A place to begin your vegan adventure
Many of us meat-eaters (myself included), tend to have misconceptions about vegan food. Dispelling many misgivings that people may have on veganism, Shashika Eranga who owns ‘ VoV’ - a vegan restaurant on Malalasekera Mawatha (Longdon Place) Colombo 7 aims to push the vegan movement to greater heights.
Veganism is a form of diet that abstains from consuming any form of animal product. Don’t confuse vegans with vegetarians, as vegans avoid even by-products made using animals such as milk and opt for plant- sourced produce (i.e. - almond milk, maple syrup, soy meat, etc).
Shashika’s journey to becoming a vegan, from being an avid meat eater, to a semivegetarian to a vegan happened in just three days.
In 2014, Shashika was already avoiding red meat as at that time there was a movement in Sri Lanka to stop eating red meat. Believing it was for a good cause, he went along with it although he did receive the usual teasing one expects from housemates when there are changes in your diet.
But his friends were supportive and one friend, also an environmentalist told him to check out a documentary called the ‘Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret’.
“The documentary opened up a lot of things for me and dumped a lot of facts on me as well. I did my own research the same day and then I came across the famous vegan activist Gary Yourofsky,” Shashika reminisces.
Yourofsky delivered the ‘The Famous Vegan Speech’ in 2001 that Shashika says remained relevant in 2014 and in present times as well. One thing that struck Shashika was when kids cringed at the sight of the animals being slaughtered, Yourofsky asks them,‘if it is not good enough for your eyes, why would it be good enough for your mouth?’
That was the moment Shashika turned vegetarian; another documentary ‘Earthling’ voiced by Joaquin Phoenix that he watched the next day tipped the scale and he decided he would become vegan.
“It took me around one year to get rid of my cravings for meat, especially my craving for dried fish which was my favourite.
However I went into spirituality and connected more with the Earth,” he shares.
Having lived in Vancouver since 2001, it was in October 2016 that Shashika came back to Sri Lanka to care for his ailing parents for a year. At that time, he only had a faint idea of opening a vegan pizza place as he had expected many vegan restaurants in Colombo due to the diet many people follow.
“I was shocked and disappointed that there weren’t any vegan restaurants. One thing that was common in vegans in Sri Lanka at that time was that everyone was thinking they were alone,” he recalls.
This is what motivated him to open up the first vegan restaurant in Sri Lanka on May 10 -Vesak Day, 2017. Although it has been quite a tumultuous journey with many ups and downs, Shashika now runs ‘ VoV’ with the help of his talented Chef Rohan Siriwardana who has 30 years of experience as an Executive Chef.
From salads, pasta, pizzas, burgers and soup; VoV has quite an impressive menu. As vegan burgers seemed the most interesting, we tried the ‘Dinklage’ which is a mock meat burger and the ‘Silverstone’ which is a vegan cheese burger.
Interestingly, many of the menu items are named after famous vegans. The Dinklage which looks like a batter fried patty looked quite interesting -- I thought it was chicken and my colleague assumed it was fish.
The Silverstone burger, is one that I will definitely come back again for. The ‘meat’ on the burger had a slight charred flavour that really captured the essence of a Bolognese sauce. Shashika tells us it is made through a complicated process of using gluten, legumes and more.
The burgers came with spice coated potato fries that had been fried in sunflower oil (sunflower oil is used in the VoV kitchen).
VoV’s Chocolate Milkshake was heavenly, from the creaminess of the soy milk and its strong chocolate flavour.
From their eco-friendly cutlery, friendly staff and fantastic food, VoV is one place to start to your venture into vegan waters!
Check out the VoV restaurant through their Instagram and Facebook pages using their handle @thevov_veganrestaurant and @thevov respectively.