Decoding the politics of food cooked up over the years in India

Did you know the Mughals only drank Ganga jal? That the Dalai Lama eats meat? That the heroes of Hindu epics were often non-vegetarians? Food is more complex than politicians make out

As you probably know, one of the triggers for the great revolt of 1857 (or the First War of Independence or the Mutiny, depending on your perspective) was a story that spread across India. According to those who claimed to be in the know, the British army had coated cartridges with animal fat. Soldiers had to bite off the covering of the cartridges to use them. This meant that they ended up eating bits of the animal fat.

Indian cuisine is too great for its history to be twisted to suit the needs of today’s political debates(iStock)

Ancient texts such as The Arthashastra contain many references to meat eating

In fact, I am beginning to believe that, at no point since 1857, has food been as politicised as it is today. The renewed furore about beef eating is mostly political. The battle between khichri and biryani is really not about rice dishes at all. It is about so-called Hindu foods and Muslim foods. And the debate is prolonged only for political reasons.

India was never a vegetarian country. The view that ancient Hindus were all vegetarians is nothing but a myth

The problem with this caricature is that almost every single fact in it is wrong.

Khichri became popular not because of our devotion to vegetarian cuisine, but because it was cheap and easy to cook (Shutterstock)

Even during the Indus Valley Civilisation, one of the world’s oldest urban civilisations dating back to 3,000 years before the birth of Jesus Christ, animals were raised and slaughtered for food. During the Vedic period, non-vegetarianism was common. Even Ayurveda, which we regard now as a purely Hindu vegetarian phenomenon, advocated remedies based on meat.  

Indians are often shocked to find out that the Dalai Lama eats meat (Shutterstock)

So, the view that ancient Hindus were all vegetarians is a myth.

Keeping in mind Hindu sensitivities about the cow, Emperor Akbar banned its slaughter

Secondly, the Mughals did not arrive in India, defeat valiant Hindu kings and then establish a beef-eating, tyrannical dynasty. There had been Muslim rulers in India for centuries. Babur defeated the Delhi Sultanate, a Muslim kingdom and not some perfect embodiment of Ram Rajya.

Opinions vary on when the biryani was invented, but there is no doubt that it is an entirely Indian dish (iStock)

Many of these practices were continued by his son Jahangir and his grandson Shah Jahan, both of whom were vegetarian on certain days of the week and continued to impose Akbar’s ban on cow slaughter. (They also drank Ganga jal.)

Shah Jahan was vegetarian on some days of the week

Let’s take the example of one variation that delighted the Emperor Humayun and the Shah of Persia. One of Persia’s great claims to fame is that it says it invented an early version of the pulao and sent it around the world. It became pilaf in Turkey, paella in Spain and risotto in Italy. But even the Persians will concede that they borrowed one great rice dish from India.

Mughlai dishes served today have nothing to do with the Mughal court

Why was khichri so popular all over India? Not because of our devotion to vegetarian cuisine. It was a one pot meal that used dal (one of the defining characteristics of Indian cuisine through the ages) and any local grain that was available (not just rice). People ate it mainly because it was cheap and easy to cook. During wars, when soldiers would cook their own food, there would often be hundreds of fires lit before a battle as each solider made his own khichri.