Vegetarianism a growing trend: 7 kinds of vegetarians you may encounter at a restaurant
Is it any wonder then that our vegetarian compatriots are getting a tad spoilt — even as the nonvegetarians scurry for cover, hounded? With cornmeal perhaps getting to be more in demand than cornfed chicken, it's never been trendier — or more virtuous be a "foodie" vegetarian in India now;
don't carve that steak, yet! We dish up seven varietals you may encounter:
1. The Virtuous Vegetarian: It is no use explaining that we are all part of a food chain created by the good lord in his wisdom. The virtuous vegetarian is convinced that what's on the other's plate not merely not tasteful, but somehow morally wrong.
It does not matter if it is beef, buff or goat or fowl, he/she will make others move places — not just on the dining table but even on flights, should they attempt the unthinkable and eat a KFC burger, for instance! They may force you to move a state — should you have the unmentionable desire to cut into a Rib Eye. And, yeah, that foie gras ban is quite alright, too. After all, California enforced it; we are hardly the only virtuosos around. Besides, who wants to have gourmetMaggi topped with that stuff, any way? Truffle oil will do just fine!
2. The Vegan (who eats cheese): Don't balk at the contradictions. It is not easy to understand vegans, after all. And all those confounding taboos. If you wear a leather jacket but don't touch dairy, are you still vegan?
Apparently not. If you are careful about the beasts and birds but not the bee, are you vegan? No. And if you eat soy cheese but don't check the label for casein are you a legit vegan? Oops. With veganism trending, restaurantgoing vegetarians are increasingly taking up the nodairy cause too, say chefs. They may not know all the rules yet, but they have announced their allegiance to it.
"I am vegan... I will only have paneer," they tell the chef, unabashedly. But hey, they are trying! 3. Marching to the Beet:
Tinda, torai, karela, anyone? Vegetarians may eat vegetables, but it isn't really necessary to like them all, is it? And who wants to order the seasonal Indian gourds and greens in restaurants any way?
Experimental chefs who believe in seasonal, local diets may be trying desperately to put at least some of these on their menus but the hegemony of the cauliflower and potato is tough to break. On the other hand, if you thought that upper crust life revolves around broccoli stirfry, snow peas or asparagus, think again.
The new lot of foodies has moved on. These guys may not follow all of Slow Food and local gastronomy, big in Europe and America, but they have discovered its chicer bites.
There's a reason why beetroot is on every restaurant menu for the last oneandhalf years! And kathal in contemporary Indian menus has gone so fashionable — blame chef Manish Mehrotra's pathbreaking phulkatacos for that though. Besides, er, it has always been considered the vegetarian man's meat!
4. Only paneer, without vegetables... or soy champ: With growing purchasing power, it is only natural that our dairy and protein consumption will go throught the roof. If you have to blame someone for the skyrocketing prices of these, blame the paneer champs and the soy champs (chops). No other vegetarian ingredients sells better than these at least north of the Vindhyas. Who says selective vegetarianism is not fine? We can always be on proreinonly diets.
5. Will eat dal at home, butter chicken "outside": India is a land of contradictions and complexity, never more so than in the kitchen. Families may be strictly vegetarian on their own turf but when they eat out, they may just change habits and preferences. Till about five years ago, this may have meant the occasional ordering of a chicken dish — that Colonial legacy that rules our palates and imaginations like nothing else.
(While other meats, including game and beef, were traditionally consumed in India, the fowl, a scavenger, was regarded as "unclean", initially bred only as a divination bird in the subcontinent and other parts of Asia; it got popular as food only in British times as the roast on the memsahib's table, beef being tough to come by.) Today, it may be the equally insipid basa, intrinsically tasteless and therefore a "safe" option for the occasional transgressor/experimenter.
6. The Pescetarians: Forget the Tuesdayonly or Monsoononly vegetarians. They are old news. The new kids on the block are the pescetarians. Actually, they are old as the hills too — in Kashmir, Bengal and all along the Konkan, vegetarian communities have always existed that ate fish, but no meat, while following their religious prescriptions. But pescetarians (from the Italian pesce for fish, added to "vegetarian")
don't see themselves as that. They will tell you of the benefits of the Med diet, of higher HDL levels through eating fish, or of fish not being on the same "moral level" as other animals and hence "vegetarian". Hear them out! They may be a little confused though:
chef Manu Chandra reports the likes of those who strayed into his restaurant one day, ordered a filet mignon and then sent it back curtly, because, they "had asked for fish".
7. NeoVedic vegetarians: They will point to their own (hopefully) healthy bodies, champion organic food (never mind that you can be nonvegetarian and still eat a lot of that), and quote Ayurveda.
They will also talk of Bharat's "larger culture", regardless of history, geography or demographics. We could advise them to go on an educative train journey, or back to the top! (The writer examines restaurant trends, food history and culinary cultures)
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