🍽️ India Doesn’t Have Food Habits. It Has Food Ideologies.

Abroad, food classification is refreshingly simple.
You’re either a vegetarian or a meat-eater.
Two boxes. No footnotes. No disclaimers. No philosophy seminar before ordering lunch.

india, however, looked at this simplicity and said, “Cute. But no.”

Here, food is not about hunger.
It’s about identity, morality, astrology, caste memory, politics, family trauma, whatsapp forwards, and what the neighbour might say.

Eating is an act of belief. A referendum. A lifestyle statement. Sometimes even a protest.

Welcome to the Great indian Food Spectrum—where everyone is vegetarian, non-vegetarian, semi-vegetarian, conditional-vegetarian, politically vegetarian, spiritually carnivorous, and emotionally confused.

⚡ Abroad: The Boring Binary

• Vegetarian – No meat. End of discussion.

• Meat Eater – Meat exists. Life continues.

That’s it.
No clauses. No exemptions. No emotional blackmail.

🧨 India: The Menu of Moral Negotiation

1️⃣ Jain Vegetarian (Hardcore Edition)

Doesn’t eat anything that grows underground.
Because uprooting vegetables is violence.
Carrots, beets, potatoes—cancelled like problematic celebrities.

2️⃣ Jain Vegetarian (With Practical Adjustments)

Same rules.
Except potatoes and onions.
Because spirituality is important—but so is sabzi.

3️⃣ Vegetarian, No onion No Garlic

Not a diet. A vibe.
Onion and garlic are “tamasic,” which roughly translates to “will awaken desires, emotions, and possibly free thinking.”

4️⃣ Pure Vegetarian (Eggs Are a Sin)

Milk? Yes.
Curd? Yes.
Paneer? Worshipped.
Eggs? Absolutely not—because they might have feelings.

5️⃣ Vegetarian Who Eats Invisible Eggs

eggs are unacceptable—
unless they are hidden in cakes, cookies, pastries, brownies, and birthday joy.
Out of sight. Out of conscience.

6️⃣ Vegetarian Who Eats eggs But No Meat

eggs are “basically vegetables.”
Chicken, however, crossed a line somewhere in evolution.

7️⃣ Vegetarian Who Eats Meat (With Conditions)

Still vegetarian—
but eats chicken or seafood, because red meat is where morals draw the line.
Fish doesn’t count.
Chicken barely counts.
Labels remain intact.

8️⃣ Non-Vegetarian (Calendar-Based)

Eats meat only on Fridays, Sundays, festivals, birthdays, and  stress days,
and occasionally on dates that feel auspicious.
Some even consult numerology. Prime numbers are especially dangerous.

9️⃣ Non-Vegetarian, But No Beef

Because culture.
Because conditioning.
Because “we just don’t do that in our house.”

🔟 Non-Vegetarian Who Eats Beef (For Political Reasons)

This is no longer food.
This is performance art.
A statement. A rebellion. A tweet with legs.

1️⃣1️⃣ Complete Non-Vegetarian

Eats everything.
No guilt. No hierarchy. No explanation.
The rarest species of all.

🧠 The Real Truth (Read This Twice)

In india, food is never just food.
It’s who you are, where you’re from, what you believe,
and how loudly you want to announce it at the dining table.

People don’t ask, “What do you eat?”
They ask, “But what kind of non-veg?”

Because here, the stomach is personal—but the plate is political.

🏁 Final Bite

Other countries eat to live.
India eats to define itself.

And somewhere between Jain purity, sunday chicken, invisible eggs, and ideological beef—the country continues chewing on its greatest question:

“So… are you veg or non-veg?”