A food culture called pure vegetarianism is practised by many in India (Bhārata). This culture extends so much that restaurants have a pure vegetarian categorisation as well. Of late, influenced by political theories, some people have given casteist and anti Muslim colourisations to pure vegetarianism. We think that, for the sake of food culture, it is necessary to clarify what pure vegetarianism is.

To learn about the perspective of pure vegetarianism, we talked with some people associated with pure vegetarian restaurants and several pure vegetarians themselves we know of, some of them from the so called¹ upper caste. We couldn't find any pure vegetarian Muslims though. Based on their responses, we'll deconstruct pure vegetarianism from the perspective of both preparation and consumption.

Preparation

In food preparation, pure vegetarianism means that no non vegetarian food is stored, cleaned, cooked, served or handled in any manner in the kitchen (whether at home or in a restaurant). And the utensils used there have been used only to handle vegetarian food. "Pure" points to the level of vegetarian purity maintained in the eatery; not the casteist or religious purity.

One might ask, why maintain such standards of purity when they have no particular effect on health? A spoon that served beef, when washed, is as good as a spoon that has never served beef. While this is true pathologically, the preference for such purity standards has ethical and religious implications.

There are multiple reasons why people practice vegetarianism. The folks with anti-cruelty and compassionate lifestyle may, as part of their activism or simply to avoid guilt by association, want to not give business to a restaurant that is indirectly contributing to that culture. However economically bad boycotts are, the tendency to boycott things that are not aligned with one's principles is present inside everyone.

The religious folks, to primarily avoid guilt by association, would love to have their dining surroundings free of this "impropriety", whether beef to a Hindu, or pork to a Muslim. They would feel more conscientious if their kitchen or restaurant did not handle beef or pork respectively.

In fact, some even find it deeply unsettling to sit nearby non vegetarian food or someone having non vegetarian food. And, if the pure vegetarian happens to be a Brahmin or an upper caste and the non vegetarian happens to be someone from the so called lower caste, this sitting apart is produced as proof for being casteist. Such accusations are examples of mistaking correlation for causation. The caste is a correlation, not the cause. The discomfort and the consequent sitting apart is not because of the person with the non vegetarian dish, but because of the dish.

Call such habits and tendencies of non association as a spiritual discipline or a psychological insistence. This is a human nature and can be found elsewhere too:

• Keeping your friends circle clean off untrustworthy and opportunist people.
• Making sure that criminals and not part of your social circle.
• Declining a neighbourhood while hunting for a house, if you think that the hygiene culture of the neighbourhood conflicts severely with yours.

The tendency to prefer a surrounding that is aligned with your sense of propriety is a mere human nature. The same tendency, in the case of pure vegetarianism, has nothing to do with casteist supremacy, caste purity, Brahmanical patriarchy, anti-Muslim prejudice, any of those big words that certain political beings love to peddle.

In fact, this disassociation is evident in the business of pure vegetarian restaurants. Had this food culture been casteist or anti-Muslim, it wouldn't make sense to allow everyone to enter at all pure vegetarian restaurants and eat. It would makes sense to have a caste checker or a Muslim filter at the entrances; yet there are none.

Consumption

From the perspective of consumption, the qualification "pure" roots from the non strictness that Indians practice — vegetarianism can be consuming non-vegetarianism once in a while. The word "pure" indicates the strictness. Consider the following conversation in Hindi:

Person A: Ye lo, thoda chicken khalo. (Here, have some chicken.)

Person B: Arre nahi. Mei vegetarian hun. (No pal, I am a vegetarian.)

Person A: Thoda khalo yaar. Kya hoga? (Eat little buddy. What'll happen? Nothing.)

Person B: Nahi yaar. Tu khakle. (No pal, You eat.)

Person A: Kya yaar. Veggie veggie bolte rahte hai. Thoda to khalo. Har din khane ki baat nahi kara hun. Khalo, kuch nahi hoga. (What man! Always with your veggie veggie thing! Eat little bit. I am not talking about consuming every day. Just this once. Eat, nothing will happen.)

Person B: Aaa... Chalo, thoda daal de. (Aaah... fine, serve little).

While, the English translation may not have captured the friendliness in the persuasion of Person A, the point is that we have vegetarians who will give in like Person A, and we also have vegetarians who will refuse and instead reply with words reflecting their strict regime:

Person B: Nahi yaar, Mein pure vegetarian hun. Thoda bhi nahi kha sakta. (No buddy, I am a pure vegetarian. Can't even eat little.)

This "loose" strictness is exceedingly present among Indians — 10 PM is sometimes 10:15 PM, Saturday can mean Sunday, and so on. Therefore, we use certain qualifiers to assert the strictness. For time, we say, "Thik 7 baje aana." ("Come at exactly at 7 o'clock"). In the case of vegetarianism, the word used is "pure".

There may not be logic in these qualifiers: impure vegetarianism is no more vegetarianism and non-exact 7 o'clock is not 7 o'clock at all. Yet, we use them because of our tendency to compromise, often termed as chalta hai attitude².

Conclusion

The persistent colouring of "pure vegetarianism" as casteist, anti Muslim, etc., despite the several clarifications made, only throws light into the wilful limitation they have put on themselves in understanding and accepting certain positions. If truth is misaligned with their positions, it makes them more than uncomfortable.

Bhooti cares about food culture. Whether vegetarian or otherwise, the food culture built around it contributes to a balanced meal — something we are lacking in the age of quick meals, limited variety and fast food. Therefore, politically motivated souls and their inaccurate statements that affect food culture is a concern to us. Hence this article.