a basic knowledge about it. He did not recommend calcium supplements based on my diet. Including ragi, and veggies rich in calcium especially green leafy vegetables ensures a steady supply of calcium. It's also important to spend some time in the sun and get Vitamin D which facilitates the absorption of calcium. Also, any pulses or lentils we eat have protein and calcium.
Regarding B12, it's necessary for every vegan and nowadays even for many vegetarians and non-vegetarians too to take supplements. My aunt is a pathologist and she said that she comes across a lot of non-vegetarians too who are deficient in B12. Alcohol consumption has a strong tendency to increase deficiency.
How was the response of your family?
The good thing is that when I watched the documentary Cowspiracy, I watched it with my mother and my brother. Later, I explained to my dad as well. None of them opposed my decision to go vegan but they used to keep asking me certain concerns they had. My dad was a little concerned about Vitamin B12. Luckily, even he wasn't obsessing over protein because I think he knew that there was no need to worry too much about that. My mom is lactose intolerant, so becoming vegan helped her as well. That's why I didn't have much opposition. Even though they aren't vegan yet, their consumption is limited to little amounts of curd. No one in my family drinks milk every day.
You can say that if dairy consumption is so less in my family, is it necessary for them to give up completely?! But when we see the animal cruelty aspect, it changes everything. My mom recently watched a video of a cow giving birth and she began to question consumption of dairy even in small amounts because of the forced, repeated insemination and pain that they go through for human consumption. Those 2-3 spoons can be justified if the aim is to incorporate a diet that is environmentally friendly but it cannot be justified when we see the cruelty towards animals. Today for the first time, we made peanut curd and everyone in my family liked it.
Anything else you would like to share...
If we talk about the environmental aspect of veganism, statistically more people consuming less meat might have a greater impact than few people turning vegan because of the number of people who are inclined to going fully vegan, although more people turning fully vegan will be the ideal scenario...
And this might make a lot of people question
whether we should promote veganism the way we do or not! However, based on my experience
I have noticed that a post that depicts the facts and urges a complete
transition to a vegan lifestyle has a greater impact than a post that has a
cold approach to the transition into veganism. There are people out there with
a very open mindset willing to understand a new perspective or idea and have
the ability to question old beliefs and choose a path that is more ethical and
logical which is why it is important to spread awareness and show the full
picture. I believe that everyone should try their very best to transition to a
completely vegan lifestyle.
What one message would you like to give to non-vegans?
Understand the numerous negative impacts of animal agriculture and try to give veganism your best shot. I switched for environmental reasons before understanding the cruelty aspect of it. But I believe what makes you stay and never go back to eating animal products is the cruelty aspect of it. When you truly understand all the issues associated with it, it isn't difficult. Being in denial is not the solution. When I read about it, I felt like a hypocrite and that made me change. A lot of times when we read things that don't align with our conscience we either reject it or change. I hope that all of us can change rather than dismissing the facts.
P.S: I love baked goodies and fun fact - the vegan baked goodies I make now taste a lot better than what I used to bake and they are cheaper. Oh, and of course there is nothing like the satisfaction of eating something cruelty-free! :P