JOIN USCurious season of food fights
Earlier this week, a man called Amit Shukla requested Zomato to cancel his food order as a non-Hindu was delivering it. He said it was the holy month of Saavan and he was only asserting his religious freedom as allowed by the Indian Constitution.
Zomato responded: ‘Food doesn’t have a religion. It is a religion’. That line won the food delivery company much praise. But criticism also came from people, under hashtags such as #IStandWithAmit and #BoycottZomato.
Metrolife revisits some recent food controversies.
Bite before delivery
Zomato was on every newsfeed in December 2018 when a video showed a man in company uniform sitting on a bike and eating out of a parcel meant for delivery.
It also showed him keeping the box back in his bag to take out another. The company was trolled savagely, prompting all app-based delivery services to seal their food packages.
Beef with beef
In 2017, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, the environment ministry called for a nationwide ban on the sale of cattle for slaughter. Opposing this, Kerala Youth Congress leaders slaughtered a calf in public. Many south Indian colleges held beef festivals. People have since been beaten up and killed for carrying and consuming the meat. According to a Reuters report, 63 cow vigilante attacks have occurred between 2010 and mid-2017, mostly since the Modi government came to power in 2014. A total of 28 people were killed and 124 injured.
Khichdi a national dish?
Khichdi is the go-to dish for many. It’s simple to cook. But when well-known chef Sanjeev Kapoor wanted to make the world record of cooking 800 kg of khichdi at the Indian Fate Lawns during the World Food India fest, the media thought that it would be crowned the national dish. Many said each state had its own speciality dish, and khichdi wasn’t even a part of their diet.
Iyer and chicken?
Just in, Hotel Milagu in Madurai named one of its dishes ‘Kumbakonam Iyer Chicken’ and that did not go down well with the Iyers, conventionally vegetarian. Protests and demonstrations followed. The restaurant issued an unconditional apology.
Food, religion, secularism...
Debate is raging about the connection between food and religion. Founder Deepinder Goyal tweeted in response to the Muslim delivery executive controversy: “We are proud of the idea of India ---and the diversity of our esteemed customers and partners. We aren’t sorry to lose any business that comes in the way of our values.”
Competitor Uber Eats India stepped forward to say they supported Zomato’s stand. As the controversy raged, many customers uninstalled the Zomato app and gave it a poor one-star review on Google Play Store.
Zomato says it has given tags for restaurants: halal, Jain, vegan and navratra thali. The delivery agent in question, Faiyaz, was reported as saying, “I feel hurt. It’s okay, we’re poor, we’ve to suffer.”
The Madhya Pradesh police have sought a written undertaking from Amit Shukla, a resident of Jabalpur, that he would not spread religious hatred. They have put him on the watch for six months and warned they would take him into custody if he failed to follow their directions.