{"id":16489,"date":"2020-11-23T10:00:31","date_gmt":"2020-11-23T15:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/?p=16489"},"modified":"2020-11-09T12:13:23","modified_gmt":"2020-11-09T17:13:23","slug":"dilip-barman-vegan-activist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/2020\/11\/23\/dilip-barman-vegan-activist\/","title":{"rendered":"Dilip Barman: Vegan Activist"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By Lucia Rivera, VRG Intern<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vegan advocacy comes in many forms for Dilip Barman, a\ntwenty-year vegan himself. For over 20 years Barman has worked with the\nTriangle Vegetarian Society, based in North\n Carolina. \u201cI’ve been a vegan advocate for a long\ntime. What interested me in vegan activism, was just helping to get the word\nout. But the nice thing about veganism is it’s appealing on so many levels.\nIt’s, as you know, good for the environment, the best thing you can do for the\nenvironment,\u201d Barman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     One of the biggest\nprojects Barman helps lead as president of the Triangle Vegetarian Society is\nthe largest vegan Thanksgiving dinner in the United States. \u201cDuring the\npandemic, I’m ramping up for our big event. We host the country’s biggest\nvegetarian Thanksgiving. So we’re recrafting it for takeout. But normally, you\nknow, we have Thanksgiving, which keeps me very busy in November and late\nOctober. We used to sell out the restaurant in less than two minutes,\u201d Barman\nsaid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     In addition to the\nbig Thanksgiving dinner and other potlucks, Dilip maintains a social media\naccount and sends out a newsletter for the Triangle Vegetarian Society. The\npandemic has also impacted the way that Dilip does vegan advocacy and education\nas a Food for Life instructor, as healthy eating plays an important role during\na health crisis. \u201c[At] Food for Life we’re evidence based and so we can’t\npromise that if you become vegan, or whole food plant-based, you won’t get\nCOVID. But something like 94% of the fatalities, people who’ve died of COVID\nhave had underlying conditions like diabetes, or heart disease or cancer, and\nobesity, and every single one of these can be largely prevented, managed,\nreversed perhaps with the whole plant-based diet,\u201d Barman said. \u201cWe can’t\npromise you won’t get it. But if you are whole food plant-based, the chances of\nyou dying from it or having terrible outcomes are greatly diminished. And so\nthat’s one thing we’ve been doing to address COVID.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Barman became a\nFood For Life instructor after the local instructor in his area retired and\nBarman\u2019s wife suggested he apply. After submitting cooking videos and\ndemonstrating he was qualified for the job, Dilip was accepted and now \u201cloves\u201d\nbeing a Food for Life instructor and teaching groups of around 15 about whole\nfood plant-based eating. Being part of this program has helped him change his\nown perspective on veganism. \u201cI was a vegan, [but] I wasn’t whole food\nplant-based and I wasn’t necessarily healthy. It’s funny, when I\u2019d go grocery\nshopping, I\u2019d always pick up a bag of potato chips, or corn chips or something.\nAnd my wife pointed out before I even became an instructor, this is just empty\ncalories, this junk food, \u2018why are you buying it?\u2019 And I tell my students the\nsame thing. So I stopped,\u201d Barman said. \u201cTwo big impacts [from working with\nFood for Life] is that I do some cool activism in the schools and I started a\nhealthy snack program, which has been really exciting. And it’s impacted K-4\ndirectly and indirectly, fifth through eighth graders, and the nutrition\neducation director of a school.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     As part of Food for\nLife, Dilip also is involved with the So Many Cooks in the Kitchen show, which\nis aired by the Plant Based Network. \u201cIt’s really neat, because I’m the orchestrator\nand it’s really fun just kind of organizing all of us. And so, Food for Life is\none of the only groups that I’m super, super comfortable with. What I like\nabout it is we’re all so good. We all have different ways of teaching and we’re\nall super knowledgeable, by definition, the way Physicians Committee selects\nus. I love it and I love the fact that we reach people all over the world. And\nI love that we’re putting together all these recipes. I love that we have a\nkids program.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Beyond the So Many\nCooks in the Kitchen kids program, Dilip works with children in other ways.\nHowever, he noted, educating kids on vegan diets differs from his work with\nadults. \u201cYou really have to be careful. when I go into the schools, and even in\nour kids class Physicians Committee has a Food for Life kids class. With kids,\nwe don’t pass value. What I do in my classes is, I say, \u2018I know something about\nnutrition, but I’m going to share with you ways that I know that are healthy\neating, but always ask your parents what’s the best thing because I don’t know\nyou as well as your parents,\u2019\u201d Barman said. He also runs the Healthy Snack\nProgram, influenced by his work as a Food for Life instructor, which funds\nhealthy eating in schools where there are often kids facing food insecurity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Dilip also was\nExecutive Producer for the documentary Code Blue, and regularly writes for\nlocal papers and magazines about vegan eating. He also is the North American\nRepresentative for the International Vegetarian Union. Although he balances his\ntime through so many varying causes and programs, Dilip finds that it all comes\ndown to teaching others. \u201cOne way [all my jobs intersect] is through my\ndaughter, because she’s a sixth grader, and we homeschool. She’s my priority\nand where I spend most of my time. And she’s, in many ways, more ethical vegan\nthan I am. She’s really neat. So I guess it all comes together really in\nteaching her and teaching other people. I love teaching.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      For those who are\nnot yet vegan, but want to develop a healthier vegan diet, Barman expresses the\nneed for good education. \u201cIf you’re not a vegan, I’d encourage people to find\nout about it. Read any number of books, read the VRG [Vegetarian Resource\nGroup] Vegetarian<\/em> Journal<\/em>, which is an excellent vegan magazine,\nand join the Plant Based Network, watch So Many Cooks in the Kitchen. Take a\nFood for Life Class, there’s so much so much good information out there. So\nfind out about it, and try to improve your diet. Understand that most doctors\ndon’t know much about this, but take charge of your own health and eat more\nplants,\u201d Barman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     On the other hand,\nBarman expressed the importance of gentle vegan advocacy, and meeting people\nwhere they are. \u201cIf you are a vegan, try to be a better role model. I would\nencourage people, if you’re vegan, to also focus on being a healthy vegan and\nconsider moving, you know, a little bit closer to whole food plant-based, which\nmeans eating foods with minimal processing, that looks more or less the way\nMother Nature grew it,\u201d Barman said. \u201cConsider moving more towards a whole food\nplant-based diet, limiting your fat and maximizing your fiber. So that you’re a\ngood role model, so you live for a long time, and so that you’re healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information about The Triangle Vegetarian Society,\nsee: https:\/\/www.trianglevegsociety.org\/<\/a>\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Lucia Rivera, VRG Intern Vegan advocacy comes in many forms for Dilip Barman, a twenty-year vegan himself. For over 20 years Barman has worked with the Triangle Vegetarian Society, based in North Carolina. \u201cI’ve been a vegan advocate for a long time. What interested me in vegan activism, was just helping to get the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16489"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16491,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16489\/revisions\/16491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}