Food Profiling On Flights: When Religiosity Increases, Everything Gets Tainted

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 29 August 2024 Hindu Meals/ Muslim Meals Are Openly Religious Tags, But The Month Of Shravan Is Going On. Quite A Few Hindus Refrain From Having Non-Veg Food During This Period. You Never Know, When A Religious Hindu Might Object To Something That's Prohibited During Shravan! We're Living In Religiously Intolerant, Nay Dangerous, Times. ------ Accusing Vistara of communalising food, a woman called-out the airline for labelling food as ‘Hindu Meal’ and ‘Muslim Meal’. In a post on X, Journalist Aarti Tikoo Singh tagged Vistara and asked why the vegetarian meal is called ‘Hindu meal’ and chicken meal called ‘Muslim meal’ on their flights. Polarisation has seeped too deeply into the psyche of the people of India. So far, we heard about Genetic Profiling. Now food profiling has also become common. It's shocking as well as pitiable that private airlines are indulging in this food profiling. But if you study these bizarre food edicts, you'll realise that this is not a very recent phenomenon. Jains have been flaunting Jain meals, Jain Paav-Bhaji, Jain Dosa for quite some time. Ancient Jain Agamas (religious texts of Jainism) clearly mention certain food items as food fit for Hindus. Sanskrit texts have categorically stated about Mlecchha Bhojnam. A L Basham mentioned this in the first edition of his famous book The wonder that was India. When religiosity increases, as it's increasing at the moment, everything gets tainted. Culture of food is no exception. Today's India has become religiously very sensitive. Our food habits and predilections are now influenced by our respective faiths. What's to be consumed is dictated by religions. Vistara is not completely at fault. Airlines get complaints from the travellers about the particular food items that hurt their dietary and religious sensibilities. So, the best way is to go for food profiling otherwise fliers could make an issue. Agreed, Hindu meals/ Muslim meals are openly religious tags, but the month of Shravan is going on. Quite a few Hindus refrain from having non-veg food during this period. You never know, when a religious Hindu might object to something that's prohibited during Shravan! We're living in religiously intolerant, nay dangerous, times. Yours truly witnessed a veteran actress on a flight enquiring about whether the non-veg item was halal! When Halal/Jhatka, Shravan, no roots, no onion and garlic will be the strict dietary conditions, what can Airlines and premium trains do? They've to resort to this type of objectionable food profiling to satisfy the dietary whims of the travellers. ------ A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several languages including Persian. URL: https://www.newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/food-profiling-flights-religiosity-tainted/d/133067 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism