Vegetarianism: India
From: April 14, 2022: The Times of India
From: April 14, 2022: The Times of India
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Contents |
What is a vegetarian?
Various definitions
Heena Khandelwal, March 22, 2024: The Indian Express
“The term ‘pure vegetarian’ originated about 150 years ago. Essentially, it signifies that the food is prepared and served by Brahmins, making it acceptable to everyone within the Indian caste system,” says archaeologist, historian and culinary anthropologist Kurush Dalal, “Food is very casteist in India. For Hindus, there’s a prescribed list of acceptable foods. Moreover, if prepared by Brahmins, it is deemed suitable for everyone. However, if prepared by Shudras, it’s considered acceptable only to them. Traditionally, most cooks, including Maharajs who cooked in people’s homes, as well as caterers, were Brahmins.”
Dismissing the concept of “pure vegetarianism” as a myth, political theorist, writer, and Dalit rights activist Kancha Ilaiah asks, “What’s pure? Is milk vegetarian? Are all milk products vegetarian? No. They are animal products. They are not coming from plants; they are coming from animals.” He explains, “The purity issue arose when doctors began prescribing eggs to malnourished children, stating there’s nothing spiritually wrong with consuming eggs.”
Ilaiah also critiques the terminology of ‘non-vegetarian’ for ‘meatarians’ (meat eaters) as incorrect. “Those who eat vegetables can call themselves vegetarians, but why are others labelled non-vegetarians? In Hindi, there are separate terms — shakahari and maasahari. It’s not non-shakahari or ashakahari. The same applies in Tamil and Telugu,” he says.
A 2022 analysis of National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data says that more people are consuming non-vegetarian food than ever before. As per NFHS-5, which was conducted in 2019-21, an overwhelming 83.4 per cent of men and 70.6 per cent of women in the 15-49 age group eat non-vegetarian food daily, weekly or occasionally. Despite the data highlighting that a significant percentage of people in our country consume meat, there persists an inaccurate belief that associates meat consumption with “lower” castes, and Muslims or Christians.
Food historian Pushpesh Pant criticises the term “pure vegetarian” as an “oxymoron and a wild goose chase”. According to him, once something is labelled vegetarian, adding “pure” becomes unnecessary and implies that non-vegetarians are somehow impure. “The concept of purity and pollution are really direct descendants and distortion in our mind bred by the caste system,” he says, adding that the term is not just about food but also reflects a climate of intolerance aiming to suppress diversity.
Many on social media also pointed to the efforts by social reformer Dr BR Ambedkar who played a pivotal role in highlighting the intricate connection between food and caste in Indian society. Ambedkar emphasised how caste-based dietary restrictions were used as tools of social exclusion and discrimination, with certain castes being restricted from consuming certain foods deemed “polluting” or “impure” by upper castes. “Pure and Impure = modern-day forms of casteism and religious segregation,” wrote author Nilanjana Roy on X.
The origins of vegetarianism, Dalal says, wasn’t until about 2,500 years ago. Contrary to common belief, it isn’t solely a Brahminical concept, which categorises food into satvik, rajasik or tamasik, but rather finds its roots in Jainism and Buddhism. “Both religions advocated ‘ahimsa’, meaning non-killing of animals. Jainism even objected to consuming vegetables growing under the ground,” he says.
In India, Dalal says, vegetarianism has displayed flexibility, with individuals from various communities adhering to it on specific days of the week. “Indians also follow lacto-vegetarianism. Milk and its products are sourced not from plants but from cows and buffaloes,” he adds.
Dalal also highlighted on social media platform X that technically, salt could be considered non-vegetarian because it contains foraminifera from the sea. “Himalayan sea salt appears pink due to the high concentration of dead marine animals resulting from the drying of the Tethys Sea,” he says.
Historians also note that various Brahmin communities across the country, from Kashmiri Brahmins to Saraswat Brahmins and Bengali Brahmins consume various forms of meat. “Brahmins in Eastern India consume fish and also meat if it comes as a “prasad” from a sacrifice made to a god or goddess. It is interesting to note that it will be cooked without onion and garlic, as is the practice among Brahmins,” says Dalal. He adds that only a small group of Brahmins across the country, including Iyers, Iyengars, Nambudiri and some communities in north India are vegetarians in that sense.
Calling vegetarianism a diet of privilege, Dalal emphasises the necessity for a wide array and quantity of food items to fulfil nutritional needs. “The protein or fat obtained from a small quantity of meat must be replaced with a larger quantity of vegetarian food. For example, the reason you see Brahmins and Marwadis adding a lot of ghee in their food in their meals is because their bodies require fat, typically derived from meat in non-vegetarian diets.”
In India, many restaurants serving vegetarian food label themselves as “pure vegetarian”. While this term may differentiate them abroad, where a vegetarian dish simply lacks meat pieces but may contain animal-derived stock, its meaning is clearer domestically.
“Vegetarianism is associated with the upper caste and class. The adoption of the term ‘pure vegetarian’ by restaurants aims to attract affluent upper-caste clientele. For example, vada pav in Mumbai is inherently vegetarian and accessible to all, yet you won’t find it labelled as ‘100 per cent pure vegetarian vada pav’,” says Dalal.
Extent of vegetarianism
States with the most and least vegetarians
2014
The Times of India, Jun 11 2016
At 99% of population, Telangana tops list of non-vegetarian states
Telangana has the highest proportion of meat-eaters in India with almost 99% of its residents being non-vegetarians, a Registrar General of India survey of people aged 15 years and above has revealed. An almost equal percentage of men (98.8) and women (98.6) in the state are non-vegetarians. West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Kerala follow Telangana among the states with the highest non-vegetarian population. Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana top the list of states with the highest number of vegetarians.
