The world is by and large consumers
of meat and related products as part of their diet. Humans from time immemorial
are omnivores. The notion of vegetarian food is something fairly recent in
human history, perhaps with the advent of the settled life and agricultural
civilization. Geography has determined food preferences and thus in large parts
of the world agriculture was not possible till fairly recent centuries in
history. This meant the option was animal food for survival. Wild fruits or
nuts or even honey might have been discovered millennia ago and formed part of
the human diet thus enabling it to accommodate to the omnivorous diet. This also
perhaps helped in rapid adoption of vegetarianism as diet preferences in
agrarian societies. Yet in history the notion of vegetarianism is about
minorities rather than of the majority. Till date, most humans eat animal food
as their choice rather than vegetarian. However, choice of animal based food is
not exclusive of vegetarian choices. The exclusive vegetarian is more of a
premium food or lifestyle dietary preference in the Western world.
It is in countries like India where vegetarian
diet assumed greater importance. It might have been due to advent of agrarian
life and consequent diffusion across the society. Despite this, India hosts
large number of people who eat what Indians would term non-vegetarian. This term
is something unique to India. While in the West, it is default non-vegetarian,
in India it seems unique to the context. The notion of vegan is something
associated with esoteric lifestyle and perhaps conceived as a Veblen good. In India,
however, non-vegetarian seems to be the exception though majority might prefer
it. It is common to have restaurants indicating the non-vegetarian food is
served. It would be interesting to decode why such a thing exists. Among the
non-vegetarian too, there is of course a debate between what is termed as halal
cut and what has been called as jhatka cut. The former refers to preparing meat
by killing. In the latter, the animals are dead much before they are cooked. Apparently,
it is less cruel to engage in jhatka cut than a halal cut. The halal is usually
associated with the Muslim community and thus acquires even sharper dimensions.
While many restaurants and food retailers indicate to the possibility of halal
cut, there are rarely any restaurants or food retailers who point towards the availability
of the jhatka cut. In Europe, there is tendency to move away from halal. In
India, it acquires a Hindu-Muslim conflict and the passions often run high. Thus
halal is unlikely to be eliminated in India in the near future. Yet. It would
be instructive to decode why restaurants indicate halal cut but not the other. Similarly,
it must be probed why restaurants announce they are pure vegetarian or also
serve non-vegetarian. The answer again is in economics and towards understanding
how preferences develop.
It is an individual choice to opt
for vegetarian or otherwise. The same applies to someone who has to choose
between the halal cut of jhatka cut. It is important to note however whether
they are mutually exclusive or not. Let us take for instance the vegetarianism
or otherwise. In India, there are many who might prefer not to eat in
restaurant that serves meat and other animal based products. It is different
matter that milk for instance while being an animal product is an accepted part
of the diet in India. The ones who prefer to consume only in those restaurants
which are pure vegetarian would certainly like to have an information about the
dietary nature of the restaurant in question. Therefore, when the restaurant
indicates the serving of non-vegetarian food, this is a signal to vegetarians
that they can choose to opt out in case of discomfort. Those who serve pure
vegetarian, as per Indian definition, would want to reassure the customers
there is no availability of non-vegetarian items at its place. This would send
a strong signal for the vegetarians to prefer this place. Those who prefer
non-vegetarian are not bothered about vegetarian or otherwise. Thus to them, it
doesn’t make a difference.
The similar principle applies to
halal or jhatka meat as well. Those who need halal are mutually exclusive of
the jhatka food. They do not want the same and are vocal in expressing the
needs. In this context, to attract these customers, there must be information
that should be conveyed in no ambiguous terms. Therefore, the restaurants and
the retailers alike will go miles to indicate the presence of halal cut in
preparing the meet to cater to these customers. In the absence of this
information, the probability of consuming non-halal meet would deter their
patronage. Therefore, there exists a clear indication of presence of halal
meet. Now in general those who are not averse to jhatka meat are also not
averse to halal meet. To them, it doesn’t make a difference. Therefore they are
comfortable with either and thus to them, it hardly makes a difference whether
a signboard indicates the jhatka availability or otherwise. If there emerges an
audience that is vocal about jhatka meat, then the retailers would be compelled
to post such messages.
There are already such messages
being posted in restaurants and retailers in many parts of the country. This is
partly due to the emergence of the vocal section that is demanding jhatka meat.
It might be because they are opposed to halal since it is deemed to be
pro-Muslim, yet the fact that an audience exists for such products indicates
the need for restaurants to inform their patrons on the nature of the meat
available. It is often perceived that the political colours are behind this
distinction or lack of it. It is often believed that the Muslim votebank and
the vocal assertion of the same that makes firms bow down and indicate the
possibility of halal meat. While there might be a grain of truth, this phenomenon
can be explained by economics better. It is the conflicting dietary preferences
and how the individual in question views the same would decide on these. If the
jhatka preferred customers become vocal, one might very well see exclusive
restaurants for the same too.
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