My name is Alka (“like Alka Seltzer,” I like to say).
I’m from India, but my family moved to Canada when I was three. I grew up in Windsor, Ontario, which is the automotive capital of Canada and is just across the border from Detroit. I like to point out that the iconic photographs of the Detroit skyline are taken from Windsor. My background is in academia, but I’ve thought of myself more as an activist since I was about 18 (I’m 47 now). I’m passionate about many issues, but I believe in working where the need is the greatest, which is why I work for animal rights.
What led you to becoming vegan and when did you become vegan?
My family is Hindu, so I was actually raised as a lacto‐vegetarian. It was something I resented, though, because our diet represented yet another way we were different from our friends and
neighbors. When I was about 14, I secretly planned to change my religion when I got older so that I
could eat meat and be like everyone else. My plans were foiled, however: when I was an
undergraduate student, I came across an article in our student newspaper on animal
experimentation. I was a progressive student on campus and I prided myself on having my finger on the pulse of what was happening in the world, but this article opened my eyes to so many issues about which I knew nothing. I learned that animals were used in painful experiments to test cosmetics and household products, and that absurd and mind‐bogglingly cruel experiments were being conducted on university campuses, often funded by taxpayers. This was 1983 – so 27 years ago – but I’ll never forget the description of one experiment that was happening at the University of Ottawa where rats were starved for as many as five days.
The experimenters would place some food mash outside the rats’ cages at varying distances from the rats to measure how far the rats would stick out their tongues to lap up the mash in their hunger.
Interview with Renowned
Activist Dr. Alka Chandna, PhD of PETA!
About a month later, I suggested to my editor that we should write another piece on “the animal issue,” and he agreed and assigned the story to me.
I spoke with animal experimenters on campus to get their side of the story; I learned that there were such things as “animal rights groups” – even in my hometown of Windsor, Ontario – and I got their literature; and I went to the library and found Peter Singer’s Animal Liberation, and it was hook, line and sinker – that was my conversion.
The writings of Peter Singer, Ingrid Newkirk, and Tom Regan introduced me to the fact of factory farming and the ethical problems with consuming meat, eggs, and dairy. I’m embarrassed to admit, however, that it wasn’t until 1989, when I read John Robbins’ masterwork, Diet for a New America, that I finally went vegan (for people who haven’t read it, I recommend the updated version, “Food Revolution”).
Did becoming vegan lead to your activism or was it the other way around? Have you always been an activist in one endeavor or another?
It was certainly my activism that led to my
veganism;
although I tend to think of the two issues as being part of an integral whole. When we sit down to eat a vegan meal, we live our values. By being vegan, we actively support the rights of animals to live a life free of abuse and harassment, and we make a statement opposing cruelty. Being vegan is the essence of activism. But, when we, as vegans, know what we know about the amount of suffering endured by animals, it seems natural that we would want to speak up at every opportunity and
let people know what they’re supporting when they choose to eat meat, dairy, and eggs.
How did you become involved with PETA?
Shortly after I wrote the article on animal rights for my student paper, I started an animal rights group at my campus. This was in the mid‐80s—the pre‐
Internet era—so I began writing to various groups for information and resources. PETA was certainly the most responsive; they sent us binders with factsheets and literature that we could pass out on campus. They would lend us videotapes of their undercover investigations for free and we would show these on campus. For a student group operating on a shoe string budget, PETA was a tremendous resource—and they always made themselves available to us. I remember calling Dan Mathews of PETA’s Communications Department to ask for his help brainstorming signs for a protest we were organizing. He may have had Chrissie Hynde in the room with him, but he made time to brainstorm slogans with me. I was really impressed by that. In 1987, I sent some of my articles to Ingrid Newkirk, and she sent me a postcard thanking me for my work—I still have that postcard! A couple of years after that, we invited Ingrid to speak at our campus, the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario. Western is a huge vivisection campus and Ingrid’s talk was attended by more than 150 vivisectors. They were rude and ill‐
mannered, but she was the epitome of grace under fire—and she quickly exposed their argument s for the self‐serving rubbish that they were. But I didn’t send my job application to PETA just then. I was finishing my Ph.D. in mathematics at the time, and then I taught for five years at a university in
Canada. I worked for another 4 years at a computer company in Silicon Valley. Through all of that time, I was running grassroots animal rights groups and volunteering for PETA and other groups. But, at a certain point, I decided that I didn’t want to do
animal rights only on weekends and after‐hours; I wanted to work for animal rights full‐time. So, I applied to PETA and landed a job. That was 2002.
It must be rewarding, but incredibly difficult working in that type of environment. How did you overcome the challenges of doing so and how has that made you grow?
