Nishma Shah is a Kenyan-born Indian, from the Jain community. In 2005, she launchedShambhu's, an award-winning vegan food business based in London. We spoke to her about the simplicity and deliciousness of vegan food.
Nishma Shah
Tell us about your journey into veganism.
Although at the time, it seemed very challenging, and the notion that milk production actually involved so much violence and death for cows seemed unbelievable, looking back to my pre-vegan life, I can see that in my case, around 16 years ago, going vegan was a relatively small dietary and lifestyle adjustment.
My childhood and early teens were in a lacto-vegetarian Jain family environment in Kenya, and actually, we didn't consume cheese or eggs. Nor did we buy leather products or own any animal products. I was made aware of the principle of ahimsa (compassion, reverence and non-violence to all life forms) from a very young age and to be mindful of the finite resources our Earth can offer.
My family moved to the UK in the late 1980s. In the 1990s, I met my husband, Mahersh. He was becoming aware of the cruelty issues inherent to dairy and egg production and developing an interest in the vegan lifestyle. Therefore I got to share in his journey of discovery, which ultimately led us to both become vegan (though I took a little longer than he did to make the transition).
Keen to help spread the vegan message, our vegan journey progressed together over the years, as we increased our activities and involvement with the vegan community, got involved in school speaker networks, launched our vegan food business Shambhu's, and helped found Jain Vegans to raise awareness in the Jain community about why vegan rather than vegetarian.
Why is there an assumption that vegan food is difficult to prepare?
I guess this is simply down to the uncertainty of something that seems new and out of the ordinary. The truth is that vegan versions of many well-known non-vegan foods are just as simple to make, if not simpler. There are some very good meat-substitute ingredients available, e.g. textured vegetable protein (TVP), which form the basis of preparing vegan meat dishes. However, the great thing about going vegan is that, if you want, there is a whole new world of exciting, colourful, nutritious and delicious cuisine just waiting to be discovered or created, and often simpler to prepare than you might expect. A move to vegan food, far from being restrictive, actually opens the door to exciting new flavours and textures.
Why fresh, seasonal fruits and vegetables?
Seasonal fruits and vegetables have a smaller eco-footprint (e.g. since more energy is needed to produce fruit/veg out-of-season and/or to transport from them from overseas).
Seasonal fruit and veg, by virtue of being so fresh, are also likely to be more flavoursome and nutritious.
Having said this however, it might not always be practical sourcing seasonal fruit and veg, in which case I'd say out-of-season fruit and vegetables are still preferable over meat, fish and dairy, for various ethical reasons, particularly that of animal rights and environmental issues (land use, carbon footprint, fresh water consumption, energy consumption, storage, etc.)
You have been serving your food at many functions, festivals and events for a while now- so how do non-vegans react to your food?
To date, the feedback from non-vegans (and vegans!) about the food I prepare has been overwhelmingly positive. One of the main motivations behind my starting Shambhu's, 11 years ago, was precisely to show how great vegan food can be, for vegans and non-vegans alike. We've often encountered reactions of disbelief as to how good our vegan dishes taste, particularly in the case of vegan versions of dairy-based favourites such as desserts (especially our vegan cheesecakes and chocolate fudge slices), pizzas with vegan cheese, spinach cannelloni etc.
We receive many orders for various private events, and often our clients tell us that the event was enhanced by our food. (We've posted some client feedback on our website www.shambhus.co.uk).
I'm proud to be playing a part in showcasing good hearty vegan food through Shambhu's!
I've also been running vegan cookery classes over the last couple of years, for adults and children. The young participants of our children's classes tend to be mostly non-vegan. Their aim is to learn general cookery skills, and to enjoy the sessions as part of their fun summer holiday activities. Of course, they pick up extensive knowledge on cooking with plants in the process, and this aspect turns out to be a real eye-opener for them. It has been very fulfilling for me to learn that some children who otherwise didn't enjoy eating vegetable-based foods had a change of heart about vegetables after attending my classes :-)
Please tell us about launching your vegan food business in London.
Having been to various vegan festivals in the days before Shambhu's, I felt that at that time there was a limited choice of vegan food types on offer, and the kinds of foods I personally enjoyed were not really available. There was clearly a vegan food gap to fill. I enjoy cooking and creating dishes, and given the need at the time for more vegan food variety, I decided to take the step of starting a vegan food business - Shambhu's was born.
