Meet The Vegan School Students: A Growing International Family (Updated Regularly)

Four years in. 217 students. 31 countries. All 6 inhabited continents.

What started as a small, hands-on vegan cooking school in Goa has grown into one of the most internationally diverse plant-based culinary communities in the world. Students have come from across India — and from the UK, the USA, Japan, Australia, Germany, Kenya, Argentina, Vietnam, and twenty-five other countries — to spend eight weeks cooking together in the same kitchen. Each person who has walked through our doors (or flown across the world to do so!) has left behind a story, a smile, and a little piece of their culture — enriching our journey in ways words can’t fully express.

The table below is updated regularly as new batches graduate.

Here's where our students come from so far:

No	🌐 Country	👩‍🍳 No. of Students
1	🇮🇳 India	156
2	🇺🇸 USA	12
3	🇬🇧 UK	9
4	🇨🇦 Canada	3
5	🇩🇪 Germany	3
6	🇵🇹 Portugal	2
7	🇯🇵 Japan	2
8	🇳🇱 Netherlands	2
9	🇧🇪 Belgium	2
10	🇬🇷 Greece	2
11	🇳🇿 New Zealand	2
12	🇦🇺 Australia	2
13	🇭🇰 Hong Kong	2
14	🇦🇪 UAE	1
15	🇶🇦 Qatar	1
16	🇦🇷 Argentina	1
17	🇺🇾 Uruguay	1
18	🇻🇳 Vietnam	1
19	🇵🇭 Philippines	1
20	🇱🇾 Libya	1
21	🇵🇷 Puerto Rico	1
22	🇳🇵 Nepal	1
23	🇰🇷 South Korea	1
24	🇪🇸 Spain	1
25	🇲🇽 Mexico	1
26	🇸🇬 Singapore	1
27	🇰🇪 Kenya	1
28	🇹🇭 Thailand	1
29	🇨🇿 Czech Republic	1
30	🇲🇺 Mauritius	1
31	🇮🇩 Indonesia	1
	Total	217

This list will be updated regularly as our plant-based family continues to grow!

A Journey of Togetherness

Each student has brought something special — whether it’s warmth, curiosity, creativity, or simply the courage to try something new. Your stories, your journeys, and your passion continue to inspire us every single day.

Thank you for trusting us on this journey of yours and for sharing your time with us.

What This Means in Practice

A typical batch at The Vegan School brings together 12 to 14 students, with an average of 4.3 international student every batch. There will usually be someone who flew in from Europe or the Americas alongside students from different parts of India. Someone who has been cooking professionally alongside those who have never worked in a kitchen before. Someone who came specifically to change careers, alongside someone who came because they wanted to cook better for themselves and their family.

What they share — and what makes each batch work — is that they are all in the same place, cooking the same food, at the same pace. The shared context affects a group quickly. By the end of the first week, the dynamic in the kitchen has usually already shifted.

A Note on Our International Students

More than 75 of our 217 graduates have come from outside India — a number that has grown steadily with every batch. Students have travelled from the UK, USA, Europe, Southeast Asia, Oceania, and Africa to spend eight weeks in Goa learning plant-based cooking. Many arrive not knowing what to expect from India, from Goa, or from eight weeks in a kitchen with strangers. Most leave with both the culinary skills they came for and connections they didn't expect to make.

The diversity in the kitchen isn't incidental — it makes the cooking better. Students bring their own food cultures, ingredient instincts, and relationship to plant-based eating into every session. That exchange happens naturally when a group from this many backgrounds shares a kitchen.

If you're considering joining and wondering whether anyone from your country has studied here before, the table above is the honest answer. And if your country isn't on it yet, you'd be the first. That's happened 31 times already.