Vegan Richa !

You can read Meet Richa Hingle to know Who is Richa. 

Visit Vegan Richa : A great Vegan Food Blog !

Lets start with our first question...

Me: What was your inspiration to start a food blog?

Richa Hingle: I was bored sitting at home after my surgery, not able to work on the computer for longer than 10 minutes, so I tried to find things that i could do without needing to spend time on a computer and started baking breads and to note the recipes, I started a recipe blog. I was already blogging on my personal blog before and after surgery, so I knew about blogging.

Me: What was an issue you struggled with in the beginning and how did you overcome it?

What  triggered the change from a non-vegeterian to a Vegan?

Richa Hingle: I started blogging about life post surgery and also personal opinions about things at Hypnagogic, then food blogging here at Vegan Richa, which was hobbyandmore then, and blogging about Dogs, adoption, fostering, rescue, connecting with rescues on social media, participating in fund raising and generally trying to find out anything that I could do to help save death row dogs. We adopted Chewie in 2008 from a rescue and then eventually started fostering in 2009.

I was blogging to keep me occupied and as I could work in the kitchen longer and on the machine longer, I picked up bread baking and then slowly kept branching out into other experiments.
As I got more involved in rescue groups on Facebook, found out more and more about animal testing etc, I also happened upon the term Vegan, vegan food blogs, and slowly all the connections started happening in my head. We went through a few months of eliminating things the house to non animal tested products, no meat, switching to pasture fed local cow milk, cage free eggs and the usual transition phase.

I don't really remember the exact day or month or exactly how I ended up on vegan Facebook groups and reading more and more vegan food blogs. Things just started falling into place. Adopting Chewie helped us make a deeper connection with other species and fostering brought us closer to the reality of how animals are treated for commercial use. One of our foster pups, Tuggie, was from a Puppy mill(dog factory farm). He was skin and bones, super scared of everything and never responded to anything. and he was the better of the lot of 30 odd pups rescued. It took him 3 weeks to show any emotion, to wag a tail, to show that he was happy about getting food or going for a walk. His condition both physical and mental also helped us understand the torture that is needed to change an animal's personality so much. It was heartbreaking. I realized that animals of all species have feelings, feel pain, have family and friends and feel the same way we feel about our kids.

I also found out about the huge number of animals that are slaughtered by the meat, dairy and egg industry. Especially the incessant torture and killing in the dairy and egg industry where millions of male chicks and male calves are discarded or killed because they are of no use. The demand for both is so high. Like in India, more than 10 millions baby calves are slaughtered.

I decided that i could not be caring for one animal like a dog like my own kid and then eat another similarly intelligent animal. So I decided to vegan. 

Me: Where do most of your recipes come from?

Richa Hingle: Some are things that I remember loving them when I was non-vegan. So I vegan-ize them to taste and feel the same as before like Indian desserts like gulab jamun, rasmalai, or cookies and cakes. Some others come randomly into my head when i head to the kitchen. Some are inspired by something i see online or in a restaurant. some are requests by readers.

Me:Do you make money from your blog? 

Richa Hingle: I make some money from ads on the log and some from my ebook sales. All of the money earned from the blog is donated to my favorite vegan charities and sanctuaries. The purpose of the blog is showcase the variety in plant based eating, There are more than 600 ways to do it right now on the blog. 

What it the most difficult part of being a vegan?

Beginning the transition is the most difficult part. There are several set ideas about what you eat because of years of conditioning by the marketing, cheap and easy availability of food. To open to a change is the biggest hurdle. It's like getting married or having a baby. Its a big change, filled with apprehension. But once you get married, things settle down to a normal life as if that is how you always were. You just have to start taking one step at a time, one meal at time and go from there. 

What has been the biggest challenge in your life, how did you over come it?

The biggest challenge has been being able to accept my disability and overcoming it is a work in progress. 

How important is photography in a food blog? 

It depends on your vision for your blog. There are several blogs that are successful even without professional food photography. Food that looks appetizing in pictures definitely reaches more people. 

What is your advice to a new food blogger?

Start a blog :) Read up food blogger resources on other famous food blogs and try o incorporate some as you go. Learn about your website reach, social media, food photography etc. Also, figure out if what you want out of the food blog. It is just your creative space or you want to use it to write cookbooks, or do something else. 

What gives you the strength to keep doing what you do?

The fact that there are 59 billion land and sea animals that are killed for food and other purposes just in the US and have no voice speaking for them. It is unnecessary and the same taste, texture and nutrition can be found in plant based food. We waste hours and hours on things like television, social media, games etc, Just A few minutes in a day to research and find an alternate option for food or use, can save 100s of lives. A meat, dairy, egg free diet choice just one day of the week means removing 8 million cars from the roads. 

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