A year ago, Kafila, a popular online left-leaning magazine, posted an article about the students of Jawaharlal Nehru University debating the ban on beef and pork products in the canteens and mess of the university. In spite of being a supposed bastion of left-wing liberalism in India, it appears that the Brahmanical elite weilded enough influence to shut down canteens serving beef curry or pork products.
This reminds me of my own experience with food fascism during my college days. Because of the myriad number of restrictions on the movements and dress codes at the college hostel (no shorts, curfew after 10 pm, etc.), I and a friend chose to rent an off campus house instead. We found a suite and pretty soon, settled down at the place. One day, while I was cooking meat, the said friend – a vegetarian Hindu, raised an issue about meat being cooked in the house. He claimed that our landlord banned the cooking of meat in the premises, which was a lie. When I refused to fall for it and asserted my rights to cook what I want in a house that is as much mine as it is his, he threw a fit – throwing me an ‘ultimatum’ to stop cooking meat in the future or vacate the house (which he intended to share with a friend of his, which I found later).
Refusing to be bullied, I continued cooking meat as usual. Some days later, some thugs from the local housing society turned up, saying that they received complaints that I am a ‘radical’. They threatened to throw me out of the house, if I didn’t vacate the place in two days. It didn’t take me long to put two and two together, so I called up couple of my friends from college, who turned up with Student Union activists and the local police. The police, in my defence, clarified that I had no charges of radicalism either in Kolkata or back in my homeland. After placating the goons, it was clear that my so called ‘friend’ – my flatmate, levelled this allegation and soon, he was summoned by the police and threatened with charges under the Scheduled Tribes Act if he continued the harassment any longer (a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment, if convicted).
We eventually found a middle ground (by keeping a seperate set of utensils). However the incident didn’t go without leaving a mark and a curiousity to find out what provokes such pseudo-facist attitude towards food in a vegetarian Indian’s psyche. I did a part of my school in New Delhi, so I was familiar with the Hindi chauvinism in North Indian cultures, as well as the pretence that India is a monolithic nation of a single ‘Hindu culture’ (one that is often advertised to foreigners, and clueless Indian nationalists alike). However, trying to impose their food preferences in such a bullying manner was a new experience to me.
As I read up more about the issue, I found out that there have been multiple attempts by the Sangh Parivar to have a blanket ban on cow slaughter all over India. The rampant beef consumption in parts of India, such as the North East has been turned into a political issue by the Hindutvas (Hindu nationalists) – as a symbol of mainland Indians’ inability to dominate the Tibeto-Burman ethnic groups of the region. The slaughter of cows has been banned in at least six states of India, punishable by a maximum prison term of seven years; which is ironic, considering that the Indian police is already overburdened with murders, rapes, robberies and other such violent crimes against human beings, which aren’t really getting addressed as much as they should be. While normal non-veg* food does not evoke as much outrage as beef consumption, it comes up at the inopportune moments to inconvenience meat eaters, when a vegetarian feels offended by such a taboo food choice.
Some of my vegetarian friends, in order to defend their food facism, came up with kooky theories – that it is a retaliatory response to counter the Muslim and Christian conspiracy to feed beef and pork products to the chaste, vegetarian people of India. Contrary to their paranoia, no such conspiracies than been unearthed so far, nor is there any isolated incident that points to the possible existence of such a conspiracy. Meat is relatively expensive and scarce in the country, and given that most non-vegetarian Atheists, Hindus, Muslims or Christians aren’t as obsessed with the dietary taboos and practices of the vegetarian people – there is no good reason to waste good meat on an unwilling victim. However the facism of vegetarian Indians against the non-vegetarian people still remains a major bone of contention for a lot of Indians, one that seems to create as much of a debate in college campuses, at it did in my shared flat in Kolkata.
*short for non-vegetarian, the desi euphemism for edible meat
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I am vegetarian in principle . When I lived in India that meant I wouldn’t use separate utensils to my friends, had no problem with tasting gravy in meat dishes and often accompanied my then BF on chicken-shopping trips. I drew the line at anything over and above ‘tasting’ a meat containing dish.
More often than not, I have been the only vegetarian in my extended social circles in South India. That meant I was fair game for non-vegetarian evangelists, who like the vegetarian fascists you mention, think their choice of food automatically bestows some sort of social superiority. I have frequently been drawn into pointless debates on the futility of vegetarianism,on the other hand, i have never confronted anyone on their choice of food.
