Are you a flexitarian?

A flexitarian is a semi-vegetarian who occasionally eats meat, writes Abhay Hanjura

When we walk into a restaurant and peruse the menu, the sections seem to be so clear. Most cards list the items in two distinct buckets — a range of dishes as ‘veg’, sometimes printed in green for the added effect and then the rest, preferably with a red dot by the side of each dish. While this does simplify decision-making at the table, it hardly captures the essence of multiple lifestyles behind the choices that we make.

Vegetarian with a twist

How many of you have come across people who claim they are non-vegetarian but when you offer them a dish on a Monday or a Tuesday, they choose to say that they are ‘by-the-way vegetarian for the day’? Or the other way around. People who claim to be vegetarian, but can indulge in a meaty feast with friends or when their mothers or wives are not in sight?

I have also come across individuals who prefer to eat prawns since it’s neither meat, nor fish, not vegetable either. They go by the traditional moniker of being a vegetarian, but vigorously defend that prawns and lobsters cannot be considered as non-veg. For that matter, eggs have created a niche for themselves. And now some of us prefer to be called egg-eatarians. Certainly, the egg came before the chicken...

Hail the rise of the flexible-eatarian or simply flexitarian, in India! As wide and encompassing as our country can get, we thrive in diversity and revel in our differences. Cut to India — a country where up to 71% of the population per the SRS survey conducted in 2014, are non-vegetarians. India has the largest livestock population and is the world’s fifth largest producer of meat. India is the largest exporter of red meat and the third largest producer of eggs.

What’s great about meat-eating in India is that it is associated with celebration. Meat, very beautifully, has always been a symbol of royal feasting — the ‘beegru oota’ in Karnataka, the ceremonious non-vegetarian feast offered on the third day after the wedding by the groom, the ‘gifting of fish’ custom in Bengali weddings, all bear testament to India’s attitude towards meat-eating.

So, India has a lot of room for flexitarians and we acknowledge that. We don’t consider them as occasional meat-eaters with a mainly vegetarian diet. Or labelled non-vegetarian, they follow a vegetarian diet from time-to-time. We believe they are those who exercise the choice of having meat as they please, when they please.

(The author is co-founder, Licious)