The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data reveals that more people in India are consuming non-vegetarian food than ever before. An analysis by the Indian Express shows that between 2015-16 and 2019-21, there is an increase reported in the proportion of Indian men consuming non-veg food.
Men eat more non-veg than women
According to NFHS-5 (2019-21), there are 16.6 % of men (15-49 age group), never consumed non-veg food while NFHS-4 (2015-16) recorded 21.6 % of men in the same age group. The comparison shows a dip of five per cent.
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However, the scenario with women is quite different. The same age group (15-49) for women stood at 29.4% in 2019-21, and 29.9% in 2015-16. The survey listed fish, chicken and meat as non-vegetarian food.
Over 83.4 per cent of men and 70.6 per cent of women in the 15-49 age group eat non-vegetarian food daily, weekly or occasionally. That figure stood at 78.4 per cent for men and 70 per cent for women in NHFS-4.
People in which area consume the most?
In Lakshadweep, 98.4% of men (category) eat non-vegetarian eaters, which is the highest in India. With 14.1%, Rajasthan placed at the lowest.
A 2018 Mint analysis NFHS (2005-06 and 2015-16) showed Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Uttarakhand have shown high rates of increase in meat consumption. The report stated that vegetarianism has been on the decline over the past decade in India.
In the 15-49 age group, Christian men (80%) and women 78% consume the highest non-vegetarian food at least once a week.
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Other religions include Hindu men: 52.5%, women: 40.7%; Muslim men: 79.5%, women: 70.2%; Sikh men: 19.5%, women: 7.9%; Buddhist/Neo-Buddhist men: 74.1%, women: 62.2%; and Jain men 14.9%, women: 4.3%.
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As per India's National Sample Survey (2021), Fish is the most popular non-vegetarian food among Indians, followed by chicken, mutton and beef.
Complex Indian traditions
According to the Indian Express, the Delhi civic body once approved banning the display of non-vegetarian food in the open but did not get the final approval.
In August 2018, a rule directing all restaurants and eateries in the region to put up prominent boards, specifying if they were serving ‘halal’ or ‘jhatka’ meat passed by the East MCD. Last year, the South MCD passed the same rule, followed by the East and North MCDs.
Vikram Doctor, an editor at The Economic Times who writes extensively about the country's food, said "It's deeply unfortunate because Indian traditions are more complex than that…India has a very old meat-eating tradition and a very deep vegetarian tradition, which is also important. But I am often forced into taking a position [to defend one over the other]."
"In India, vegetarianism is being weaponised by the right," he added.
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