I have personally never encountered a vegetarian fascist outside of home , but I know they exist , because my family is full of them.
Both these two groups-actually, make that anyone who creates an ideology around something as uncomplicated as food- irritate me.
Food fascism is not the sole domains of hindu vegetarians. I am vegetarian. I have never imposed this on anyone. My roommates and husband have freely cooked meat (including beef and pork and more) around me and I have no qualms in sharing utensils.
I realise the RSS types sometime attack people over issues like beef (or just talking about it), which is entirely wrong. The ‘non-veg’ folks do the same at a (much) smaller scale though.
My husband’s family (including relative, cousins etc) is food-obsessed. They LOVE ‘non-veg’ and it’s their major bonding factor. I have now heard a million times that they can’t believe he married a vegetarian. They keep trying to make me eat the gravy or try the chicken or something. All. The. Time. It gets really annoying!! They tell them I need to ‘learn’ to eat it because what I eat is rubbish.. how can I possibly like ‘veg’ stuff? They rue the fact that they don’t live close enough to us to ‘force’ me often enough. It’s not because I’m the DIL, they do this to his male cousins that tried being vegetarian too. It’s all in good faith, but it’s practically to the point of bullying. This when I’m loud and clear about NOT wanting to ‘try’ it!
People just seem to have issues with other people living around them and not living like them. The more of them that are alike, the easier it gets to express this irrational need to control other people’s choices.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21122072
See any trend in geography?
Thats right:
You seem to get the idea right except that non-vegetarians >>> vegetarians in number and resort to sneaky tactics all over the world (including India). Just replace “vegetarian fascism” with non-vegetarian irrationality in your article.
Oh btw, u r a moron.
I think you went overboard in your rant against Hindu Dietary preferences. While it is all right for you to consume any thing but why this clamor about attributing not eating pork with Hindus? You said “Muslims or Christians aren’t as obsessed with the dietary taboos and practices of the vegetarian people”. Breaking news, eating pork is not a tabboo among Hindus, it is a major issue among Muslims. I throw you a challenge, try to visit any ‘chaste muslim country’ and consume pork meat openly and see what happens? You will not only be put behind bars but also can become an easy target of fundamentalists there, in all probability will be killed or gravely injured.
The majority of non-Hindus don’t really care a hoot about Hindu dietary preferences. You don’t want to eat meat? Fine. Don’t force others not to, not in India, which is a conglomerate of several nations – some of them not a part of your Hindustan in the first place.
The thread title contains the phrase ‘in India’. It kind of makes it obvious which country I am talking about. Indian Christians and Muslims. They don’t force their dietary preferences on other people. Your pointing fingers at other so called ‘Muslim countries’ to defend Hindu food fascism in India is a classic anti-secular deflection. “They’re doing it, so we can do it too!”. No, you can’t; unless you declare India a Hindu state, in which case you’ll have BIG problems in your hands.
Wait,
I get the feeling you are quickly conflating many things here. There are vegetarian fascists and there are vegetarian evangelists(*) and there are vegetarians. I feel it is an inconsequential fact to the debate that they are almost always Hindu.
Some don’t like “non-veg” food being cooked in their houses because it actually offends them olfactorily. Not just because they want to impose their morals on others. They are perfectly fine in environments they are not guaranteed this; only they may choose not to frequent such environments. This is similar to the Durian ban in some Singapore apartment elevators. This is the first issue.
Second. “Indian” Muslims most certainly force their dietary preferences on others – Why do you think Mac Donalds says “HALAL” in big bold letters in their shops in Mumbai. “No Beef or Pork” boards at KFC, Chennai; where do you think the “pork” clause came from? This is the second issue. Also, do you really think all Muslims in India permit Pork to be cooked in the houses they rent out?
And “Indian” Christians do force their preferences too! It’s just rarer, but I’ve got news for you: We are Indians! We like to force our opinions on others! I’ve heard that (this I am not sure, you have got to confirm or deny) that some of our north eastern seven sisters are states with prohibition because of an anti-catholic stance amongst the protestant majority.
(*) Disclaimer: I am now a vegetarian Evangelist. I used to be a fringe non vegetarian very briefly to satisfy some complex requirements in my self evolved moral code.
Hey what a great name you have !
