From snacks to side dishes and main course: How Kolkata became the vegan capital of India

E ngland might have Brighton, but India has Calcutta. Kolkata, or Calcutta, as I like to call the city, has found herself the crown jewel of the Biswa Bangla crown for an unexpected reason. In November this year, during World Vegan Month, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals India named Kolkata as India’s Most Vegan-Friendly City of 2025.

One of the key reasons for this honour was the repertoire of vegan dishes that make up the Bengali cuisine. Bengali cuisine is actually one of the few Indian cuisines that is essentially vegan . We don’t use ghee or clarified butter in everyday cooking; it’s usually only used to temper dal, and even then, very often, we use mustard or vegetable oil to temper our dal.

We never cook with butter and, in fact, don’t use butter in any dishes, unl