"Hi! My name is Parita, and I’m a vegan food blogger and recipe developer. I went vegan for the animals and found showcasing delicious vegan recipes to my friends and family was the most compelling way to introduce my new lifestyle change. Through CookingWithParita I’m able to share my love for Indian cooking, from whole foods to indulgent recipes. You’ll find more of my mouthwatering recipes on my blog: cookingwithparita.com. I’d love to see and repost the recipes you try from this magazine issue, so don’t forget to tag me @ParitaKansagra on Instagram and @CookingWithParita on Tiktok.

1 cup packed coriander

1 tsp salt

2 tsp sugar

2 tbsp water

1 tbsp lemon juice 

1–3 green chillies

4–5 potatoes (800 g) 2 tbsp olive oil Salt and black pepper ½ tsp cumin powder ½ tsp chilli powder ½ tsp chaat masala Puff pastry ready-rolled sheet Oat milk for brushing 1 red onion, diced 8–10 cherry tomatoes, diced 5 tbsp vegan yoghurt ½ cup pomegranate seeds 3–4 tbsp sev 1–2 tbsp fresh coriander

Sev is an Indian snack made with chickpea flour. It adds a wonderful crunch to this puff pastry chaat.

You can find this at your local Indian supermarket or even online.

This Indian street food-inspired dish comes together with store-bought puff pastry, potatoes, spices, vegan yoghurt, pomegranate seeds, sev and a quick green chutney. It’s a super simple recipe that’s perfect for an appetiser, lunch or side dish.

First make the green chutney by adding the coriander, salt, sugar, water, lemon juice and green chillies into a food processor and blending until the mixture is smooth. Set this aside.

Place the potatoes in a pot filled with cold water and boil until just cooked. Drain and allow the potatoes to cool slightly before peeling the skin off and cutting them into medium-small sized cubes.

Heat the oil in a non-stick pan and add the potatoes to cook for 3 minutes on high or until they start to get a little crispy. Turn the heat down to medium. Add the salt, black pepper and cumin powder and cook for 2–3 minutes. Add the chilli powder and chaat masala. Cook for another 2 minutes and set aside.

Cut the puff pastry sheet into 8 rectangles. Brush with a little oat milk and bake following the packaging instructions.

With a spoon, deflate the middle of each puff pastry, leaving a border. Add the aloo chaat, tomatoes and onions to the centre of each pastry. Drizzle with green chutney and vegan yoghurt. Garnish with pomegranate seeds, sev and fresh coriander.

2 tsp flax meal

4 tsp hot water

113 g vegan salted butter, room temperature

100 g light brown sugar

100 g granulated sugar

100 g tahini

2 tsp vanilla extract

140 g plain flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

250 g vegan dark chocolate chips

These vegan Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies make for the most incredible chewy, soft, decadent dessert. These are perfectly salty and sweet, plus they are easy to make and use simple ingredients – what’s not to love?

Combine the flax meal with the hot water to make a “flax egg” and set aside.

Beat the butter with the light brown sugar and the granulated sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the well-stirred tahini, vanilla extract, flax egg and mix.

Add the plain flour, baking soda and salt and mix until combined. Fold in the vegan dark chocolate chips. Cover the bowl with a plate and refrigerate overnight (or for at least 3 hours).

Pre-heat the oven to 180 °C and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Take the cookie dough out of the fridge and allow it to come back to room temperature – this should take around 30 minutes. Use a tablespoon to take two scoops of the cookie dough, and roll this into a ball. Place the cookie balls on the baking sheet, leaving a 2-inch gap between each ball.

Bake the cookies for 13–14 minutes or until the edges start to become golden.

Sprinkle the warm cookies with salt flakes. Allow them to cool for 5 minutes on the baking tray before transferring onto a wire rack to cool for another 5 minutes.

2 tbsp sunflower oil

1 onion, diced

½ tsp grated ginger

1 ½ tsp grated garlic

1 bell pepper, diced

½ frozen peas

2–3 tomatoes, diced Salt and black pepper

½ tsp chilli powder

½ tsp ground turmeric

1 tbsp pav bhaji masala

2 tbsp tomato sauce

1 firm tofu block (280 g), cut into small cubes

1 cup vegan cheese, grated

3–4 tbsp chopped coriander

6 medium soft rolls

2–4 tbsp vegan butter

Pav bhaji masala is a blend of spices. You can make your own blend at home, but storebought makes everything easier. You’ll find this in your local Indian supermarket or online.

If you’re in the mood for something packed with flavour, make these Tofu Tawa Burgers! The juicy filling is made with tofu, frozen peas, spices, vegan cheese, tomato sauce and fresh coriander. ‘Tawa’ means ‘pan’, and these pan-fried burgers are made with a little coriander, pav bhaji masala and vegan cheese.

Heat the oil in a pan over a high heat. Add the onions, ginger and garlic to the pan and cook for 1–2 minutes or until the onions are translucent.

Add the bell pepper, peas and tomatoes to the pan, mixing to combine. Add the salt, black pepper, chilli powder, ground turmeric and pav bhaji masala. Cook for 2–4 minutes.