It can be overwhelming to be confronted with so much cruelty and abuse; but it’s also gratifying and empowering to know that our efforts can make a difference. I think the trick is to focus on what we can change, and to not allow ourselves to become demoralized over what we may not be able to change today. For example, in Norfolk, where PETA is headquartered, PETA provides straw and dog houses for dogs who are forced to live outdoors in the wintertime, and whose owners (because you really can’t call them guardians!) may not provide any shelter beyond a metal trash can. During the winter months, PETA employees volunteer to go out into the community, delivering straw and dog houses to these dogs – offering food, toys, and a little affection. Driving up and down those streets, it’s easy to become overwhelmed with grief for the amount of suffering in the world. But, if we focus on the warmth and joy that we are able to provide to one dog, we can find the strength to continue our work.
As part of my work at PETA, I spend a lot of time watching video footage shot by our undercover investigators inside laboratories. It’s painful to watch this video, but when I feel overwhelmed, I think of what it must have been like for our undercover investigator to be right there in the room, witnessing the abuse firsthand, and of course, what it must be like to be the animal experiencing the abuse.
In my off‐hours, I spend a lot of time passing out vegetarian leaflets and I take great solace in the fact that each person who accepts a leaflet is made a bit more aware of how animals are treated on factory farms. I also know that each person who reads the leaflet is a potential vegetarian who would then save 100 animals per year from unimaginable suffering.
You’ve done quite a bit as an activist. What would you say your top two major
accomplishments are?
Everything at PETA is a major group effort. But, I’ll tell you about two projects on which I had the privilege to work. One was PETA’s undercover investigation inside Covance, a mammoth contract testing laboratory that tests drugs, insecticides, industrial chemicals, tobacco and other products on monkeys, dogs, and other animals. PETA’s investigator worked as a primate technician at Covance for 11 months, through which time she wore a hidden camera and took meticulous notes on what was happening to animals in the facility. I had the privilege of writing PETA’s complaint that was sent to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. As a result of the investigation and complaint,
Covance was cited and fined for serious violations of the Animal Welfare Act. Recently, we learned that the Covance laboratory where PETA
conducted its investigation is closing its doors
forever. The second project involved an undercover investigation that PETA conducted at a facility called Professional Laboratory and Research Services (PLRS), in Corapeake, N.C. I was again asked to write PETA’s complaint to the USDA. One week after we filed our complaint with the USDA, inspectors descended on the facility and a few days after that, the lab was closed; and nearly 200 dogs and more than 50 cats were surrendered and placed in shelters.
Now for the food side! What is your favorite recipe that you cook at home?
It’s really hard to choose a favorite because I cook a lot (it’s my meditation and my creative outlet). I make a lot of Indian food. One of our favorite meals is curried chickpeas served with cauliflower and potatoes. We cheat a little and buy pre‐made rotis (Indian flat bread). We also love simple foods.
We go to our local Farmers’ Market every Saturday and come home with armloads of fresh vegetables.
I usually spend a couple of hours on Saturday afternoon, listening to music, and cooking up the veggies – sautéing the leafy greens in garlic, ginger, and chili paste; roasting squash, Brussels sprouts, and sweet potatoes with red onion and garlic;
boiling beets; and frying up potatoes. And, we love soups: I have a recipe for mushroom cashew crème
soup from Ken Bergeron that I’ve been making for more than 10 years.
Do you have any favorite places to go out and eat or do you find yourself doing most of the cooking?
We’re in Baltimore these days, and there are some nice vegan and vegan‐friendly places, including Red Emma’s, a workers’ collective bookstore/café that serves up hot Tofurky melts and vegan cinnamon buns, and the World Café, a vegetarian café that’s adjacent to Johns Hopkins University where they make killer curries and they do a nice vegan Sunday dinner, with vegan meatloaf, mashed potatoes and collard greens. But we mostly eat at home.
What is the key to prospering in the kitchen, for the new vegans out there? (and there seem to be plenty!)
I think the key is to have faith in yourself and your ingredients. When you’re making vegan food, you’re working with really great ingredients – vegetables, grains, beans, pasta, herbs, spices – and you don’t have to worry about tenderizing pieces of animal muscle or treating your kitchen like a biohazard laboratory. So, I think it’s a lot easier to prosper in a vegan kitchen than a non‐
vegan one.
Another key is to keep things simple. Simple dishes – roasted vegetables, lentil soup, pasta salads, and rice pilafs – are a snap to prepare, delicious and nourishing. You can build a foundation with these dishes and keep them as your staples, as you branch out to include more challenging recipes in your repertoire.
I find that it’s helpful to post a list of dishes that I enjoy making on my refrigerator door. Sometimes I don’t have the mental energy to figure out what to make, and the default can be to reach for the
frozen veggie burgers; but if I read “vermicelli stir‐
fry with peanut sauce and frozen veggies” on my list, I know I can make that in less than 10 minutes (boil water, add vermicelli and cook for 2 minutes, drain; heat frozen veggies (edamame mixes work well) in microwave oven; make peanut sauce by adding water, soy sauce, and rice vinegar to peanut butter, possibly adding a bit of ginger, garlic, and Sriracha sauce for a bit of a kick – ta da!!).
