India has the world's largest number of vegetarians. Many communities in India have always been vegetarian. Many Indians who are not strict vegetarian, take vegetarian diet during religious festivals.
Also, many Indian vegetarians eschew eggs as well as meat. However, all consume dairy products. Veganism is generally not well known in India.
There are many vegetarian cuisines in India. Some of them are:
- Punjabi vegetarian cuisine: common in popular 'Vaishnav' dhabas, e.g. Dal makhani, pindi chana.
- Marwari vegetarian cuisine: e.g. dal-bati
- Marwari sweets: e.g. Choorma and Lapsi
- Gujarati cuisine: e.g. dhokla
- Jain (Satvika) cuisine: e.g. gatte
- UP vegetarian cuisine: e.g. Motichoor ka Ladoo
- Karnataka vegetarian cuisine: e.g. dosa
- Tamil Nadu vegetarian cuisine: e.g. rasam, sambar
- Bengali sweets: e.g. Rasgulla
Famous quotes containing the words indian, vegetarian and/or cuisine:
“The Indian is one of Nature’s gentlemen—he never says or does a rude or vulgar thing. The vicious, uneducated barbarians, who form the surplus of overpopulous European countries, are far behind the wild man in delicacy of feeling or natural courtesy.”
—Susanna Moodie (1803–1885)
“I nearly always find, when I ask a vegetarian if he is a socialist, or a socialist if he is a vegetarian, that the answer is in the affirmative.”
—Katharine Fullerton Gerould (1879–1944)
“Thank God for the passing of the discomforts and vile cuisine of the age of chivalry!”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)