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Challenges, trends & rise of vegan market in India
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Friday, 11 December, 2020, 13 : 00 PM [IST]
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Joshna Joseph
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Indians consume less amount of non-vegetarian food and is the 2nd largest country which eats more vegetarian food. Vegan is a term used to define any product which excludes animal products, animal derived byproducts or products which includes animal exploitation/cruelty. In food, the term vegan means inclusion of all plant based food and exclusion of animal based food and also any food that has animal origin (which includes honey as well as dairy based food products).
In recent times there has been a significant rise in the people following veganism mostly due to influence from the western world or just a health fad. More people have started converting themselves from non-vegetarians to vegans. Some people follow veganism for religious purposes too.
Challenges faced by vegan market in India:
Many food manufacturers and restaurants are coming up with vegan alternatives to regular foods that contain animal products or animal derived ingredients. For example Alternatives to milk, butter, cheese, burger patties etc. But these alternatives are not as great as the original products. Challenges such as acquiring the same texture, flavour and appearance of the products are faced by the manufacturers for developing vegan products.
Vegan alternatives of butter and cheese cannot be termed as butter and cheese as they do not fit under the description of cheese and butter given by the food standards. There are still debates whether to call the vegan alternatives as milk, cheese or butter. Vegan products are in increasing demand in the present scenario as more people are becoming health conscious. Due to the sedentary lifestyle people have started suffering from lifestyle disorders and in order to improve their lifestyle more people are moving towards veganism.
In order to certify food as vegan it must not contain meat, fish, animal byproducts, eggs, milk and milk products, gelatin, honey, sugar filtered from bone char or any product processed in the presence of an animal product. Shellac, dyes obtained from animal origin. The products must not contain any animal derived GMOs or animal derived genes used to manufacture products and the product should not be cross contaminated with any other animal product. Vegan products are exclusive as well as expensive and many people cannot afford a vegan lifestyle. Moreover there are only a few numbers of restaurants that provide vegan foods and have limited alternatives. There is very little scope for vegan restaurants but the scope for convenient vegan foods are raising as they have longer shelf life and are easy to consume.
Trends of Vegan market in India
Since 30 per cent of the Indian population is vegetarian, many multinational companies are looking forward to growing their plant based food business in India as they see tremendous growth in this sector in future. New vegan restaurants are being opened in India. Vegan food is not only for people who want to follow veganism, people who are not vegan can also try vegan food and follow a vegan lifestyle but switching yourself to a vegan diet is not an easy process; it takes discipline and passion to follow it.
According to the surveys conducted, a rise in vegan food in India is expected by 2021 as people are noticing many health benefits like lowering of cholesterol level in the body, weight loss, reversing lifestyle disorders etc. Many celebrity stars are also promoting veganism and its health benefits. As people are aware of the positive results of following a vegan diet more and more people have started following veganism which will lead to the growth of the vegan food market in India. Many workshops and festivals are also conducted wherein people share their experience about being vegan and coping up with everyday life and the changes that happened after following veganism. There are many vegan recipes which are available online which will help people to provide themselves with better options of vegan food. Few years ago many vegan products were not available in the market but nowadays many companies have come up with a variety of options for vegan food products, this is leading to more people following Vegan diets.
There is a rise in the Indian vegan market since 2017 and is expected to rise more by 2025.
Rise of Vegan market in India
Social media is responsible for the growth of vegan market in India as animal cruelty and animal rights videos were doing rounds on the social media making people aware about the reality. This has led to more people following veganism and growth in the vegan food industry. Animal agriculture is also affecting the environment by emitting the highest amount of greenhouse gases leading to global warming. Reduction in animal rearing will lead to the reduction of emission of greenhouse gases and also global warming. People are becoming more aware of these facts and are converting themselves into vegan.
Conclusion
As there is an increase in the awareness regarding vegan foods and its health benefits and its availability in the market as well as the availability of various recipes online has given rise to more and more people to follow veganism and the vegan market is expected to rise in the future.
(The author is research and development manager, Soch Foods LLP, Mumbai. She can be contacted at joshnajoseph162@gmail.com)
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