The use of 'gastrodiplomacy' in state dinners for nation branding and to promote economic growth and trade isn't new. But what happens when food served on diplomatic plates for visiting Heads of States is used to underline a supremacist narrative based on notions of purity, deliberately erasing culinary cultures and preferences of the vast majority of the country's citizens?
“A medley of traditions, customs and climate, Bharat is diverse in many ways, 'Taste' connects us. We celebrate Sharad Ritu, the autumn season of abundance in this menu. It showcases the wealth of ingredients across Bharat, expressing our rich culinary heritage in a modern mosaic dedicated to the spirit of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' — One Earth, One Family, One Future',” read the description of the menu for the G20 gala dinner hosted by President Draupadi Murmu at the spanky new Bharat Mandapam for sherpas and world leaders.
The menu, ostensibly served on silver and gold-plated tableware, had Foxtail millet leaf crisps, Jackfruit galette with glazed forest mushrooms, and barnyard millet pudding for dessert — but there was not a hint of poultry or fish, let alone meat, protein anywhere. Even the luncheon spread for the family members of the Heads of States hosted by the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) was exclusively vegetarian, a fusion palate featuring dishes like Pumpkin Coconut Shorba and Naga Black Rice Bhel.
News headlines celebrated the culinary exercise as an attempt to promote diversity and showcase the ‘taste of Bharat’ but for anyone perusing the menu, the doublespeak was evident. There was no diversity or attempt for inclusion anywhere. The aftertaste was familiar though, the kind one feels when ideals held by old India are brazenly bulldozed to construct a new ‘Bharat’ where exclusion is the norm.
Analysis of datasets from the National Sample Survey and the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) have shown that a majority of the country's citizens consume meat. It is a trend that has grown over the years. Barring a handful of outliers like Gujarat – where Prime Minister Narendra Modi comes from – and Haryana, Punjab, and Rajasthan, more than half the people in every other state relish meat-based food.
The Narendra Modi-led Union government had been actively promoting millets globally and it could be argued that serving millet-infused cuisine was to brand India as the Millet Capital of the world. But what prevented the chefs from pairing millets, rich in dietary fibre and micronutrients, with mutton, poultry, egg, or fish? No dietician would advise a millet-only diet even though it has its benefits.
The fare must have been amusing for French President Emmanuel Macron who loves Cordon Bleu, a deep-fried meat dish stuffed with cheese, UK Premier Rishi Sunak who prefers Cod fish and chips, and the child-like peanut butter, jelly sandwich-loving President Biden who is rumoured to skip the leafy greens for the fear of getting them entangled in his teeth.
While India served an exclusively vegetarian meal for G20 members, on the sidelines of the summit the country resolved the long-standing poultry dispute with the United States and agreed to reduce the import tariffs for several farm products including frozen turkey and duck, opening up the market for American agricultural producers.
In 2015, on a visit to the UAE, Narendra Modi preferred a Gujarati vegetarian fare prepared by Chef Sanjeev Kapoor, which forced the Emirati sheikhs to forgo meat dishes on the table and join him in partaking in the plant-based preparations. Since then world leaders have been careful not to ruffle gastronomic sensitivities of the ‘pure vegetarian’ Indian Prime Minister who loves his khichdi too much.
In June 2023, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on a state visit to the United States, First Lady Jill Biden turned the White House South Lawn into a pavilion draped in rich greens with saffron-coloured flowers at every table. The menu crafted with the help of culinary artist and chef Nina Curtis had plant-based courses of millet including Marinated Millet and Crisped Millet Cakes. But then none could call it exclusively vegetarian as the main course had sumac roasted sea bass as a counterpoint. Dr Biden, being a gracious host, perhaps did not want to disappoint other guests on the list.
Cities and towns in several BJP-ruled states are known to shutdown meat shops during Hindu festivals and meat-eating Muslims live under fear because of lynchings in the name of cattle smuggling and beef consumption. State policies shaped by Hindu nationalism banning cow slaughter have also economically impacted Dalits and marginalised communities and school children, when eggs were taken off from their school meal menus. These are all pointers towards the multiple levels in which politics of food is being played out in India, ironically one of the world’s largest exporters of beef.
The politics of promoting vegetarianism as an ideal, while turning a blind eye towards the human blood that has been shed over it, recently met with a bold political response from a mainstream politician. On September 2, Rahul Gandhi uploaded a video on his YouTube channel. The video titled 'The secret recipe of Lalu and political masala' shows Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rahul exchanging light banter as they discuss the recipe of Bihar's Champaran mutton and national politics. On the advice of political master chef Lalu, Rahul is seen adding one ingredient after another to chunks of mutton before marinating and mixing them with his bare hands. The cooked mutton is then eaten with Misa Bharti and Tejashwi Yadav and a portion of it is parcelled home by Rahul for his sister Priyanka Gandhi.
The heart-warming video, which currently has over 34 million views, provoked scorn from the usual suspects. BJP's national spokesperson Sambit Patra called it the theatrics of ‘Janeudhari Brahmin’, referring to Rahul Gandhi, whom he said, waited for the holy month of Saawan to end before he would release the video in which he cooks mutton with Lalu.
This wasn't the first time that Rahul Gandhi was using conversations around cooking of meat to make a point to take on the bigoted politics of BJP. In April this year, he went on a food walk in old Delhi with food journalist Kunal Vijayakar to savour delicacies including kebabs, tandoori chicken, nihari, and brain curry from Al-Jawahar restaurant.
In November 2022, during the Bharat Jodo Yatra, he interacted with tribespeople and joined Congress workers in Telangana to cook Bongu (Bamboo) Chicken, cheerfully applying the marinade to pieces of chicken, later filled inside shafts of bamboo and cooked over an open charcoal fire.
That an Opposition politician who identifies himself as a religious Hindu does not shy away from cooking and consuming meat to question the exclusionary politics of the BJP and offer a competing narrative that has the ability to resonate with a majority of Indians opens vistas to a new kind of politics that is warm, inclusive, and has the core ingredient of every good recipe — love.