Neelima Sriram: The mindful chef

CHENNAI: Being been born in a Punjabi family with hardcore meat lovers and giving up non-vegetarian food for veganism is no easy task. Neelima Sriram has brought in a few stepwise drastic changes to her diet over the past decade. We catch up with the city-based celebrity chef who has spent most of her life globe-trotting to learn how she adapted to a vegan lifestyle in the end. “My father loved non-vegetarian food and my mother was a pure vegetarian.

He always needed an extra hand in the kitchen, so he mentored me and that’s how my culinary story begins. I went to the USSR in 1989 when I was 18 to pursue a course in International Relations. I did not like the food and found it difficult to adapt to less spicy food. Me and my friends would look out for festivals by Indian organisations for homecooked delicacies, and eat lots. We had a common kitchen in the hostel and the food would disappear within minutes,” said Neelima who met Sriram, her husband, during her course.

Vancouver to veganism

The couple moved to Vancouver in 2009. Neelima worked as a health and wellness teacher at her children’s middle school. She conducted workshops to inculcate nutritious eating habits among children. Simultaneously, she worked in a kitchen studio dishing out Indian cuisine with a few other celebrity chefs and indulged herself in catering orders.

This was a time when Neelima was slowly moving away from dairy products, after reading up about veganism which was in its nascent stages from magazines. At the end of 2013, they landed in India. In 2014, she applied for MasterChef and reached the top 30. In 2016, she participated in the European Vegan Festival. “Back then I had severe knee pain.

After coming from the fest, I met a city-based doctor Nandita Shah who was then the role model for veganism. In February 2017, I gradually shifted from veganism to a whole plant-based diet with no oil, dairy or sugar,” said Neelima who is currently on an alljuice liquid diet and experiments different diet patterns.

A lifestyle choice

Neelima now feels energetic and her knee pain has gone down. She enrolled herself in yoga, pilates and all kinds of physical activities. “My weight has gone down for the good. I feel compassionate towards other living beings, and there is a positive vibe around me. My husband decided to follow my food lifestyle too. His cholesterol levels have dropped.

Even my 18-year-old son is fond of what we cook. My daughter loves vegan desserts,” said Neelima who takes workshops to spread awareness about this. Her vegan cheese varieties and meat alternatives are hot-selling among her clients. She keeps trying alternatives in her kitchen and calls it the ‘Vegan lab.’ Neelima is passionate about teaching, consulting and food styling. The chef has planned for a South Indian Chettinad cuisine workshop with a vegan menu.