@ TheSlightlyChauvinistIyer
It is not just McDonalds that purports to sell halal products, but five star hotels do as well. It is not because Muslims ‘force’ halal on non-Muslims, but because these establishments see Muslims as a chunk of their customer base. Pure business.
Your assumption that prohibition in NE Indian states is because of protestantism is inaccurate. The states with prohibition in NE India are Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram. None of them are Protestant states. Alcohol is banned in these states, because of the socio-economic ills associated with the overt alcohol consumption in these societies.
The issue I have raised above is not people who don’t rent their houses to those with specific dietary preferences, but a common Indian Hindu practice of trying to bully the dietary preferences of non-Hindus even in neutral territories. In the case I mentioned above, I was an equal and legitimate tenant as my flatmate was. *He* had no legal or moral authority to dictate what to cook in our shared flat. The only reason he felt authoritative enough to try to bully me is because he is a Hindu and I am not.
I don’t understand why you have to bring in authoritarian foreign countries to the discussion, unless you are trying to be insincere by pitching in red herrings. We are discussing India here, which should be obvious from the post title.
I think it’s inaccurate to label this as a hindu/ non-hindu issue since not all hindus are even vegetarian. I have already given my husband’s family’s example, who are very much hindu, very much not vegetarian, very comfortable with trying to force others (like me) to ‘convert’. I know many hindus like this.
This is a majority vs. minority issue. Perhaps hindus like your flatmate develop this entitlement because he felt he held the majority opinion where he grew up/ lived. That’s probably why you feel indian muslims or christians don’t impose their opinions about diet on others (even if we take your word that this claim is accurate). People of these religions also impose their view on others when they find themselves in the majority (e.g. Saudi doesn’t allow non-muslims to eat or drink in public during Ramadan http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/20/saudi-warns-nonmuslims-re_n_1688859.html). Food fascism cannot be proven to be an inherent characteristic of any one religion, because people of various religions exhibit this tendency when they find themselves in the majority.
I am really jealous that a cow is given preferences over me( I am a woman). No Hindutvas has ever mentioned or strongly supported my safety or freedom. Oh ‘God’ , if you make me born in India ni my next life, please make me a cow not a girl.
Bahaha, I would have moved out. Can’t imagine someone having a vendetta against you for cooking meat. The whole lack of good beef thing in Delhi is annoying. Every time we go to a restaurant and see steak on the menu, we’re informed that it’s buffalo steak (which is awful).
This reminds me of a time when one of my cousin’s went on a crazy vegan diet and started sending slaughter house videos to everyone in the family. Not fun.
“Bahaha, I would have moved out. Can’t imagine someone having a vendetta against you for cooking meat. The whole lack of good beef thing in Delhi is annoying.”
Moving out would have been conceding defeat. Besides, it isn’t easy to find a decent flat in Kolkata, not when you have college and other things, that makes time a rather scarce commodity.
You can get real beef in Delhi, but you’ve got to be connected. A lot of NE Indian students and expats in the capital know ‘someone’ or ‘somewhere’ that you can find beef on certain days of the week. Good beef is difficult to find though, given the choices, if available, are very limited.
I’ve not returned here for some time. Which explains why I’m late in my comment. I must say a brilliant post, unearthing some interesting points and views. I’m a British Asian (born and bred in UK) and recently I have been travelling to India allot for business reasons and I found that some areas of India take food fascism to a new level. Consumption of food is either a personal choice or if you are religious a choice made on your behalf by scriptures, either way, one does not have a right to force their way (either their personal choice of the religion their believe in) on to others, and especially if those ‘others’ have already decided on how they will consume food.
Im not Indian. I am a vegetarian. Meat eaters don’t realize that the smell of meat does make some of us feel sick. And when you inhale an aroma you can also taste the meat.
Being that meat eaters ALSO eat veggies, fruits and grains, and do not feel sick from their smell, its only natural that when in vegetarian company they should understand that since we do NOT eat meat, that being around its smell or the sight of dead animals on a plate, can make us sick.
I think its great that India has all veg environments and I will stay in them if I ever go to India.
umm… okay since you are a yank, let me throw a yank joke to make you understand… ‘Vegetarian’ is an old native American word for ‘poor hunter’… Get what I mean? Meat, is a very necessary part of a balanced diet. Of course what one eat is one’s own choice but don’t go expecting special treatment wherever you go.