It helps to find a cookbook author you really like. I have a lot of favorites, but my all‐time favorites are Robin Robertson and Isa Chandra Moskowitz. I know that anything that I make from their
cookbooks will be stellar, the first time I make it.
Do you have any advice for budding activists?
I think the best advice I could offer would be that people read Animal Activist’s Handbook, by Mall Ball and Bruce Friedrich
(www.animaladvocacybook.com). Remember, every person you talk with about veganism and animal rights is a victory. Every leaflet you pass out, every person who sees your animal rights T‐shirt or bumper sticker; all of these little things are
victories for animals.
What’s on the horizon for you?
A glass of wine!
Thanks Alka!
Contact Info
You can reach Alka at [email protected] and see some of her work at www.peta.org.
Dr. Alka Chandna, Ph.D.
Laboratory Oversight Specialist
Dr. Alka Chandna has been working in progressive politics for more than 25 years. The daughter of a man who agitated in the streets for Indian
independence and a woman who would only wear khadi (the homespun cotton promoted by
Mahatma Gandhi as part of the campaign against British colonial rule in India), Alka often jokes that she had no choice but to become an activist.
Infuriated by Ronald Reagan’s discussion of
“limited” nuclear war and his delivery of a full‐scale war against the poor, Alka got her start in activism by organizing with the Students for Nuclear
Disarmament at the University of Windsor in Ontario. Working with Tools for Peace—a Nicaraguan solidarity organization—and myriad economic justice, feminist, pro‐choice, and environmental groups, Alka has been using
alternative broadcast and print media to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”
In 1989, Alka’s visit to a slaughterhouse gave new meaning to the notions of voicelessness and nonviolence. Since then, she has been actively involved in the animal rights and vegetarian advocacy movements. She has written articles for student newspapers, hosted animal rights shows on three campus radio stations and on Free Radio Berkeley, and founded and directed an animal rights group at the University of Western Ontario.
Alka has worked as a publicist for Erik Marcus, author of Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating, and served for two years as the president of the San Francisco Vegetarian Society. As founder and director of the Food and Social Justice Project, Alka has worked at a grassroots level, drawing
connections between food choices and other social justice concerns.
At PETA, Alka works as a laboratory oversight specialist, focusing on animal experimentation issues. She helped launch PETA’s Animal Savings Club, which encourages cruelty‐free spending. Alka ran PETA’s campaign against Columbia University, which called for an end to a number of egregiously cruel experiments. More recently, Alka wrote PETA’s 273‐page complaint against Covance (a contract testing laboratory) for violations of the Animal Welfare Act. As a result of PETA’s efforts, Covance was cited and fined by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture. Alka is currently spearheading PETA’s efforts to exhort laboratory oversight bodies, called Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees, to fulfill their legally
mandated responsibilities.
Before coming to PETA, Alka served for five years as a tenured professor of mathematics at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John’s,
Newfoundland.
Alka, 47, lives in Baltimore, Md.
Please tell us a little bit about yourself!
Raised in Oklahoma, art school dropout (after one semester), became a commercial illustrator in Dallas, got married, had two daughters. Got signed as a syndicated cartoonist in '85, lived in Dallas until 2002 when I married for a second time and moved to NYC.
What led you to become vegan? Was it a gradual change or did it happen quickly?
A little of both. I'd always been very compassionate toward animals but tended to turn a blind eye to my diet believing that eating animals was just what humans did to stay alive. When I met and began dating my current wife, Ashley Lou Smith, in 2001, I began learning about what goes on in factory farms, circuses, fur farms, etc. I began seeing things differently almost immediately and a weekend trip to Farm Sanctuary in upstate NY changed me in a single stroke. I went there as an occasional meat eater, but left as a vegan and have never looked back.
You’re a fairly prolific cartoonist. What got you into doing that? Is it something you’ve always been interested in doing?
I was a prodigious artist as a child and always wanted to be an artist. I thought I'd be a painter, like Picasso, but could not make ends meet after I
quit art school and immediately got into
commercial illustration. It was good money and better than working in an office but I really disliked the lack of creativity. Cartooning was a way to combine some creativity with immediate
commercial compensation. I'd always been a funny guy who could draw, so I was well suited to it.
Working in the arts is not an easy job. What
obstacles did you face getting Bizarro off the ground and how did you overcome them?
I was (and am) very shy, so visiting the offices
of magazine editors and pitching my work was out of the question. So I drew cartoons and sent them off in the mail to the handful of companies that syndicate newspaper cartoons. After a couple of years of submitting and getting rejection letters in return, I got a call from an editor at Chronicle Features in San Francisco who was interested in developing me. We worked together for about six months and they launched Bizarro in January of '85.