Compassion on your plate

A vegan for close to half a decade, Palak Mehta started Vegan First as a labour of love to give a voice to millions of animals and simplify life for the growing vegan community in India and across the world. She turned vegan when she found out about animal cruelty behind our food and lifestyle choices from her guru, Sri Mohanji. Mohanji’s teaching of ahimsa and veganism have deeply impacted her life and inspired her to create this platform. Having worked as an artist, teacher and permaculturalist, Palak also represents the Indian chapter of the World Vegan Organisation, a global body of vegan-friendly leaders and industry experts and is responsible for virtually starting a campaign to promote Veganism in India.

- Rishi Rathod

Life is full of ironies. The Internet is full of information on every possible subject and yet, when Palak wanted to get some guidance, she could not find anything she could rely on. In 2016, she embraced Will Smith’s quote. Guided by her own light, she started a portal that would give information, advice, and most importantly, inspiration to become vegan, so that there would be one person less contributing to animal cruelty.

After consistent and committed efforts for the past four years, the tide has turned her way. Now she gets emails, letters, and messages daily for suggestions and guidance as to how one can become vegan. She has transformed from a one-person team to an army of 10 creative minds. But there was a time, she was laughed at and even questioned if what she was doing would ever work in India. Palak knew deeply that this was the need of the hour. In her own words, “Because if we don’t make conscious choices now, soon, we won’t have a planet to make choices on. But this took an intense amount of work; several sacrifices had to be made. I had been working through weekends for many months at a stretch. There was zero room for any breaks initially.”

Portal for veganism

Palak started Vegan First, India’s first digital and print publication and portal for all things cruelty-free, vegan, and sustainable, that brought all curious, passive, and active Indian vegan lovers together, where they can share their stories, ideas, products, trends, recipes, and recommendations for new vegan converts.

“Why is there such a lack of enthusiasm about veganism when most Indians are vegetarian anyway?” I asked her.