OUR STORY
The Ahimsa café concept came into being in the mountains of Nepal and Tibet on the journey to Mount Kailash in August 2014. Mohanji (who was leading the pilgrimage) discussed this idea with Vijay, our Managing Director. Mohanji’s view was that it was no use preaching to people about adopting a cruelty free vegan diet if there were no places for people to eat affordable vegan food!
It was at that point that the seed for Ahimsa the Vegan café in London was sown. Mohanji’s idea was that this would inspire the creation of more fast food vegan cafés/restaurants across the world as an antidote to the cruelty and suffering inflicted by the traditional meat and dairy filled fast food joints. The first step in the realisation of this vision was the opening of the Ahimsa The Vegan café in Pinner, North West London in December 2016.
What we do...
Our main offerings are a variety of breakfast dishes, healthy bowls and freshly made wraps with a choice of tasty vegan fillings. The bowls can be highly customised to include rice or quinoa with a choice of hot dishes (which include home made falafels, curries, dhals and bean dishes) plus a selection of tasty salads and home made sauces. In addition, we offer vegan burgers and some sweet treats such as pancakes with blueberries drizzled with maple syrup as well as waffles with a choice of ice cream.
The food is freshly prepared daily by loving hands, a mix of healthy or indulgent, the choice is yours! We also offer organic cakes and lots of drinks too. Choose from a selection of healthy fresh fruit smoothies and freshly squeezed juices. Our hot vegan drinks including premium teas, barista specialty coffees, hot chocolate, turmeric latte, chai latte and matcha latte, all made using a variety of healthy plant based milks.
Ahimsa is our Philosophy
Ahimsa is a word that comes from the ancient Sanskrit language which in its simplest form means ‘not to injure’. It is a tenet of many different traditions throughout the world. It has multiple forms of expression such as in our thoughts, words and actions. Ahimsa is not just the absence of causing harm but has other dimensions and facets as a consequence of not causing harm. When Ahimsa is expressed regularly and completely it becomes Love, service, compassion and kindness to other people, animals and the environment.
Ahimsa can be defined as respect for all living things and avoidance of violence towards others. The highest expression of Ahimsa in our diet is adopting a vegan diet as this naturally means less animals slaughtered, less damage to our health, less damage to the environment and less damage to the ecosystem which supports a wide variety of life forms.
Veganism is a way of living which seeks to exclude, as far as is possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose.
We Support
We support two charities: ACT Foundation (www.actfoundation.org) and ACT 4 Hunger (www.act4hunger.org). Both of these charities are close to our heart because they aim to serve exclusively vegan food to humans as well as animals.
ACT Foundation is a global network of charities that aims to relieve poverty and help the poor by providing food, shelter, clothing, medicine and education to the underprivileged all across the world.
ACT 4 Hunger is a global charitable platform which has the simple aim of providing food to the hungry. The motto of ACT 4 Hunger is “food beyond boundaries” which is an acknowledgement that when it comes to serving food to the hungry there should be no boundaries such as species, nationality, race, culture, religion etc. Food should be served to anyone who needs it and that includes the animals, birds and fishes that share this beautiful space on earth with us and who are so important to the preservation of our delicate ecosystem.
The core principle of both ACT 4 Hunger and ACT Foundation is Ahimsa (non violence) hence both organisations seek to alleviate hunger by aiming to serve exclusively vegan food. They share our belief that alleviating hunger of humans by exploitation of animals and killing them for food is cruel and counterproductive.
