Of west and the concept of vegetarianism..

After spending 26 years in India, one has a picture of vegetarianism. The picture looks something like

• Not bringing in meat into the house, let alone kitchen
• Meat includes anything starting from fish, chicken all the way upto beef and pork
• If it is a hotel, it means keeping the kitchens and/or dishes separate
• Separation in terms of eating places. Sitting away from the places where meat is being consumed. I must say this statement is outdated.

Then I went to US for a short visit. :). Here's the story.

My roomie had clearly told that 'cheese burger' (though the name has no part of non-vegetarian item) will have 'beef' in between the harmless looking bread pieces; when ordering food in McDonalds or burger king, make sure you tell 'no meat', 'no fish', 'no chicken', 'no egg' and 'no mushroom' (the last 2 are my own preferences.. no arguments whether they are non-veg or veg).

Inspite of these, on my first visit to McDonalds, I repeated the above sentence without fault and in one breath. I could find the lady behind the counter make a face (as if saying 'which galaxy are you from?') and say 'You dont even eat chicken?' .. phew..

And in my office cafeteria, I asked for a veggie burger. The guy (without changing the gloves which served non-veg before me) just brought a chicken burger and replaced the chicken part with lettuce and handed it over to me. I didn't have a choice but to pay him and throw the burger.

Later on, my US manager mentioned that the concept of vegetarianism was nothing but not eating meat. This was by choice and not by religion. By default, they are non-vegetarians and hence preparation doesn't matter to them (They eat only bread anyways.. :P..). Only the followers of Buddhism were supposed to follow such strict practices of food preparation.

Forward 3 years.. around the same time, but slightly easter than US, in UK this time. I went to Subway to have a sub to satiate the paapi peth. The lady in front of me took a sub with Tuna and some onions. Next was me.

Her - :) Hello.. what're you having?
Me - :) A veggie delite.
Her - :) 6 inch or a foot?
Me - :) 6 inch
Her - :) Which bread?
Me - :) Italian

At this point, I was planning to break the turns and ask 'can you please change the gloves please?'. But she didn't give me a chance.

Her - :) You want me to change the gloves?
Me - Yes please... :D..
Her: :)

Looks like either the world is accepting the Indian concept of vegetarianism or it could just be a quality process which is doing the trick. Whatever it is, does help the old fashioned vegetarian.


Closing credits: Picture courtesy: Vinodhini.