cntraveller | In India, food is not just for the body, but also for the soul

When chef Pietro Leemann opened Joia—an all-vegetarian restaurant, with a menu that’s 80% vegan and gluten-free—in Milan in 1989, he couldn’t possibly have imagined the vegetarian movement the world would experience in the years to come. At the time, people thought he was crazy. It’s been 34 years since then. Joia received a Michelin star in 1996, and Leemann is now regarded as the chef who introduced natural, vegetarian cuisine to Italian fine dining.