Jayalaxmi Rai

I had a background in Graphic Design ,Teaching & Event management. I went Vegan after watching Earthlings on insistance by my brother Aanand Rai and close pal Melina & listening to an instructor at SSY talk about the cruelty in the milk & meat industry . This was in 2014 & I have never looked back since. The thought of starting a restaurant was in my head for a few years and once I went vegan I ofcourse had to make sure it was a 100% Vegan joint. I was working in Dubai at the time with my mother and helping out with her Kindergarten school.

I spent 3 years researching and experimentation before starting Granny's Bowl. I came down to Pune in 2016 and started Granny's Bowl on the 1st of October 2016. Granny's Bowl is dedicated to my Grandmother who was a symbol of silent strength and was a Master Chef in her own right. Granny's Bowl has and will always be a Labour of love. I have also drawn incredible inspiration from my aunt Nirmala Shetty who is a constant guiding light on my journey & a spectacular chef. I ran Granny's Bowl as an outlet in & then moved operations to a cloud kitchen since it made more sense financially. I have hands on experience cooking vegan food for the past 4+ years. I have dished out daily meals & have also conducted a range of workshops across the country. Granny's Bowl has also been built and held up by a bunch of very loyal customers (now family). I loved customising meals to suit our customers needs. I love experimenting and veganising everything. I had a few signature dishes and hot favourites. The Mock Meat Biryani, Raw Vegan Tiramisu, Mac n cheese and Tofu Zinger Burger are among a few. I also specialise in dishing out Raw Vegan starters, mains and desserts, Raw Vegan Cakes, Whole foods, Oil-Free Meals as well as Multi Cusine Catering. I had also introduced Smoothies & Spreads to our range. The Motto at Granny's Bowl is give us a non-vegan dish and we will try our best to veganise it. I also believe that cooking is a soulful journey so always add a lot of love and a bit of your soul into the experience and the one you serve will always be pleased.

I am now an Animal Rights Activist and the co-ordinator/in-house vegan chef with the Animal Climate and Health Save Foundation. I love experimenting and coming up with new easy/lazy vegan recipes as well as share valuable information on how you can get your health back in your hands by choosing to eat kindly. I also operate as an inhouse food consultant and as part of our Restaurant activism I help restaurants & cafe's add vegan menus to make vegan food easily accessible to everyone. My mission in life is to let people know how easy it is to go vegan and to do this with kindness. “Love truly does start on you plate”.