We, as Indians, sometimes pride ourselves on our ‘tolerance’ but we are, in fact, extremely intolerant of each other’s food habits
Gau Raksha Dal members inspect a truck on a highway in Rajasthan while looking for beef smugglers. File Pic/AFP
In Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma, the writer and professor of journalism searches, as the cover says, “for a perfect meal in a fast-food world”. He is excoriatingly honest in this search, as he examines the moral and ethical questions of food habits, trends, choices and taboos.
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Had Pollan based this book in India and not in the United States, he would have had to focus on the religious tyranny of food. This tyranny seems to have increased since the current BJP government has come to power at the Centre and in several states, but, in fact, it has always existed. We, as Indians, sometimes pride ourselves on our ‘tolerance’ but we are extremely intolerant of each other’s food habits.
All over Mumbai, there are exclusive vegetarian housing societies where the very sight of an egg can send a resident into paroxysms of rage. And consider that in Gujarat, a lawyer has filed a case against Niantic, the creator of the currently popular virtual reality game Pokemon Go, for virtual eggs being located in Hindu temples. Blasphemy, he has cried. Eggs are apparently antithetical to the very foundation of Hinduism.
There is no point discussing either facts or logic here. Each community which has its food taboos and food phobias is paranoid about being ‘polluted’ by someone else.
This paranoia knows no limits as believers will go to any lengths to protect their ideas of what other people should or should not eat. There is no shame, no remorse, no compassion and no respect. There is only hatred and rage that narrow rules are being ‘flouted’.
Often, extreme vegetarianism in India has nothing to do with animal rights or the treatment of animals. There are animal hospitals set up by religious trusts which will not treat ‘non-vegetarian’ animals, thus
imposing their own religious taboos on instinct and nature. Compassion is less important than food eaten.
If morality and a reluctance to eat anything that is living (this would include plants) is the rule to live by, then the only way to do it is by foraging for fallen fruits, berries, seeds and nuts. Though I am not certain that eating seeds is ethical since they contain life? Given that most of our forests have gone, this way of life is currently impractical.
The upside is that if we all follow it, humans may die out altogether and, thus, save the planet from our deranged behaviour!
So we come to the crux of the issue facing us: the protection of cows from being eaten. There is no such protection for goats, chickens (except prohibition of virtual eggs), pigs and so on. Indian Jews and Muslims, for whom pork is proscribed, have to look away when they see pork and avoid it on menus. But caste Hindus and Jains cannot make this distinction. They must insist that no one can eat what they cannot eat. Because otherwise, their religious sentiments will be ‘hurt’.
The Prime Minister — finally pushed to discuss the violent behaviour of ‘cow protectors’ — discussed how cows are ill-treated in India, walking around eating garbage. This fact greatly upsets our cow protection activists because their actions are pegged solely on taking ‘revenge’ on Dalits and Muslims for possibly eating beef or skinning the cattle, rather than the tedious task of looking after abandoned cattle. Murder, rape and public thrashings are all kosher if it’s done in the name of cow protection.
One of the Maharashtra government’s first actions after coming to power — because the state has no other problems — was to ban all ‘cow and progeny’ slaughter, with incredible fines for transgressions. The court has overturned some of these, but why should cow protection units care about the law?
The Haryana government has gone even further with its cow protection squads — not ‘hooligans’ as the Prime Minister suggested, but government-monitored teams — going around and attacking biryani stalls in Mewat just before the celebration of Bakri Eid, just in case Muslims use beef. The Prime Minister perhaps needs to have another little chat with them?
The upshot of all this is the ridiculous notion that your nationalism is based on whether you eat biryani or not and how you like your eggs. The answer for me is mutton biryani and masala omelette! Shoot me.
Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist. She tweets @ranjona. Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com
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