Green or red: Foodies divided over food app’s ‘pure veg’ fleet

The visual divide between the rides sparked an outrage on social media. Responding to the upheaval, Goyal announced a retraction of the on-ground segregation.

As soon as the online food delivery platform, Zomato announced its Pure Veg Fleet/Mode and serve those “who have a 100% vegetarian dietary preference,” the social media went into a tizzy debating over what’s ‘pure veg’ and whether it’s enough to change colours from red to green? The announcement was made on X (formerly Twitter), by Zomato’s CEO Deepinder Goyal, where he posted a photo of riders sporting green T-shirts, and wrote, “India has the largest percentage of vegetarians in the world, and one of the most important feedback we’ve gotten from them is that they are very particular about how their food is cooked, and how their food is handled.”

The announcement was made on X (formerly Twitter), by Zomato’s CEO Deepinder Goyal, where he posted a photo of riders sporting green T-shirts.

This initially received a positive response from social media, but soon came the criticism and the opposing opinions from the food industry experts. “While a dedicated non-veg and veg category and kitchen is understanding, it doesn’t have to call for the need of a parallel service just to cater to veg food delivery,” says patisserie chef Guntas Sethi (EU food Ambassador in India ??), adding, “With Navratri just around the corner, offering an option for dietary preference is understandable, but is also borderline a marketing tactic. I understand the sentiments (that people have when) the same utensil is used, and food mixing up, but there’s no reason for a special service or uniform and guess that’s why it was rightly rolled back.”

Some celebs also joined in the debate to voice their concerns. This included music composer Ricky Kej, who took to X, recalling the instance of receiving chicken rolls instead of veg food. Whereas writer-comedian Varun Grover highlighted the argument behind ‘pure veg food’, asking social media users to consider the dietary preference of the riders to keep intact the purity.

Responding to the upheaval and public opinion, Goyal retracted the initially announced on-ground segregation, stating, “This will ensure that our red uniform delivery partners are not incorrectly associated with non-veg food, and blocked by any RWAs or societies during any special days…our riders’ physical safety is of paramount importance to us.”

But not everyone is of the same opposing views, just as chef-entrepreneur Tarun Sibal, who opines, “With the new veg mode, the company’s aim can be deduced to giving their customers an extra boost of confidence. Given that in this country we navigate among people from countless culinary cultures and preferences, this was much needed... We need to simply look at it as a way to be more inclusive of different food choices, without delineating it with propaganda or marketing norms. It’s just a vegetarian fleet serving vegetarian khana to those who prefer it’s cooked in a vegetarian kitchen!”