Walk into any bakery in Kanpur, Nagpur or Surat, and you’ll find vanaspati sitting quietly on the shelf doing its job. Making the biscuit crumble just right. Giving the halwa the flavour, keeping the mithai together through the afternoon heat.
And yet, somewhere between a wellness influencer’s Instagram reel and a WhatsApp forward, vanaspati and palm oil became the villain of the Indian kitchen.
The problem? That story isn’t backed by science.
Listen to food scientist – Krish Ashok
Krish Ashok, engineer-turned-food-scientist and author of Masala Lab: The Science of Indian Cooking, has one of India’s most trusted voices when it comes to debunking food myths. He has over a million followers on Instagram (@_masalalab) who tune in specifically to separate fact from fear.
His position on palm oil is clear and direct: “Palm oil is just another oil.”
Not a superfood. Not a poison. Just an oil with a fatty acid composition that, like every other cooking fat, needs to be understood in the context of how much you use and how you cook.
Krish Ashok explains the science of palm oil: its composition, smoke point, and how it behaves with heat. His conclusion? The fear around palm oil is marketing, not real nutrition science.
“Fear is profitable. Facts are boring.”
Link to the video : https://www.instagram.com/reels/CoFJpHgPErE/
What This Means for Your Products
If you are a baker, a halwai, a caterer or a food business owner, you already know this intuitively. Vanaspati and palm-based fats have been part of Indian commercial kitchens for decades. Your mithai holds its shape. Your khari biscuit has the right flake. Your frying medium handles volume without breaking down too quickly.
That is not a coincidence. It is chemistry working in your favour.
At Ajanta, our vanaspati and cooking oils are made with the same understanding that quality ingredients, handled with care and used in the right quantities, do their job well. No apology needed.
Next time someone says it is harmful, ask them to show you the correct evidence.
As Krish Ashok puts it, “The Indian kitchen has survived, evolved, and thrived for centuries on practical knowledge. The science backs it up. The fear does not.”
Shop Ajanta’s range of commercial cooking oils and vanaspati: https://ajantasoya.com/products/
