Last night we were working late and decided to treat ourselves to delivery. Deepika was taking our orders and translating it over the phone to the nearby Indian place. This is more or less how part of the ordering conversation went down.
LISA: I'd like chana masala [translation: chickpea stew] and garlic naan.
DEEPIKA: They don't have it; this is a veg place.
LISA (confused): The garlic naan?
DEEPIKA: Yeah, this place is pure veg.
You may be thinking, "since when was garlic naan made from an animal?" Yeah, that was pretty much my reaction too.
In India, people who are pure veg don't eat meat, eggs, dairy, honey, onions or garlic. It's like veganism squared. From what I gathered from talking to my Delhi coworkers, people who are pure veg are typically religious folk. The rationale for them not eating meat is that it is impure or corrupt to harm animals for food. The explanation behind the onions and garlic, however, is a little less clear.
At first I was told it was because onions and garlic are thought of as dirty foods because they are taken from the ground. However, this didn't make much sense to me as pure veg restaurants often serve root vegetables.
The next theory thrown at me was that onions and garlic were considered impure because of their pungent odor. I was willing to buy this argument, but then decided to do some quick, unscientific follow-up research to double check.
The result? Well, according to Lonely Planet, Jains and Hare Krishna are generally the ones who are pure veg, and they may also abstain from root vegetables as they do not believe in doing harm to any living things, including plants. Any other thoughts on this?
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My experience with this is....as in yoga, or Auyurveda, is that garlic and onion produce desire, and movement in the mind.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to Jains, the philosophy is to avoid causing harm whenever possible. In this vein, they do not eat any root vegetables - onions, garlic, potatoes, carrots, etc - as well as various other fruits and vegetables that carry a lot of seeds. Why? Well, with root vegetables, you kill the entire plant when you harvest it. With fruits with lots of seeds, you are basically aborting a lot of potential life. Picking an apple, while killing several potential apple trees, allows the tree to continue growing. It is not a clean cut method, though, as it is my understanding that strawberries are not forbidden.
ReplyDeleteThis does not explain, though, why the pure veg place you encountered might serve potatoes but not garlic and onions. I can only say that as a set of religions without a rigid hierarchy, a lot of it is left up o personal interpretation and preference. For instance, I know Jains who do eat honey and root vegetables.
Yes, I realized this wasn't a clear cut system when I found out that Bhubanewswar also has a pure non-veg place.
ReplyDeleteSave the chickpeas!
ReplyDelete