Vegan School Goa, a plant-based culinary school will open its doors this September in Porvorim
CHRISTINE MACHADO | NT BUZZ
The vegan movement is only gaining more ground by the day. But while there are plenty of vegan choices that one can opt for while dining out, not all enthusiasts are aware of how to incorporate veganism into everyday life. To remedy this and to encourage more people to make the shift to a plant-based diet the Vegan School Goa is all set to commence operations in September this year.
The school is the brainchild of Ashish Santhalia who will serve as course coordinator and his wife chef Nisha Garg who will be the course instructor. Garg who has a dipoma in plant-based cooked has over 10 years of experience working in kitchens around the world.
In addition to promoting healthy living, the school, says Santhalia, is also meant for anyone who would like to become self-sufficient in the kitchen or wants to add a new skill to their repertoire. In fact, Santhalia himself knows what it is like to not know your way around the kitchen. “When I went abroad to study seven-eight years ago I didn’t have any cooking skills, which made things difficult for me,” he says. Being a vegetarian also added to his woes. “I also found it difficult to learn to cook because there were hardly any short-term courses that would teach you how to cook vegetarian or vegan food for the matter. Most of the cooking classes offered were fun-based, and did not teach you the basics,” he says. And so when he returned back to India, he decided to take the initiative himself to start an all-round course that would serve those who wanted to learn to cook or even become chefs. Having made the shift to a vegan lifestyle when he was abroad, focusing on this aspect also made sense.
Given Garg’s vast experience in the culinary field and in plant-based food, in particular, getting the course material together was an easy task. But it was getting students that was a challenge. “We had to convince them that vegan is not grass and that apart from being healthy, this food can be delicious,” says Santhalia chuckling. “We also had to point out the huge market for this now.”
Based in Alto-Porvorim, the kitchen for this school has been designed with inspiration from institutes abroad. And spread over 11 weeks, the course will have over 70 culinary lessons. “We will be starting from scratch right from learning how to chop and then after two weeks of basics, we will move forward,” says Santhalia. As part of the foundation for the course, students will learn to work as a team, learn about plant-based nutrition and reading labels, setting up of kitchen tools and equipment, kitchen safety, resetting refrigerator and pantry, knives and knife cuts, flavour, seasoning and texture, and also food photography.
The mission of the school is to help one to find joy in healthy living and help succeed in long-term wellness goals. While the focus will be on working with whole foods, students will also be introduced to making raw food, gluten-free food, and no-oil cooking. The cooking methods that will be touched upon are steaming and preserving vegetable pigments, submersion, sweating and caramelising, sauté and stir–fry, roasting and grilling, and combination cooking. There will also be workshops on vegan nutrition and health, plating and food decoration, food photography, food business, and Indian spices and cuisines of India
The program, say the founders will prepare one for a career in plant-based cookery or to host a dinner for family and friends. This course will also appeal to those who want to complement their skills as a nutritionist. In addition, one will also learn how to use food for treating lifestyle diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular issues. Elaborating on this, Santhalia explains that usually when people have cardiovascular diseases, food at home is cooked without oil. The same goes for those with high blood pressure where home-cooked food is done without any salt.”This is not very tasty. And so we will teach a way of preparing food with reduced oil or how to reduce salt in the food. In case of diabetes, we will look at what are the alternatives to sugar.”
In fact, says Santhalia, there are quite a few plant-based foods in India that have a lot of potential but are not utilised enough. “There are many leafy greens that one can incorporate more in one’s diet like kale or rocket leaves that can be used in salads. Salads can make a nice light dinner but people in India hardly have salads as part of their diet. Also, there are different kinds of grains available in India like jowar, etc, but people only tend to stick to rice and wheat,” he says. While tofu is commonly available, Santhalia points out that there are many different types of tofu around the world that we are unaware of.
While there is a misconception among people that a vegan diet means a lack of nutrients, Santhalia states that other than perhaps a possible B12 or B3 deficiency, most other proteins and nutrients can be found in a vegan diet. “Some of the top athletes in the world and even in India have made a shift to vegan diet. For instance, cricketer Virat Kohli follows a vegan diet and if he can get protein from a vegan diet then we all can,” he says, adding that the shift to a vegan lifestyle can begin with small adjustments. “Even if you cut down on a few things, you will be making a huge difference to the environment,” he says. In fact, Santhalia’s shift was gradual too. “I didn’t like the dairy milk when I was abroad and so at first, I made the shift to soy milk. Slowly I also shifted from paneer to tofu, and other such options,” he says. “One should begin with taking small steps and see what is comfortable. I believe that this is how you go vegan.”