Shambhu's was actually launched at the Bristol Vegan Fayre (i.e. VegfestUK Bristol in its first incarnation!) in 2005. Our original intention was to have a small one-table stall, but nearer the time of the event, Tim Barford kindly offered us the opportunity to be the main caterer. We duly took up the challenge (talk about being thrown in at the deep end!) and ran our one-day catering operation. We were greatly encouraged by the positive feedback from the public about our offerings, and by the whole experience in general, which helped immensely as we took Shambhu's forward.
Although our first catering operation was at Bristol, Shambhu's has always been operating in its home city of London. We started our London operation by running a weekly vegan meal delivery service for various clients in central London. At the time, we relied completely on email marketing and word-of-mouth to spread the word and build up our client base. Over time, the number of private events catering orders increased, and we had to reduce the frequency of our central London delivery service, eventually stopping it altogether to focus on events catering (private functions and public festivals). At the same time, I experimented and developed new recipes, to expand our range of offerings, and created our unique range of vegan cheesecakes. In fact, we had three successful years of producing and distributing our vegan cheesecakes for sale in independent wholefood shops nationwide. Although we decided to stop that form of distribution, our vegan cheesecakes continue to be available directly from us, either through our catering service, or when we're running catering stalls at public events.
While we continue to successfully run our vegan catering operation, upon which Shambhu's was founded, my new project over the last two years has been to run vegan cookery classes for adults, and during the summer holiday periods, for children, which I'm delighted to say have all gone very well.
What can people expect from one of your cooking classes?
I think my vegan cookery classes are valuable experiences for anyone who wishes to seek inspiration and learn new vegan dishes,. Also, to pick up new ideas, pick up health and nutrition tips, ask me questions, get to discover some amazing ingredients, herbs and spices, learn how to balance different flavours by choosing the right combinations of herbs and spices, and so on. Class participants receive printed recipes for the items taught in the class, and are encouraged to take notes during the class since many valuable tips tend to be exchanged. And of course, the foods prepared in the class can be enjoyed at the end of each session.
I'm also keen on encouraging healthier ways to prepare traditional dishes and ways to reduce food waste e.g. by making good use of leftovers to make a different meal for the following day.
Each class on offer has a different theme, so there should be something to suit a variety of tastes. Examples of past class themes include vegan barbecue dishes, Indo-Oriental fusion, Persian cuisine, Gujarati cuisine, etc.
Participants should emerge from their class fulfilled by the learning experience and with a sense that vegan food is certainly not boring!
You are a Kenyan born Indian, so how has that affected the ingredients and flavours you use in your food?
Indeed, having grown up as a lacto-vegetarian in a tropical country, I'm accustomed to enjoying food that is fresh, wholesome, full of flavour and satisfying. As a family, we didn't tend to eat out much (mainly due to a lack of vegetarian restaurants in Kenya at the time) and so were constantly challenged to be creative with our home-cooking. We were fortunate to have access to a wide variety of fresh and highly nutritious tropical fruits and vegetables, all grown locally. The result was a fusion of Indian and Kenyan dishes.
It is this creative cookery spirit, valuable knowledge gained and my desire to learn from different cultures that has enabled me to develop my vegan take on various types of cuisine and pass on the benefits of my experience through Shambhu's catering and other activities.
For example, the cookery demonstrations and classes I've run over the years have included African fusion cuisine, Indian cuisine, Gujarati cuisine and Indo-Oriental fusion cuisine, to name a few. However, since settling in the UK, I've been keen on learning cuisine from other continents too, and so my catering service menu has a diverse mix of styles including Indian, Italian, Mexican, British, Middle Eastern, etc. I'm very proud to be introducing some different and exciting styles of vegan cuisine to the UK vegan scene through Shambhu's activities.
And of course, I am really excited to be running a cookery demonstration at the forthcoming VegfestUK London. My demonstration is entitled "Let's go bananas!" As you can guess, bananas are a central feature, and I will show how versatile an ingredient they are in vegan cooking. Again, this very much draws from my Kenyan-Indian origins!
What is next for you?
I have some ideas I'm working on, and would love to do more on the vegan food education scene. There has definitely been a surge in interest worldwide about the vegan lifestyle, and I'm very excited to see and be a part of what the future holds.
Interview in connection with VegfestUK
London (Oct 22nd 23rd 2016), Brighton (Mar 11th 12th 2017), Bristol (May 20th 21st 2017)
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