‘Will Eat Anything That Moves’ Meat Cultures in Globalising India article by Krithika Srinivasan

and Smitha Rao

Meat-eating is a culture in India where many people are also vegetarian. But most of the Indians prefer
meat. The entire world is looking at ecological concerns and eating vegetarian and does cultivation not
just due to ecological concerns but also due to animal rights. Whereas India is going in the opposite
direction.

This article looks at the debates happing over meat consumption in India. Political culture in India is
based on religion, cows, and other false promises made by the political members. India is a country
where we see people consume vegetarian and worship cows, whereas some people eat beef. Making
this issue critical is what political parties are doing. India exports beef which media and political culture
is trying to hide from a common person. Debates are happing on dairy, beef, eggs. In India, meat
consumers are considered nonvegetarian and a product of upper caste people. The majority of the
Indian population consumes meat. A survey was conducted by Kumar and Yadav [ in 2006 which shows
that only  31% of the Indian population consumes vegetarian. In few communities like deshpandeys,
kashmari bhramins consumes meat and are considered as upper caste.

It is mentioned that countries like Bratian people consume meat once a week and is considered as the
main element of the cuisine. Whereas Indian culture is very different. Indian eat meat every day and
also include in starters and main course. Mainly food that contains starch is consumed along with meat.
It is documented that as there is a growth in the economy there is an increase in meat consumption. A
lot of countries fall in this category whereas India raised 5.1kg/capita/year [2005] of meat, 38.5
kg/capita/year [2005] of dairy products, which is still low compared to other countries. People in India
talk about animal well-being [mainly vegetarians] but the truth is it’s just about the religion and culture
they follow, they don’t think about animal well-being. Indian vegetarians use more dairy products and
they do not hesitate to use leather silk or experimenting on animals. They don’t care about how animals
are treated to extract dairy products. In India being vegetarian is a different aspect, it is all related to
political agenda, being trendy, going to cafes, etc. In fact, a lot of people so-called vegetarians eat
chicken and fish and they claim they don’t eat beef.

This article is trying to explain that Indian politicians create meat issues to spread hate among people for
political benefit whereas they ignore dairy products from the same animals. And the growth of poultry
farming is increasing in India. We need to look at both sides. If we are looking at animal’s lives then we
have to make sure we are into it, not just talking and debating on the issue. As well as instead of making
it a communal issue we have to look at animal well-being.

'Will Eat Anything That Moves': Meat Cultures in Globalising India

Author(s): KRITHIKA SRINIVASAN and SMITHA RAO