From: konkar@finch.stanford.edu (Ranjit Konkar)
Subject: Re: vegetarians in institutions
Reply-To: Ranjit Konkar <konkar@sunrise.stanford.edu>
Organization: DSG, Stanford University
	<1992Sep26.234704.25740@leland.Stanford.EDU>
	<1992Sep27.000247.27510@leland.Stanford.EDU>
Date: 27 Sep 92 12:33:41

In article <1992Sep27.000247.27510@leland.Stanford.EDU> coleman@leland.Stanford.EDU (Michele Coleman) writes:
   reasons?  What's the situation in India, where vegetarianism is more
   accepted?

In India, vegetarianism is the norm and not the exception. You don't
have to specify that you want something without meat - that is what is
understood (No "bean burrito - no meat"). Restaurants serving meat
advertise themselves with bboards like "Non-vegetarian food served
here" much like the vegetarian restaurants advertise themselves here.
Eggs are typically not included in any Indian dish, unless it's an
explicitly egg preparation like egg curry, omelette etc. However
veganism as a philosophy or way of life is absent in India, and milk,
yoghurt, buttermilk, butter, ghee (clarified butter) may find their
way into any dish, so vegans should be aware. But I think that if the
reason for somebody's veganism is exclusively ethical, then s/he can
be 70% sure that the milk s/he buys in India is obtained in an
ethically satisfactory fashion (I am willing to be corrected on this
by others who know more about Indian dairy production). `Pure
Vegetarianism' in India doesn't exclude dairy, honey etc.: only flesh
and eggs. But, until recently, mechanised farming methods have been
absent from India, so nothing was seen wrong with dairy products. Milk
products have even been recommended for good health by our Ayurvedic
system of medicine. That again may have to stand corrected by modern
nutrition research results.

	There *ARE* non-vegetarians in India, in fact many more than
one might think. But Sudha's figure of 86% non-vegetarians seems wrong
somehow. Sudha, if you have researched this and have the references to
quote, I would be interested in reading them. Certain states in India
like Punjab, Bengal, Kerala might be as high as 90% non-vegetarian,
but the national average, in my intuitive opinion, should be around
50-60%. One must again understand that when an Indian says that s/he
is non-vegetarian, what is usually meant is that s/he doesn't mind
taking meat, not that s/he eats it or would like to eat it very often.
The reason that meat eating even among the non-vegetarians is not as
frequent as it is here in the US (a non-vegetarian in India wouldn't
be eating meat more than once a week or so) is because of a
combination of factors like high price of meat (sadly coming down
because of mechanisation), frowning upon meat eating at home by
(vegetarian) parents, but above all, because of the enormous choice
available in vegetarian food there. One doesn't have to eat meat
either for taste or nutrition there. Although, sadly, myths abound in
India about how meat eating is necessary for building strong bodies.

The saddest thing is to see there is people going after meat-eating as
fashionable. Ethics are quickly forgotten when one tastes the
`western' hamburger or any of the Indian non-veg preparations. I think
the reason for this is that usually parents just proscribe meat for
their children without telling them the philosophy behind it (that of
`ahimsa', or non-violence). Therefore many people who were raised
vegetarian turn non-vegetarians in adulthood, because they are not
convinced why they should not eat meat.

Sorry for the long sermon here. I invite other Indians (or people
knowledgeable about India) to comment upon or correct anything I have
written.

Ranjit
Newsgroups: rec.food.veg