Food
Meet the Pakistani Meat-Lover Who Created the Country’s First Plant-Based Kebabs
By Naeem Ahmed •
Published on August 15, 2025
Ailya Khan grew up on kebabs and tikkas, and hated vegetables. But her love for animals made her give up meat eventually.
The vegetarian samosas didn’t satisfy the strong cravings for the meat-rich dishes she was familiar with in Pakistan. There were barely any plant-based alternatives, and nothing satisfied her from a cultural, sensory, or emotional perspective.
“I struggled a lot to find affordable vegan food and realised that here in Pakistan, even people who want to go vegan, eat plant-based, or host plant-based events often can’t find ready-to-go vegan options or accessible plant-based catering services,” she says.
“It really hit me that most Pakistanis – and many people around the world – don’t have access to plant-based options that connect with our culture.”
That’s when she decided to take things into her own hands. In 2022, Khan founded Ghaas Phoos Plant-Based Foods, Pakistan’s first vegan meat startup. “The whole idea behind Ghaas Phoos (which literally means grass) was to reclaim the phrase, to make ‘grass’ common and even celebrated,” she explains.
In the subcontinent, ‘ghaas phoos’ is often used as a derogatory term for vegetarian food – it’s the South Asian equivalent of rabbit food, or the narrative that vegan food is just salads. “We take a fun and proud approach: feeding everyone ‘grass’, showing how creative and joyful plant-based food can be,” says Khan.