In the last few years, Veganism undoubtedly has emerged as one of the trending lifestyles to practice healthy living in India. From celebrities to all other upper middle class in India, the trend is growing tremendously. Nowadays, people have become more apprehensive about their fitness regime and are ready to change their comfort diet. Also, thanks to the power of the internet that people are much aware of the need and practicality of “Veganism” to choose animal-friendly products and goods for global healthcare and ecosystem balance. Despite having so much popularity and benefits, so-called “veganism” is not so popular amongst Indian millennials. WHY?
Millennials in India are people between the age group of 23 to 38. “Millennials and eating out go hand-in-hand!” The per capita income of the Indians has increased, and there are more working people/couples per household. With more disposable income at hand, they have higher spending power on food. As a result, eating out, especially at premium places, allows them to flaunt their social quotient. These days invite of multicuisine in India and especially in metro cities, allow people to experiment and experience their food choices. From Thai to Chinese, Mexican to Lebanese and Japanese don’t allow to go “vegan”! People have a fixation on restaurant taste completely and hence demand of their taste buds is what abstains them from adopting a vegan diet. The vegan diet however when seen in the long term is not sustainable for a large group of people due to micronutrients deficiencies. As a result, it is not a practical suggestion for “gym freaks and millennial feminine”.
Moreover travel, luxury, and fancy food are all about what they are earning for. Due to the need for global exposure and frequent traveling across the globe, it is practically absurd to adopt a vegan diet altogether.
In India, one earns to live a luxurious, affluent, and comfortable lifestyle which leads to the purchase of fancy goods from top-notch brands using animal skin as raw material. After all, social media is all about exposing your high-end owned possessions and your fancy food diet. This is how our upper-class society operates at times. It needs to be understood that suave of luxury is not in using animal products but in acknowledging the effects of imbalance due to it. According to the survey it was found that millennials of the Indian population are largely influenced by western culture concerning food habits or the luxury lifestyle they depict and veganism is sure “not a part” of it.
The practice of this diet involves abstaining from animal and dairy products like milk, cheese, and curd in addition to meat and fish, in short, anything that is even sourced from animals. Now the question comes in here – Can even the middle class afford to buy tofu and cottage cheese? Is almond and soya milk practical for them? The answer is a big NO. Veganism in India is undoubtedly an expensive diet form to adopt where 30 % of people are middle class and 60% are involved in the farming and agriculture sector. Also, in 2020 availability of such vegan products is limited to few supermarkets in big cities.
So, I guess the above facts clearly state as to “why and why not veganism is popular amongst Indian millennials”. It’s not at all a bad idea to adopt the concept but your religion, culture, financial status, sex, job type, and age group matters in choices we may adopt for a particular lifestyle in India and that’s why it is not preferred by the millennial group.
– Vanshika Baj
Jaipuria Talks Blog 
I have read somewhere ” veganism is lifestyle not choice ” but for when I try to choose veganism as a lifestyle it realty become difficult in countries like India where people are really peculiar about there traditional food choices. My day starts with our traditional masala tea ends with Turmaric milk. It become difficult to find alternative for the dairy products. I can replace paneer with tofu , dairy milk with soy milk, almond milk and meat with tofu but being college student who lives on pocket money sometimes find difficult to afford those fancy products. Veganism is best choice for people suffering from pcod , pcos and low tolerance for high glycemic index food. So we need raise awareness for the vegan food as it a healthy choice but need to make affordable and available for everyone.
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