Mumbai — Why would the son of the founder of the world’s largest ice cream company, Baskin-Robbins, write a book advising people not to eat ice cream? Because, says John Robbins—author of The Food Revolution, which just arrived in India—adopting a vegan diet can help us save ourselves, the animals and even the Earth.

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The Food Revolution is an easy-to-read, no-nonsense book that carefully and unrelentingly outlines the devastation that results from the consumption of animal products. Says Robbins, ‘The research is clear: A meat-based diet destroys our health, uses up our precious resources, leads to starvation and causes tremendous suffering to our fellow beings. This is as true in India as it is in America. But change is possible—and there is great hope for the future.’

Robbins is an unlikely proponent of a dairy- and meat-free lifestyle. He is the son of the founder of Baskin-Robbins, whose chain of shops stretches around the world, including across India. He grew up in a mansion with an ice cream cone-shaped swimming pool in the backyard and sometimes ate ice cream for breakfast. As the only son of the founder, Robbins was expected to step into the leadership of the company, carry on the business and increase the family fortune. It would have been a life of luxury and ease. But Robbins noticed that even as his family members’ bank accounts grew, their health declined. Many of his relatives struggled with obesity, his father developed diabetes and high blood pressure and his uncle died of a heart attack in midlife.

So Robbins turned his back on ice cream, as well as on cheese, milk, meat and eggs, and rejected his role as heir to Baskin-Robbins. Over the next decade, he examined the growing mountain of evidence that Western eating habits at the time—ham and eggs for breakfast, cheeseburgers for lunch and chicken for dinner—were destroying human health, causing untold suffering to animals and destroying the planet. He wrote of his research in his first book, Diet for a New America, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1987

Diet for a New America, along with increasing scientific evidence and animal rights campaigns, helped Americans begin a change that continues today. Vegetarianism is everywhere in the country now, but even so, says Robbins in his new book, heart disease kills more than 100 people every hour in the US, making it the top killer. Robbins cites studies proving that vegetarians have the lowest rates of heart disease and only half the risk of death from heart disease that meat- and dairy-eaters face.

The timing couldn’t be better. Even as an increasing number of Westerners are turning to healthy vegetables, pulses, fruits and grains, Indians are eating more animal products than ever—and the increase in cases of heart disease proves how disastrous this course is. Heart disease is the number one killer in the world—a statistic that will soon affect India. The World Health Organisation reports that by 2015—just 13 years away—cases of heart disease will double in India. Robbins calls this ‘the globalisation of disease’.

The East’s adoption of the old Western diet spreads more than disease; it brings starvation and the destruction of precious land. Writes Robbins, ‘Virtually all of the chickens and poultry now reside in gigantic indoor facilities where their diets include grain and [soya bean] meal. Most cattle spend their last months in feedlots where they gorge on grain and [soya] beans. Overall, nearly 40 per cent of the world’s grain is fed to livestock. And the nations that eat the most meat dedicate the largest share of their grain to fattening livestock. … The more grain that is fed to livestock, the less is left to feed people.’

It’s only possible to grow enough grain to feed to animals by over-pumping the Earth’s aquifers for irrigation. This is disastrous for India, Robbins points out, because aquifer depletion will soon result in a 25 per cent decrease in India’s grain harvest. Meat production also leads to the destruction of rain forests, topsoil depletion, the massive use of polluting fossil fuels and the increase in greenhouse gases thought to be responsible for global warming.

The Food Revolution also discusses the plight of the animals raised and slaughtered for the table. Robbins writes, ‘It might seem obvious that animals born with bones and muscles are meant to move. But modern animal factories have found it pays to virtually immobilise animals in crates and cages. And although animals clearly have distinct social needs, factory farms now find it in their financial interest to raise billions of animals in conditions that so completely disregard these needs as to violate the animals’ biological natures. … When I look out into the world, I see the forces that would bring us disaster. I see the deep night of unthinkable cruelty and blindness.’

But Robbins holds hope in his heart. He sees millions of people in the West rejecting the cruelty and destruction of a meat-based diet and hopes that this will spread throughout the world. He writes, ‘… I also look within the human heart and find something of love there, something that cares and shines out into the dark universe like a bright beacon. And in the shining of that light, I feel the dreams and prayers of all beings.’

Says screen and television actor Pamela Anderson, ‘I urge everyone to buy or borrow The Food Revolution. It will change your life. I am healthier—and have a clear conscience—since I stopped eating animal corpses.’

Please visit our Web site www.PETAIndia.com for vegan recipes and tips.