Overall, the percentage of non-vegetarians across the country has dropped from 75% in 2004 to 71% in 2014.
Experts say meat consumption in Telangana reflects traditional eating habits of its people. “People in Telangana consume a lot of lamb and chicken even for breakfast, said food blogger Sabyasachi Raychaudhuri.“...different body parts of animals such as gurda (kidney), bheja (brain), paya (trotters) among others are consumed. Many people also consume rabbits, emu and quail. Experts said changing lifestyles could have contributed to the increase in meat consumption in the state besides religion. They added that most of those surveyed could be from Hyderabad, which has a high percentage of meat-eaters.
Abundance of livestock in Telangana, too, contributes to higher consumption of meat. The state has the second highest number of sheep and the fourth highest poultry count in the country.
National Family and Health Survey-V (2019-21)
Arjun Sengupta, Sep 9, 2024: The Indian Express
A seven-year old boy was expelled from a private school in Uttar Pradesh’s Amroha district purportedly for bringing non-vegetarian biryani in his lunchbox, and offering it to his fellow classmates. The interaction between the boy’s livid mother and the principal of the school has now gone viral, prompting authorities to form a committee to investigate the matter.
In a country where many consider vegetarian food to be “pure” (and meat “dirty”) and where many hold deeply rooted religious convictions on what goes onto their plate, such a controversy is not unheard of. In this case, the school principal said that the boy “offering biryani to his classmates” was objectionable. But what proportion of India’s population is vegetarian? Is India truly a nation of vegetarians, or is that just a popular myth? Here is what the data say.
India is not a vegetarian nation
Most Indians consume eggs, meat or fish in some form. Roughly half of them do so at least once a week. According to data from the National Family and Health Survey-V (2019-21), 29.4% women and 16.6% men said that they never consume fish, chicken, or meat.
45.1% women and 57.3% men said they consume fish, chicken, or meat at least once a week. In fact, data show that meat consumption in India is rising. According to NFHS IV (2015-16), 29.9% women and (notably) 21.6% men said they never consume fish, chicken, or meat.
42.8% women and 48.9% men said they consume fish, chicken, or meat at least once a week.
Comparing NFHS IV and NFHS V data, which were collected five years apart, There has been a 1.67% fall in the number of women reporting they never consume fish, chicken, or meat, and a whopping 23% fall in the number of men reporting they never consume fish, chicken, or meat.
At the same time, there has been a 5.37% rise in the number of women saying they consume fish, chicken, or meat at least once a week, and a 17.18% rise in the number of men who say they consume fish, chicken, or meat at least once a week.
Lacto-vegetarianism & regional variations
In fact, even those who call themselves vegetarian are likely lacto-vegetarians, i.e. they consume milk and milk products which come from cows and buffalos. According to NFHS V data,
Only 5.8% women and 3.7% men reported they never consumed milk or curd.
48.8% men and women said they consume milk or curd daily.
72.2% women and 79.8% men said they consume milk or curd at least once a week.
According to data from the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey 2022-2023, consumption of milk seems to be directly correlated to the incidence of vegetarianism — those who consume a lot of milk and milk products tend to be the ones who consume less/no meat. In effect, milk is like a nutritional substitute to meat in India.
In all, there are 14 states where the monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) on milk is greater than the expenditure on fish, meat, or eggs, and 16 states where this is the other way round. (See Table)
According to data from the NFHS-V, by and large, a lesser proportion of people in these milk consuming states (compared to the national average) reported that they consume fish, chicken, or meat, and vice-versa. The exceptions in this case were Sikkim, Karnataka, and Maharashtra, where expenditure on milk was higher than that on meat even though more than the national average (for both men and women) reported consuming fish, chicken, or meat at least once a week.
70% of Indians eat non-veg, veg diet getting popular
The Times of India, June 9, 2016
Health Issues Are Changing Palate: Experts
Even as India is rapidly growing as a major market for chicken and fish, awareness about health benefits of a vegetarian diet may also be catching up fast among people. Though 70% of Indians above 15 years of age are still non-vegetarians, the numbers are expected to decline, a nationwide survey conducted in 2014 and released recently by the Registrar General of India (RGI) showed. In 2004, the prevalence of non-vegetarianism was pegged at about 75%.
Experts said increasing health awareness, coupled with rising burden of lifestyle diseases like heart disorders, diabetes and cancer, may be influencing the Indian palate.
Several international researches and studies have found vegetarians leading a healthier life compared to meateaters. Incidence of diseases such as pancreatic cancer and respiratory problems are also less common among vegetarians than in those who consume meat regularly .
Besides, religiosity and changing lifestyles could also be contributing to the changing trend, experts said.
“It is possible that the purchase wallet for non-vegetari an foods is now being diverted towards ready to eat, processed or packaged foods because there is an increasing trend of cooking less at home,“ said Dr Shikha Sharma, a leading nutritionist and founder and managing director of NutriHealthSystems.
However, food consumption data from NSSO as well as OECD-FAO (Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development, UN Food and Agriculture Organisation) Agricultural Outlook 2014, showed that growth in per ca pita consumption of chicken and fish outpaced the growth in consumption of wheat, rice and sugar. Chicken consumption grew the most with India becoming the fourth-fastest growing market for the product in the world. According to the OECD-FAO 2014 data, chicken consumption in India grew at an annual growth rate of 5.9% between 1992 and 2013.
The RGI data also highlighted a contrast with rising purchasing power which should otherwise allow more consumption of non-vegetarian meals. The latest NSSO data showed that at higher ends of the income table, consumption of milk, eggs, meat and processed foods rose. In urban India, the richest 5% consume the fewest cereals and the most derivatives of cereals like bread and noodles. However, in rural India, the richest 5% still consume the most cereals.
See also
Vegetarianism: India
