It started with a mixed event turning veg. Which means I could attend it now. So I expressed my happiness. And people started making all kinds of accusations. like it was a sin to be happy that finally there is ONE veg only event happening in life.
Now, I normally ignore this stuff, esp this recent Must-Serve-Meat imperative that has been put on the society by the meat eaters. If you are vegetarian, you are told that every place must serve meat. WHY? Why must every place serve meat? What about the rights of the Jains and the Vegetarians by choice like us to enjoy a meal out? No one bats an eye on Vegan coffee shops, but the pressure from the meat eater is relentless. Do we force you to eat only veg? NO. We only ask to eat our own food without you going to town about how it is discriminatory to not serve meat everywhere. It is NOT discriminatory. It is discretionary. Like all food choices are. They are discretionary.
And for those of you who are being pushed non-stop to "try" non-veg, here are the confessions of a person who has suffered this pressure for over 3 decades.
A. It STINKS.
No. Really. It STINKS. Like alcohol, the smell takes some getting used to. Earlier, North India had Vaishno Dhabas and South India had Udupi restaurants. Now, this meat eating prerogative has KILLED eating out options for us. You know what this means? A 1000 cr business for Bikanerwala. And people like us, who really cannot stand the smell of non-veg wafting either from the kitchen or a nearby table, just not being able to eat out.
PVR cinemas gives us the option to see only veg things while pre-ordering snacks, but there is no such restriction within the theater. So the person sitting next to you could well be polishing off chicken while the smell is fed to you, killing your appetite and movie experience.
Once, at a restaurant in Goa, which came "highly recommended" the smell of freshly dead and cooking fish was so strong that I went out while the rest of the folks finished their food. It was either that or Emeset 8 mg. (strong anti-emetic)
Why does non veg smell?
What this means in plainspeak: Those who eat it get used to the smell pretty quickly. And that's good for them. But that does not mean that the stink does not exist for the rest of us. It is very real.
B. It does not actually have any taste. It is just flesh and blood. All the "flavour" comes from the spices and the sauce. You can tell one meat from another only by the density and the texture. NOT by taste. Updated: As HT has pointed out, they can tell the taste from the taste itself.
C. It is NOT needed for survival. Vegetarians and Vegans are healthy and have been for centuries.
D. It is NOT good for the environment to create a balance by eating other animals. In fact, as the WHO has pointed out many many times, beef eating is one of the biggest issues with global warming. Rearing cattle for beef is a very high carbon footprint activity and beef releases methane into the environment. The other animals are not far behind. Please don't play God. Humans have not demonstrated any spectacular balancing of population themselves.
So, if you are being told how it is incorrect to "deprive" school children of "animal protein", please tell them that millions in this country have survived many years on veg food. Our antecedent is established. The core diet that should be offered universally is vegan. Those who want to add dairy can do so. Those who want to eat animal protein can do so too.
All this while, I thought it really was no big deal. In India, everyone has the right to decide how everyone else should live their lives and personal boundaries are not known in our culture. But being name called for just liking the idea that it is a veg event now, NOT by the meat selling lobby but by the folks who are supposed to be educated, just blew my fuse.
It isn't a big deal if YOU focus on what you want to eat, and let me focus on WHAT i want to eat.
Now, I normally ignore this stuff, esp this recent Must-Serve-Meat imperative that has been put on the society by the meat eaters. If you are vegetarian, you are told that every place must serve meat. WHY? Why must every place serve meat? What about the rights of the Jains and the Vegetarians by choice like us to enjoy a meal out? No one bats an eye on Vegan coffee shops, but the pressure from the meat eater is relentless. Do we force you to eat only veg? NO. We only ask to eat our own food without you going to town about how it is discriminatory to not serve meat everywhere. It is NOT discriminatory. It is discretionary. Like all food choices are. They are discretionary.
And for those of you who are being pushed non-stop to "try" non-veg, here are the confessions of a person who has suffered this pressure for over 3 decades.
Things they don't tell you about non-vegetarian food
A. It STINKS.
No. Really. It STINKS. Like alcohol, the smell takes some getting used to. Earlier, North India had Vaishno Dhabas and South India had Udupi restaurants. Now, this meat eating prerogative has KILLED eating out options for us. You know what this means? A 1000 cr business for Bikanerwala. And people like us, who really cannot stand the smell of non-veg wafting either from the kitchen or a nearby table, just not being able to eat out.
PVR cinemas gives us the option to see only veg things while pre-ordering snacks, but there is no such restriction within the theater. So the person sitting next to you could well be polishing off chicken while the smell is fed to you, killing your appetite and movie experience.
Once, at a restaurant in Goa, which came "highly recommended" the smell of freshly dead and cooking fish was so strong that I went out while the rest of the folks finished their food. It was either that or Emeset 8 mg. (strong anti-emetic)
Why does non veg smell?
For the reason that most dead things do. Putrefaction is a microbial process driven mainly by secreted protein hydrolyzing enzymes and decarboxylase enzymes which convert amino acids into wonderfully aromatic chemicals (e.g. cadaverine, putricene).
Interestingly, mammalian olfactory receptors for these chemicals fatigue quickly and the longer you are in the vicinity of the source, the less repulsive it becomes. (Thanks to the Quora person who wrote this succinctly and precisely)
What this means in plainspeak: Those who eat it get used to the smell pretty quickly. And that's good for them. But that does not mean that the stink does not exist for the rest of us. It is very real.
B. It does not actually have any taste. It is just flesh and blood. All the "flavour" comes from the spices and the sauce. You can tell one meat from another only by the density and the texture. NOT by taste. Updated: As HT has pointed out, they can tell the taste from the taste itself.
C. It is NOT needed for survival. Vegetarians and Vegans are healthy and have been for centuries.
D. It is NOT good for the environment to create a balance by eating other animals. In fact, as the WHO has pointed out many many times, beef eating is one of the biggest issues with global warming. Rearing cattle for beef is a very high carbon footprint activity and beef releases methane into the environment. The other animals are not far behind. Please don't play God. Humans have not demonstrated any spectacular balancing of population themselves.
So, if you are being told how it is incorrect to "deprive" school children of "animal protein", please tell them that millions in this country have survived many years on veg food. Our antecedent is established. The core diet that should be offered universally is vegan. Those who want to add dairy can do so. Those who want to eat animal protein can do so too.
All this while, I thought it really was no big deal. In India, everyone has the right to decide how everyone else should live their lives and personal boundaries are not known in our culture. But being name called for just liking the idea that it is a veg event now, NOT by the meat selling lobby but by the folks who are supposed to be educated, just blew my fuse.
It isn't a big deal if YOU focus on what you want to eat, and let me focus on WHAT i want to eat.
2 comments:
Your POINT B: It does not actually have any taste. It is just flesh and blood. All the "flavour" comes from the spices and the sauce. You can tell one meat from another only by the density and the texture. NOT by taste.
NOT CORRECT.
Every type of meat has distinct flavor. The texture can be soft, stringy or gooey and the blood could ring varied levels of salty and irony aftertaste, but the flesh indeed has a specific flavor. Every meat eater can identify 4 different meats (Fish, Chicken, Lamb/Beef and Pork) apart and I don't mean spices and sauce but plain boiled meat without even salt in it.
Now you either take my word for it or try it on your own and confirm.
Hi HT: This point was given to me by someone who does eat meat. Obviously, as a meat eater, you know better. Will take your word for it.
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