In the midst of ‘sub-classes’ that have proliferated over time, will the real vegetarians please stand up and be counted
Perhaps the most favourite topic of discussion after politics and the weather is food, enjoyable any time of the day (or night) – light and easy, palatable and digestible. Everything is all right so long as everyone is on non-partisan, neutral ground. Talking about the tantalising delights of a spicy mango pickle with ‘parathas’ for breakfast or popping ‘paani-puris’ by the dozen at a roadside stall
and feeling that watery concoction of ‘jal-jeera’ and so many other things, rushing down your throat in a gush like a monsoon flood, are perfect conversation pieces.
But things become complicated when matters veer towards ‘sensitive issues’, or rather to be a little more explicit – food taboos. This is where you’ll find that the world gets polarised, broadly speaking, into two categories. You have the ‘green-green’ veggies on one side and the ‘red-blooded’ folks on the other side who eat everything, including various kinds of meats and fish. From my point of view, it would be far more appropriate to call the veggies as ‘herbivorous’ and refer to all the rest as ‘omnivorous’. However, this would be wholly incorrect in this day and age, because herbivorous folk aren’t exactly herbivorous anymore.
In the old days, the choices were very clear-cut. Either you were either a pucca vegetarian (or herbivorous) or a non-vegetarian (carnivorous) or a bit of both (omnivorous). But nowadays, things aren’t as simple as that. The many shades of in-betweenness that have crept into our lifestyle along the way are absolutely mind-boggling. It has certainly created an identity crisis of sorts: Nobody knows who is what. And least of all the people concerned themselves, although my piece particularly points in the direction of the veggies.
Now within the vegetarian fold, many sub-divisions have come up. Earlier on, if a man said he didn’t eat any kind of meat, it was accepted that he was a vegetarian. If he or she said they were ‘strict vegetarian’ it meant they also abstained from eating onions, garlic and eggs. But now vegetarians come in many shades and colours.
For instance, we now have egg eating vegetarians who like to be known as ‘eggetarians’, a word of their own coinage. I wonder if the hens would like to comment on that. In any case, I don’t suppose you’d be able to get more than a ‘cluck’ out of them. And the story doesn’t end here.
In the old days, the choices were very clear-cut. Either you were a pucca vegetarian (or herbivorous) or a non-vegetarian (carnivorous) or a bit of both (omnivorous) But nowadays, things aren’t as simple as that. The many shades of inbetweeness that have crept into our lifestyle along the way are absolutely mind-boggling
Here is a true-life incident of a vegetarian couple in Salalah, Kailash and Vinita. The gentleman is a senior journalist, and his wife is a professor in a degree college. As a journalist myself, we all landed up at the Indian Embassy, Muscat, for a dinner function. As usual, the dinner was preceded by cocktails and starters in a gushing ambience of bonhomie. In a short while, a couple of drinks and ‘nibbles’ later, everyone began to gravitate in droves towards the buffet table loaded with an endless array of sumptuous food. Two separate buffets arrangements – one for vegetarians and the other for non-vegetarians – had been laid out at opposite ends of the embassy lawns for the sake of convenience.
Kailash and I were still around the ‘bar area’ finishing our drinks. Just then, I noticed that Vinita was nowhere to be seen, so naturally, I was a trifle perplexed. “What’s the matter, David Saab. You look a little distracted, if I may say so”, asked Kailash
“Oh, nothing really, Old Chap, nothing at all”, I replied. “I was just wondering where Vinita is; she was right here a minute ago”.
“Don’t worry”, said Kailllash. “She’s probably gone to get herself some dinner”.
“Ok, you may be right”, I said. “I thought I saw someone like her in the distance. But she was headed in the wrong direction. The vegetarian buffet is on this side,” I said pointing in the opposite direction.
“No, no, it’s all right. She knows where she is going and what’s she’s doing”, said Kaushal with a mysterious smile.
Soon Vinita was back. Knowing that both she and Kailash are vegetarians, I couldn’t help asking her why she had gone to the non-vegetarian buffet.
She paused for about half a minute and then replied with a smile: “Yes, it true that for all practical purposes I’m a vegetarian, but I’m really very fond of fish and never miss a chance to have some, especially fried fish. But otherwise, I like to call myself a vegetarian”, she asserted
I didn’t know what to say. I could only gape at her speechless. Now what kind of a vegetarian does that make her? I still haven’t been able to figure that out.
While all this exchange between Vinita and myself was taking place, Kailash comes back. His plate is laden with chunks of chicken.
“You, too!!!” I exclaim in disbelief.
His reply seems like an echo of his wife’s answer a few minutes earlier. “Well, yes, although I’m a vegetarian, I can’t do without my share of chicken every now and then”. Now with such staunch vegetarians at large, I can only say that the future of vegetarianism is in good hands.
But this is not the end of the story. There are vegetarians who don’t eat vegetables that grow below the ground, only what sprouts above it. Then there are another dubious sort of vegetarians. Inside their houses they’re decent, well-behaved vegetarians, but when they’re out of their homes, their meat-eating ways could probably put a ravenous tiger to shame. They are the ‘in’ and ‘out’ vegetarians.
So with so many sub-divisions that have proliferated over time, will the ‘Real Vegetarians’ please stand up and be counted.
