In 2025, vegetarian cooking in India is extremely prominent. That is because tradition is linked to it. As people have started to become more concerned about their health and different kinds of dishes, vegetarian dishes are gaining a lot of popularity. Vegetarianism offers an extremely layered food culture which is full of ritual practices and regional cultures. Vegetarianism does not only mean abstaining from eating meat, it also signifies the importance of ahimsa or non violence. Hindus believe that vegetarian diets help in calming the mind, balancing all the chakras of the body and respecting the produce which is created according to the seasons.
Why Vegetarianism has become Popular in 2025
People have started to understand the disadvantages of eating processed food so they are looking for gluten free or grain free alternatives. For example, instead of eating white rice, they are eating millets in khichdi. There are cookbooks like ‘Plant Based India’ which are reinventing dishes by finding a substitute for dal makhani and navratan rice. People understand the ecological benefits of consuming vegetarian food, people are eating it to get a taste of seasonal vegetables, to reduce the waste on the planet and avoid using imported foods which have high carbon footprint.
Creative Vegetarian Recipes
Some people love to make jackfruit biryani by using jackfruit as a substitute for goat meat or chicken. They layer the biryani with basmati, saffron and spices. It mixes the festive grandeur of biryani with ingredients that are purely vegetarian. Jackfruit is known to have a very similar taste to meat so for people who are giving up on meat and moving towards a vegetarian diet, it is a very special dish.
Makhana laddoo is also a popular dish of 2025. They are a light form of sweets which are not heavily sugared but can be eaten as a snack for a change. If you eat this, your craving will be satisfied and you will be able to avoid fast food.
When frying a puri or a cheela or a pakora, many people use singhare ka atta or kuttu atta or rajgira which were originally traditional foods for fasting days. Now other people are using it because they want to eat healthy or they wish for an alternative to gluten.
Many cooks experiment by using paneer in South Indian dishes like in kurma, chettinad, kuzhu etc. They also slightly fry it so that it has the same regional taste.
Challenges
Some traditional ingredients like makhana or exotic millets can be very hard to source. If they can be sourced, they end up being extremely costly. Certain special recipes are only known within a small community or a group of families. Cooking techniques like fermenting or preserving which were very commonly used in village are less used in urban cities. There are some hindu purists who do not like any substitute ingredients as they want to resist any changes. They think it is a disrespect of ritual purity. Also, some traditional vegetarian preparations are high in ghee and sugar, so lowering the sugar can sometimes compromise the flavour of the dish by making it less sugary.
In conclusion, vegetarian recipes which are rooted in Hinduism are very relevant in 2025. They are not simply reminiscences of the past. They are made with beneficial ingredients that fortify the frame, concentration and soul. These dishes are heavily connected to the beliefs of ahimsa, satsang, regional identity and basic wellness. Vegetarian diets allow people to understand how foods are made a certain way and they tie that emotion of sacredness to the food. Vegetarianism is like a living practice which has evolved with time and only become better.
Author
Shreeja Mukherjee