Mix in the tomato sauce and firm tofu and cook for another 2 minutes. Turn the heat to low, add half of the vegan cheese and continue cooking until it has melted. Sprinkle with 1 tbsp chopped coriander.

Split the burger buns in half lengthways and fill with the tofu filling.

Heat a pan with vegan butter, sprinkle with a little pav bhaji masala, chopped coriander, vegan cheese and mix. Dip each burger into the butter masala to cover entirely. Hold the burger and carefully press and flip until all sides are golden and warm.

Imagine: a new disease emerges in Asia. Resulting from animal exploitation, the virus will spread throughout the continent before travelling to the Middle East, Africa and Europe, killing many of those it infects. This is not Covid-19, but H5N1. Chronicled by Ed Winters in his debut book This is Vegan Propaganda, this avian flu strain is one example of the consequences of animal exploitation. The difference?

H5N1 is 60 times more lethal than Covid-19. Though H5N1 was suppressed, the risk is still out there. To avoid such a pandemic, Winters explains, “We have no choice” but to go vegan.

With his lectures gathering over 35 million views online, Ed Winters is a talented communicator. This is Vegan Propaganda may be capable of converting hardcore carnivores. Written in an accessible style, Winters traces the impact of animal farming on everything from our health to the industry’s influence on government policy.

Winters’ desire to convert people may, however, be hampered by the book’s formatting. Despite acknowledging descriptions of animal cruelty as a turn-off for non-vegan readers, the first 50 pages of his book include such details.

This is an obstacle to the book’s most influential points, those effects of animal exploitation which appeal to our selfish fears for our personal health, or immediate environment.

Potentially the book’s title, implying a study of veganism in the media, misleads; Winters includes only one chapter on the subject. Overall, This is Vegan Propaganda may be of most use to vegans seeking striking facts to inform their arguments. An essential book for 2022, I would recommend everybody read it before this year’s Christmas dinner.

It’s not every day a book comes along that feels like it’s speaking both to you and for you. I’ve waited a long time for a book focusing on the intersection between being queer and vegan, and this is exactly what I was looking for. While the title is perhaps slightly misleading, having no mention of veganism or animal rights, the upside is that it may plant a seed in the minds of non-vegans who pick it up out of curiosity.

The diversity of voices, experiences and perspectives in this collection of essays makes for a truly compelling and indispensable read. It will lead you to explore different viewpoints and reflect on your own, in ways you may not have considered before. Reading it is an emotional rollercoaster, as one page may have you thinking: “Someone understands me!” while the next page completely pushes you out of your comfort zone. It’s both incredibly relatable and unfamiliar.

If you’ve ever sat on an optician’s chair being given different lenses to try on, you’ll understand how I feel about this book: all lenses will make you see things differently, not all are right for you, but all are right for someone, somewhere. Only by understanding that there are an endless variety of perspectives and voices which are all necessary, will we move forward and achieve the change we so deeply want.

This book shows us that to achieve that change, we must consistently challenge the racism, ableism, sexism and other isms that are rife in Western society, and therefore in the animal rights and vegan movements. Clearly we will only achieve liberation for both human and non-human animals “through consistent anti-oppression”.

Johnny Marr, 58, found fame as the guitarist of The Smiths, and writing partner to Morrissey in the 1980s. A vegetarian ever since writing the music for Meat Is Murder in 1985, Marr has been a committed vegan since 2005. This is a song which many people credit for a shift in how they view animals, and Marr himself still considers the track one of his greatest accomplishments.

Fast forward to today, and Marr’s fourth solo album, Fever Dreams Pts 1–4, is a bold and expansive endeavour. It’s a double album made up of 16 tracks. The album sounds immediate and life-affirming from the very first listen – particularly so in the opening track, Spirit Power and Soul, which, with its electronic drumbeat and rousing fistpunching chorus, is reminiscent of 90s Depeche Mode.

Receiver has a huge sound that opens with an infectious synth riff, while Ariel, with its Sylvia Plath-inspired title, includes a bass line in its chorus that’s evocative of a Bond theme tune. Maybe Marr’s collaboration with fellow vegan Billie Eilish on ‘No Time To Die’ has rubbed off?

Hideaway Girl is a punchy, high-energy song which, while being one of the rockier tracks on the album, still pushes a message of hope and deliverance. Meanwhile, Ghoster is underpinned by a bass line that’s smothered in fuzz, which wouldn’t sound out of place on a Radiohead album.

Lyrically the songs are semi-ambiguous, perhaps intentionally so. Thematically, Marr’s belief in compassion, kindness, positivity and forgiveness are laid bare in these songs. However, this never detracts from the sheer effervescence and exuberance that the album delivers in somewhat breath-taking fashion. The album draws to a close with Human, arguably the highlight track. What starts as an acoustic number, dripping with melancholy, builds to a spectacularly uplifting outro.

For an album so obviously concerned with optimism, the live shows promise to be nothing short of electric. In fact, the entire album feels like it was recorded purely to be played live – such is its anthemic quality.

Fever Dream Pts 1-4 is a magnificent album from an extraordinary artist. Given the current world we find ourselves in, it’s all too easy to lose hope and relax into cynicism.

Thankfully, national treasures can sometimes be relied upon to provide a perfect antidote.