A storm-in-a-tea-cup kind debate recently ensued in the Indian media. Why only vegetarian fare? Why no meat at BRICS* gala dinner? Of course, Indians know how to create debate even when none is required. No wonder India has more than 400 TV News Channels and 17,000 Newspapers, all thriving on debates. A Nobel laureate has even written a book entitled, “The Argumentative Indian”. All democracies are noisy and argumentative but Indians take them to altogether another level.
The policy of 100% plant-based food is a new trend. However, the delegates who dined at Bharat Mandapam were probably familiar with it. They focussed instead on the culinary bandwidth of Indian vegetarian dishes in terms of ingredients, range, tastes and flavours. Perhaps they also knew that their host country, India stands out uniquely as the repository of the world's largest vegetarian population, take any index, number or percentage.
The dinner at COP28 at Dubai (UAE) was 100% vegetarian and so was the case with the Hollywood Golden Globe award 77th ceremony at Beverly Hills (USA). UN-supported Responsible Investment Summit (PRI) at Sao Paulo (Brazil) too served strict vegetarian and vegan food. The idea behind no-meat food was sustainability of earth.
Sustainability was one of the five words in the official theme of BRICS 2026 - “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability”. Thus the vegetarian fare at BRICS sat in perfect sync with its key objective.
Living by the maxim, “Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam”- Whole world is one family- (वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम्), the wise thinkers of India had suggested, not mandated, the vegetarian diet as an earth sustaining**, healthy and civilization-promoting*** food-discipline.
The illuminated among them took the suggestion more seriously and made it into daily practice of living strictly on a vegetarian diet. The practice of abstention from meat eventually became a lifestyle for many. Today, estimated 20 to 39% of Indians are vegetarians according to Statista Consumer Insights of the UN.
Like Ayurveda and Yoga, Vegetarianism too gets increasingly associated with Indian-ness.
India and the followers of ancient vegetarian culture are your benevolent fellow global citizens. They abstain from meat so that earth continues to remain self-sustaining. They are your friends hiding in plain sight. The friend of the world is fondly known as “Vishwa-Bandhu” (विश्व बन्धु) in Indian languages. Let all who matter take to Vegetarian/Vegan fare at their official functions in the interest of the mother earth and become “Vishwa-Bandhu”.
*-BRICS is a group of emerging economies such as Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa etc 11 countries currently. Their objective is to increase trade mutually among member countries to accelerate their economies. BRICS summit was held in New Delhi on 13th Sept 2026.
**- Cornell University Study: One Acre land supports 2 to 5 vegetarians but less than 1 Non-Vegetarian.
***-- Vegetarianism needs farms and farmers who settle down. They are tied to land. therefore had possibility to create a steady society and civilizations as contrary to hunters and cattle herders who had to keep finding newer territories all the time preventing stability that is needed for civilization from taking root.
