Kolkata: The food paradise for vegans

If you are vegan and are visiting Bengal, you need not worry about your diet. Bengali cuisine leaves you spoilt for choice with its wide variety of vegetables and non-dairy food. 

It’s not for nothing that Kolkata was crowned the most vegan-friendly city by PETA India in 2025. Here’s a sample of what you can pamper your vegan tastebuds with:

Bengali food gets its characteristic taste and edge from the pungency of mustard oil (sorsher tel). Traditionally, most Bengali food is cooked in mustard oil, thus making sure you can avoid ghee or butter.

Rice is central to most major meals but there are other plant-based options as well — roti made of whole wheat; paratha, luchi or kochuri made of flour. 

A wide variety of dals are part of everyday fare, each seasoned differently to give them a distinct taste. Musoor or moong, chhola, kolai (urad) or arhar — dals are protein-rich and make for a hearty side dish.  

Lentil cakes (dhoka) are cooked and eaten in a curry.

Bengali cuisine is a celebration of fresh produce, using almost every part of a plant — from roots to flowers and from vegetable peel to leafy greens. Start your meal with teto or bitters — uchhe bhaja (fried bitter gourd) or neem begun (neem leaves fried with brinjal), move on to shaak (fried leafy greens). In the villages, leafy vegetables are often eaten for breakfast with khuder bhat (broken rice).  

Vegetable fritters are often served as an accompaniment to dal and rice while bhortas and batas (vegetable mash tempered with spices) add a rustic element to the meal. Vegetable peel is often turned into a paste, seasoned and drizzled with mustard oil or fried — each version a delicacy. 

Seasonal vegetables are at the heart of a Bengali meal and every vegetable can be cooked in multiple ways to add variety to the plate. For instance, you have potoler dalna (pointed gourd and potatoes cooked in a gravy) or potol sorshe (cooked with mustard paste) to name a few. 

The banana plant is a unique example where every part is consumed — banana flower or mocha made into a ghonto (mishmash) or chop, banana stem or thor eaten as ghonto, unripe bananas eaten in curries or as kofta. 

The ultimate comfort food in Bengali vegetarian fare is of course alu posto (potatoes cooked with poppy seed paste).

Indulge in vegan options such as alur chop (spiced potato fritters), beguni (brinjal fritters) or peyaji (onion fritters). Singara (Bengali samosa with a filling of potato, peanuts and cauliflowers added in winter) are another favourite.

Chanachur with tea is an integral part of the Kolkata tradition of adda.

If you are in Kolkata, you can’t miss the street food and here too vegans are spoilt for choice. Phuchka – crisp, puffed balls of semolina filled with a spicy potato mash and dipped in tangy tamarind water — you will lose count as you gorge on them.

Jhalmuri, a crunchy mix of puffed rice, peanuts, mustard oil and spices, served in paper cones, is an all-time favourite.

Ghugni — a hearty snack made with yellow peas, spiced and topped with onions, chillies and chutneys — is another healthy and tasty option.

No Bengali meal is complete without sweets. Don’t worry if you have to stay away from chhena sweets, make sure to try sweets made of coconut — narkel or tiler naaru (coconut or sesame laddoo, badam patali (chikki) — or even dal. 

During festivals like Poush Sankranti, pithes (made of rice or semolina and stuffed with coconut and jaggery) are a treat. Bengal’s winter specialty, khejur gur (date palm jaggery) is also vegan.