Traditional sweets and savouries with vegan spin

Ragi, coconut, jaggery. These are the mainstays of Vijay Sweets, an 11month-old business in Coimbatore that has given much-loved traditional sweets and savouries a vegan spin. Founded by Aravind B in early 2018, the shop delivers a range of treats to 1,900 pincodes around the country. But their reputation rests on their soft, almost crumbly Mysore pak.

“Mysore pak is basically made with ghee,” explains Aravind during a short visit to Chennai, “But we have removed the ghee and replaced it with coconut milk. So it has the same texture and taste of a ghee Mysore pak, but has no animal products, and also much fewer calories.”

One tentative bite of this dessert reveals the familiar, rich sweetness that most of us have grown up loving: the vegan recipe has nothing in it to alienate old-school aficionados. And it shows.

“We sold close to four tonnes of Mysore pak alone, this Diwali,” boasts Aravind. In addition, there are four varieties of and 45 varieties of like and

all made in Vijay Sweets’ “completely vegan kitchen”.

“I’ve been a vegan for six years now, so I wouldn’t do anything that is non-vegan,” he says. It just made logical sense to him.

“I was an animal lover from the beginning, and used to rescue animals. I have been a volunteer for Humane Animal Society since 2011; I help get these creatures adopted. So eating one animal and saving another didn’t. https://vijaysweets.com/index.php