People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India has announced the winners of this year’s PETA India Vegan Food Awards.
The organisation recognises the efforts of these companies and individuals for introducing more food and lifestyle options for vegans in the country, and in spreading awareness aroung veganism. This comes at a time when a vegan lifestyle is being adopted by people around the world in order to show their concern for animals and environment.
According to the NGO, 63% of Indians are inclined to replace meat with plant-based options while 75% are unable to digest milk properly, making it even more important for them to shift to a plant-centric diet.
Commenting on the awards announcement, PETA India Vegan Foods and Nutrition Specialist Dr Kiran Ahuja, said, “From creamy, dairy-free chocolate ice cream to meat-free chicken, all these innovative foods are making it easy for people to treat their taste buds without harming animals.”
The winners
PETA India has recognised Vegan Dukan as the ‘Best Vegan Online Store’, while Live Yum’s Premium Ghee has won the ‘Best Vegan Ghee’ title.
Riteish and Genelia Deshmukh’s Imagine Meats nabbed ‘Best Vegan Meat’ award for its tasty mock chicken nuggets – The Happy Nugs.
The ‘Best Vegan Chocolate’ award went to MilkinOats’ Chalet Almond Crunch, which is India’s first homegrown oatmilk chocolate brand.
Other winners are as follows:
Best Plant-Based Milk: Hershey India’s Sofit Soya Drink Kesar Pista
Best Vegan Cheese: Katharos Foods’ Gooey Pizza Cheeze
Best Vegan Mithai: Haldiram’s Soan Papdi (Orange Flavour)
Best Vegan Egg: PlantMade’s Vegetarian Anda
Best Vegan Spread: Grabenord’s Vegan Chipotle Mayonnaise
Best Vegan Ice Cream: The Brooklyn Creamery’s Vegan Chocolate & Coconut
Best Vegan Buttermilk: Happy Calf’s Peanut Colada (Curry Leaf)
Best Vegan Snack: Urban Platter’s Perfectly Plant Based Cheese Balls (Cheddar Style)
Most Influential Vegan: Brahmarishi Mohanji
Why a switch to vegan lifestyle is a must?
The consumption of meat, eggs, and dairy is responsible for animal suffering on a massive scale. Fish are suffocated or cut open while they’re still alive, chickens used for eggs are confined to cages so small they cannot spread a single wing, and calves are taken away from their mothers shortly after birth on “modern” dairy farms so that humans can steal the milk meant for them.
In addition to sparing animals’ lives, eating vegan reduces the risk of suffering from cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity; helps fight climate change by reducing greenhouse-gas emissions; and even helps prevent future pandemics. COVID-19 is largely believed by experts to have stemmed or spread from a live-animal meat market, and SARS, swine flu, and bird flu have also been linked to confining and killing animals for food.
 India has announced the list of brands winning this year’s PETA India Vegan Food Awards.){kind=link}