Food Apartheid: Non-vegetarians Not Allowed!

In 2016, an actor and his family living in an upscale housing complex in Dahisar, Mum­bai, had a nasty experience when vegetarians living in the complex started har­assing them over their consumption of animal protein. After a heated confrontation with the actor, their neighbours started leaving dog poop, garbage and other unsavoury stuff at their door. There was an unofficial social boy­cott of the family. The actor’s school-going son was teased mercilessly about “eating ani­mals”, called a “ghati” (a derogatory reference to Maharashtr­i­ans) and not allowed into the play area of the complex. Though the actor filed numerous police complaints, the harassment continued. Finally, fed up with the harassment, they sold the flat and moved on to a housing complex which was open to “non-vegetarians”.

Today, discrimination while renting or selling homes is rampant across the state, specifically in Mumbai. Scores of people are denied houses bec­a­use they are non-vegetarians. Such food preferen­ces are leading to an exten­ded sea­rch for good and aff­or­d­able accommodation, oft­en without succ­ess. Housing comple­xes­—­­whe­ther swanky high-ri­ses or more modest middle-class ones—have emb­arked on a silent campaign to turn the cosmopolitan Mum­bai into a vegetarian-only zone. Real est­ate brokers who spoke with Outlook said they have specific instructions to keep away Maha­r­a­shtrians, Mus­lims, Backward Castes and other meat-eating people from renting or buying flats. Since a majority of Maharashtri­ans are meat eaters, finding affordable housing in good complexes has become a herculean task for many.