Zomato’s ‘Pure Veg Fleet’ and meltdown over alleged casteism – India’s left-liberals need to grow up

By
Anurag
-
0
345
Zomato introduced pure veg fleet
Pure Veg Fleet of Zomato will deliver only vegetarian food (Image: Generated using Dall-E AI by Lekhak Anurag/Zomato)

On 19th March, Zomato’s founder, Deepinder Goyal, announced the launch of “Pure Veg Mode” along with “Pure Veg Fleet”, a dedicated delivery partner fleet that will cater for vegetarians in the country. The reason for making such an announcement was simple, to ensure that those with dietary preferences do not have to face cross-food contamination between vegetarian and non-vegetarian food. There have been countless cases where a vegetarian got non-vegetarian food delivered. Zomato’s initiative will ensure that such incidents do not happen in the future.

One thing that people have to understand is that the food choices in India are greatly influenced by religion. Millions of Hindus, Jains, Sikhs and Buddhists, among others, do not eat non-vegetarian food for religious reasons. For example, the Hindu section of the Vaishnav section does not eat non-vegetarian food. Jain community does not even have onion, garlic and vegetables grown below the earth’s surface. Similarly, Amritdhari Sikhs do not eat non-vegetarian food. These are only examples. There are many sections among religious communities that avoid non-veg food. Apart from these, many Indians have shifted to vegetarian food as part of a sustainable and healthy lifestyle.

The arguments against ‘Pure Veg Fleet’

The critics of Zomato’s initiative have argued that it is wrong and given several reasons. One of the most used arguments was “casteism”. They argued that the word “pure” referred to casteism, and those who want “pure veg” food will not eat the food prepared by someone belonging to the SC/ST community. They claim that the idea of “pure veg” is linked to historical oppression and “Brahmanism”, which is a “social evil”. I made a thread of the arguments that can be checked here.

First of all, the argument in itself needs to be revised. You can visit any pure-veg restaurant and find that the chefs are not specifically from the upper caste. In most places, the employer, as well as the customer, do not care about the caste of the chef. They only care about the sanctity of vegetarian food and want no cross-contamination between vegetarian and non-vegetarian food during preparations.

When you see a board that says “Pure Veg” outside a restaurant, it simply means that the place does not serve non-vegetarian food. The word “pure” in “Pure Veg” means the food is prepared at a place where only vegetarian food is served. In such areas, meat products, including eggs, are not used. It has nothing to do with casteism.

There is another argument that it may lead to violence against delivery partners. No, it will not. No one in this country would attack a delivery partner because that person is not wearing a green dress. However, I strongly believe that someone from the critics’ side may do it to prove their point, and everyone should be vigilant about it.

Moreover, this argument stands null and void as Deepinder announced both fleets will wear red uniform only.

Another argument is that landlords could use it to harass tenants if they had agreed to eat only vegetarian food. Well, being a tenant for 20 years, I am on the landlord’s side. If you have decided not to eat non-veg food, stick to it. Eat non-veg outside the premises, and there will be no problem. If you are caught eating non-veg food after promising the landlord that you will not cook or eat such food items at their own premises, that means you are not trustworthy. It is as simple as that.

The flawed narrative needs to end

The idea of linking vegetarian food to caste roots from half-baked knowledge that so-called intellectuals gathered from their shallow circle. They do not want to understand the food culture in India and claim that “pure” means “discrimination”. When it comes to food, Indians have always been very particular. Millions of non-vegetarians do not eat non-veg food during specific days such as festivals. Even they would prefer to use “Pure Veg Fleet” for religious reasons.

It is high time that people grow up and learn that they have food choices. Even if the number of “pure vegetarians” is only 29 per cent in the country, something that the critics have claimed, it has to be noted that 29 per cent means over 35 crore people. You cannot ignore such a large section of the society.

This article was updated after Deepinder Goyal made an announcement on dress code.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here