Chef neelima gets chatty about cheese

For the first time, the city is witnessing a large-scale festival dedicated to veganism. Known as The Conscious Market, it features over 40 stalls that sell food to zero waste products, vegan clothes and beauty products. As part of the event, some talks and workshops were curated too and on Wednesday, a vegan cheese tasting session was organised by vegan and celebrity chef Neelima Sriram.

She caught up with us to get chatty about cheese. “Vegan cheese is a very difficult ingredient to work with, as it’s tough to please an audience who’s eaten only dairy products all their lives. The aim of the tasting session was to educate people to stop thinking that their life will come to a standstill if they turn vegan,” she begins. She also encouraged participants to opt for cruelty-free products to improve their health. “Yes, weight loss becomes a byproduct of this lifestyle change,” she adds.

Some varieties of vegan cheese presented at the session included pepper jack, dried apricot, boursin, probiotic raw, roasted garlic and feta. They fall broadly under three categories — nut-based, nut-free and with soya chunks. Neelima makes all of them from scratch at home. She explains, “I ensure all the cheeses are all free of oil, sugar and dairy products as per the Sanctuary for Health and Reconnection to Animals and Nature (SHARAN) guidelines.” 

Offering a recap about the tasting session, she says, “When I offered the participants nut-based cheese, they were worried if consuming large quantities of it would be harmful because nuts are high in cholesterol. I bust this myth by stating that no plant-based produce contains cholesterol. Anything you eat in moderation won’t harm you.” The nut-based cheeses are made using almonds, cashew nuts and/or pistachio, while the nut-free cheeses contain vegetables such as sweet pumpkin, potatoes and carrot.

“I source all the ingredients from within India. We grow cashews in our backyard in Kerala so I source it from there. The almonds are from here, so are the vegetables, which I purchase directly from farmers. I also utilise most of the produce without generating much kitchen waste — for example, I do not peel the vegetables because most of the nutrients is just underneath the skin,” says the chef.

For a person who transitioned to veganism less than three years ago, Neelima has sure become an inspiration for many others. What keeps her going is her love to experiment, she tells us.“I would feel lost initially because I wouldn’t know how to make alternatives for dairy products. However, as I began coming across vegan recipes, my confidence grew. Cooking and eating vegan food is like the MasterChef mystery box challenge for me because I have to use new ingredients and come up with something the family likes,” she smiles before signing off.