Goa has a line of unique local food to offer, especially inspired by so many cultures. To truly experience this local culture, you must immerse yourself in the local food. Therefore a trip to Goa without bingeing on local desserts like caramel pudding to serradura is a trip half done.
While the non-vegetarians and eggetarians can easily try these desserts available in local shops and bakeries, vegetarians and vegans have to say no. This is because eggs and dairy are major ingredients in most of these desserts.
So how can you experience these desserts if you are vegetarian, pro-vegan or just exploring veganism during Veganuary.
All about Veganuary
Veganuary is a plant-based worldwide revolution and a non-profit organisation that encourages people to try vegan. It is inspired and supported by more than 620,000 people from over 220 countries to try vegan in 2022, according to Veganuary.com .
It is a way of protecting the environment and preventing animal suffering. The number of people who signed up from India were 65,000 plus.
Finding vegan in Goa
Even though there are vegan restaurants up north or further south in Goa, there are almost none in the cities of Panjim and Margao. But here are two home bakers who make vegan Goan desserts and are as good as the original variants.
These are also loved by non-vegetarians and eggetarians, too, who are looking for a slight change.
Caramel by Neela
Neela first made the Classic Caramel using her own recipe in 1996 and has been a hit ever since with her friends and family. However, since 2021, looking at the popular demand, she started packaging this very creamy, shiny delicious pudding and had happy customers.
Since the original recipe contained eggs, she found a way to substitute them and created an eggless variant for the vegetarians who wanted to experience it. She didn’t stop there and managed to create the dairy-free caramel custard variant called Carribean Caramel which was perfect for vegans as well as lactose-intolerant folks.
The packaging is single-use plastic-free and can be returned clean. This one can be picked up or delivered via Swiggy Genie.
DETAILS
PRICE: Rs 699 onwards for Caribbean Caramel
LOCATION: Panjim
CONTACT: 9923037028
INSTAGRAM: @caramel.by.neela
SusheGateaux Patisserie
Deepa Bandekar has been a pastry chef since years for fun and dived into it professionally as she trained and worked abroad. She brought together the Goan Sushegaad meaning life of contentment and Gateaux meaning a rich cake only a year ago in 2021 through her pastries.
She stepped it up by creating vegan variants of Baath, a local coconut cake that she grew up eating as well the ever popular Serradura, a creamy Portuguese-inspired dessert with biscuit crumbs.
Both come plastic free and can be picked up.
Price: 240 INR onwards
Location: Margao
Phone number: 7559342821
Instagram: @sushegateaux