It’s like discussing renewable energy without talking about solar power.
Indian cuisine is the OG vegetarian (and the ‘trailblazer’)—seriously. I can’t understate how much Indian food is vegetarian, how intertwined it is with Indian and Hindu culture and philosophy. Today, about 500 million Indians eat a vegetarian meal at any given mealtime, possibly more. The concept goes back *millennia*, and as a result, entire family trees are vegetarian in India.
The key idea is *ahiṃsā*, or non-violence, first discussed in the Rig Veda ~1500 BCE. This was immediately extended to the slaughter of animals. Jainism took this to new levels, and suggested avoiding even root vegetables, which would require uprooting the entire plant (therefore violently killing it, as opposed to eating the fruits, which are naturally *meant* to be eaten). Medieval Hindu philosophers (Ramanuja, Adi Shankara, Madhvacharya, etc) further emphasised a ‘sattvic’ diet consisting of fresh fruits and vegetables, and dairy.
Even despite India incorporating several cultures due to invasions, migrations and colonisations, there has been one constant, and that’s vegetarianism. I think it’s fair to say if you want diversity in vegetarian food, India has it *all*. There’s Persian/Mughlai, Rajasthani, Gujarati, Jodhpuri, Bengali, Punjabi, Nepalese and Sikkimese, Andhra, Kannadiga, Goan, Anglo-Indian, Tamil, Keralite… The options are endless. Every Indian state has its own unique cuisine—just 500 km away and you’d be served something completely different. Saag paneer, biryani, dosai, sambar, dal, momos, gobi manchurian, pulao, dhokla, idli, kajar halwa, paneer tikka, pakora, chutneys, soooo many curries…
The concept is legally enshrined: any food produced in or imported to India *must* display the [vegetarian/non-vegetarian dots](https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Veg_NonVeg_SVG.svg); since last year, the FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) has introduced a new symbol for vegan products. In India, vegetarianism is synonymous with lacto-vegetarianism—eggs are *not* vegetarian.
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I’ll concede that these newfangled meat analogues are incredibly innovative and actually taste half decent (I personally can’t stand tofu, but Impossible and Beyond are quite nice), but they’re also heavily processed and contain *lots* of sodium—not a great trade-off just to emulate the taste and texture of meat. Indians made do with fruits, vegetables, and a great variety of spices—before Impossible and Beyond (and Quorn and Morningstar).
I also disagree with the whole ‘lab-grown meat’ idea—why not just eat plants directly? It is pretty easy to make vegetarian food provided you have access to fresh fruits and vegetables. It’s even better if you readily have access to Indian spices (I admit, this is a big advantage living in South-East Asia or the UK versus more remote places like the Midwestern US)—especially the ones really hard to get, like asafoetida, fenugreek, fennel seeds, fresh black peppercorns, amchur, turmeric, tamarind, saffron, cardamom.
Below are some extremely useful sites completely *dedicated* to Indian vegetarian recipes (some do have other cuisines, too). They’re written by Indians, so you know there’s some authenticity there (at the risk of committing the appeal to authority fallacy). Adblockers strongly recommended.
– [Padhu’s Kitchen](https://www.padhuskitchen.com/recipe-index)
– [Veg Recipes of India](https://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/recipes/)
– [Cook With Manali](https://www.cookwithmanali.com/recipes/)
– [NDTV Food](https://food.ndtv.com/recipes/vegetarian-recipes)
– [Tarla Dalal](https://www.tarladalal.com/recipes-for-indian-veg-recipes-2)
– [Manjula’s Kitchen](https://www.manjulaskitchen.com/indian-vegetarian-recipes/)
I hope everyone tries eating and cooking more Indian vegetarian 🙂
Dining and Cooking