Today afternoon I had some time and I thought it
would be nice to have a lunch with my wife, somewhere close to her workplace.
Most of the eating places around are non vegetarian; generally I don’t prefer
them though sometimes I do visit such places. I often think – well, why do I
still have such mental block about non-veg restaurants when dairy is also
filled with lots of cruelty (lifelong slavery is worse than murder, I feel) and
ideally I should feel same way about regular lacto-vegetarian restaurants as
well. Whatever, I never ate non-veg, so I do have that mental block, I admit
it.
Another problem that we usually face: so called
pure vegetarian fine dining places are also quite unfriendly for vegans,
because of their extensive usage of dairy products. Here is our today’s
experience in Konark, Residency Road. Once again we found that it is quite
unfriendly for vegans. We had forgotten finer level details that we had
experienced few months back, and our memory just got refreshed today.
1) On the ground floor they don't serve South Indian
thalis. On the top floor, thali serving place is not a fine dining place and
other side of top floor is for buffet, which is again not good for vegans.
2) They use mixture of oil and ghee, so items like
dose are also ruled out.
3) Alright, we ordered Alu-Gobhi masala and I
instructed them not to use any butter, ghee or any dairy products. I also
specifically warned that I am allergic to dairy. The person who took the order
confidently and positively nodded his head for everything I said. For a moment
I forgot that most Indians show off more knowledge and feel inferior saying no.
Finally when the item came there was cream on the
top. Explanation was that 'Sir, its only little cream for garnishing'. I had no
option but to reject it and make them redo it. During the entire process, joy
of eating had vanished almost completely (which got totally lost when I
realized that the item was also extremely spicy and tasteless otherwise).
To summarize, Konark is one of the busiest and well
regarded vegetarian restaurants and they have several good aspects that I
appreciate. However, it is certainly not a great place for vegans to eat. It is
sad that dining out can be extremely frustrating for vegans, even in so called
pure veg restaurants :-(
A general note
Sorry if this post sounds negative, but you know, sometimes
we just want to have delicious and healthy vegan food without having to explain
too much or ask too many questions. Once again, today I realized today that
vegans don't have such luxury, and I cannot help venting out my frustration.
We cannot just generally instruct no for any and
all dairy products, we have to be extremely specific about each and every item,
and cannot afford to forget things like cream on the top! We have to be
prepared for being fussy or weird people in front of others, unless we are
ready to sacrifice our desires and order only guaranteed vegan items (and
pretend for others sake that you just love that stuff). In most places, I order
only items like Idli, chat, fruit salad, fruit juice, and maybe also some boiled
vegetables if they have.
Another point that I have almost given up these
days: Many “good” Indian restaurants (i.e. with upper middle class customers)
use butter while preparing gravy for North Indian dishes, and use ghee in
oggarane/tadka – this is their way of providing “superior taste” and show their
“high class”. However, awareness levels of servers sometimes are so low that
they cannot differentiate between oil and ghee, or they don’t bother about
finer aspects regarding how chef makes the food. So, they won’t even tell us
about butter-ghee ingredients, in spite of us asking – they will simply tell something
on your face and you just have to believe it, that’s all. Ironically sometimes
I get different answers on different days in the same restaurant. These days all
I do is ask once, and if they say `No, we use only oil’, that’s it, I don’t try
to dig further deep.
In some cases servers are knowledgeable about such
usage of butter and ghee, and they do say it openly (and with pride!) – a
classic example is Maiya’s in Jayanagara 4th Block – few months back
I visited that place, I was hungry and tired, but had to come out after knowing
that they use ghee everywhere, even for sambar’s oggarane (tadka). I was glad
that at least they knew it and told me the truth. It is just sad and ironical
that vegans cannot enjoy a good meal in such vegetarian fine dining places.
Maybe Bengaluru vegans should team up and start
educating these kinds of places about veganism, then we can at least hope for
better days ahead.
4 comments:
Practicing Veganism is very difficult. Since dairy products are also considered as 'pure veg' & 'special' in our country, it is hard to get vegan food everywhere.
Do you know any vegan restaurents in Bengaluru? or those kind of restaurents are there anywhere in India or other countries?
Dear ವಿ.ರಾ.ಹೆ. Practicing veganism has some challenges, but not that difficult. Yes, there is extremely low sensitivity related to dairy products in India and it can be challenging at times. But if we eat in small scale darshinis we don't have to fear much about usage of butter, ghee etc. By default they won't use it as it is expensive.
In Bengaluru, we don't have completely vegan restaurants yet, but the concept is catching up and some have become vegan friendly with full awareness of what veganism is. For ex:
In the Pink, BTM Layout
Green Theory, near Residency Road
Please note that both the above are into organic ingredients as well. So, they are passionate about one ideology, it is easier for such people to understand, appreciate and respect another similar ideology.
Taj Vivanta restaurant is also trying to add vegan section in its menu.
Bengaluru Vegan Group is doing good work in promoting concept of veganism. For ex: In the Pink is hosting a vegan lunch buffet this weekend!
Elsewhere in India: In Goa there is one completely vegan and few vegan friendly places. In Mumbai there is a vegan eatery, not a fine dining place though. In Puttaparthy there is one 'almost vegan' restaurant. And so on. The concept is catching up!
Thank you very much for the information.
It's not easy, but you have to list out all non-vegan ingredients because people are deaf/blind to many things being derived from cow's milk. Also, many waiters in Indian restaurants will lie just to get you to eat something. They're inclined to tell you what you want to hear. So phrasing the question differently is important so that you get the truth (or what they want to say) out.
Another thing to do is try to stick to "safe" dishes and not risk it much with cuisines that may have a lot of dairy products.
All this said, this post is not negative. It's just an expression of frustration and also a description of the pathetic levels of service in many restaurants. Hopefully it will serve as a cautionary note to others.
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