Vegetarianism without vegetarians: Caste ideology and the politics of food in India

Climate change debates have helped frame vegetarianism as a conscientious choice across the globe and also projected India as a shining example of vegetarianism. Before this Euro-American vegetarians had long romanticized India as an ideal vegetarian society, and have assumed it to be based on progressive ethics. This article challenges such assumptions and complicates the Euro-American association of vegetarian dietary preferences with the ethical concerns of virtue, animal welfare, and sustainability. We contend that neither is India a vegetarian society nor is mainstream vegetarianism in contemporary India based on progressive ethics. We use in-depth interviews and extensive news reports to show that vegetarianism in India is a majoritarian political ideology associated with caste-based discrimination and violence, making it inimical to notions of non-violence, equality, and freedom. Majoritarian vegetarianism in contemporary India aims to conserve the caste system and its attendant inequalities. This study traces the ideological and repressive state apparatuses through which the fantasy and norms of vegetarianism are propped up in contemporary India. We argue that an uncritical acceptance of mainstream vegetarianism in contemporary India as a benevolent cultural preference whitewashes its discriminatory and violent nature, helps the caste system persist, and can undermine the well-being and nutritional outcomes of a majority of the Indian population especially those from non-elite social groups that have historically been omnivorous.