At the age of 14 he stopped eating non-vegetarian food, and over a decade ago he turned vegan. He never liked meat, and now he no longer craves for cheese and eggs that he once relished.
Vegan foodie, Frenchman and a chef. As odd as this may sound, Sebastian Kardinal is all these. French cuisine, in his own words, “is more of meat and less of vegetables and herbs, that too in garnishing”.
Kardinal, who is in Ahmedabad, while talking to THE WEEK on Wednesday opined that eating non-vegetarian food is disastrous for the environment as so much of water and other resources are used in the making non-vegetarian food.
It isn't good that we use so such resources when lots of people are starving, he felt.
Kardinal turned vegan in 2007. “My wife is vegan. For some time, I continued to eat cheese and eggs outside home. Thereafter, I reduced the intake and one day I stopped it,” he recalled. It isn't difficult. It is similar to quitting smoking, he said.
Ever since he turned vegan, he has been crusading in his own way so that more and more people turn vegan. He, however, said he is nobody to tell people what to eat and what not to. “I only put before them what is right and what is wrong,” he said. It is not by force, but by pleasure that they should change the habits, he added.
Turning vegan helped Kardinal lose weight and get rid of high cholesterol. “In three months, I lost 18kgs,” said the 47-year-old chef. Kardinal, who used to consume 300 grams of cheese every day, pointed out that eating cheese is so addictive that the more you eat, the more you want.
According to him, more and people are turning towards vegan food as they are becoming conscious about what it means to eat meat and eggs.
Kardinal said it is all about breaking the myth that good food is not possible without meat. There are meat substitutes available and one need not change habits but culture, he felt.
During his 10-day visit to India, Kardinal is to travel to Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and New Delhi and present specially curated dinners for the invited guests at different properties of Accor Hotels.
An author of books on vegan French cooking, Kardinal loves Indian spices and specialises in revisiting French and international gastronomical specialties and crafting their vegan versions.
