Don't we all love Indian food! Our mummy's cooking, our restaurants, our packed lunches, our kovil offerings, every little thing that makes up the garangutan whole of Indian food!
Wait a minute. Isn't indian food 'UNHEALTHY'!
I have to report my complete and utter frustration at people who like to examine my packed lunches and wonder just how much poison I am pouring into my veins because I am eating 'INDIAN FOOD'.
The last time I was eating my 'thayir saadam' [yoghurt rice] at work, my colleague thought it was coconut milk porridge.
When I tried to explain to her that we use other ingredients besides coconut milk, she had the cheek to reply "Where got? All Indian food got coconut milk what!" I gave up and went back to eating my thayir saadham.
Then it happened again.
I went to Komalas and bought back some pulisoru [tamarind rice].
Another colleague comes to see what I'm eating. "Oi, what is that ah?" I answered that it is Assam flavoured rice. "Hah? Indian food got such thing meh? I thought you all eat birr-yaaani ony wat?"
Then she asked me if the curry is "fish, chicken or mutton ah?" Hmmm... I told her that it is vegetarian food.
Which makes her stop, think and ask, "So the curry fish, chicken or mutton ah?"
I called my office phone with my handphone to get her out of my cubicle.
But that's not where it stops.
Just yesterday, I was explaining to my doctor that I am a vegetarian.
She then passes the assesment that the reason why I'm falling sick [as I had gastric flu] was because I don't eat meat.
She wants me to start eating more fish and lean meats. She said something like 'Look at the Shaolin monks in China, they are so fit and healthy because of their balanced diet.' She then goes on to talk about "Halal food being easily available everywhere". Errr... my patient card states that I'm HINDU.
I couldn't resist adding there that "I'm Hindu."
She looks at me perplexed, and asks, "So there is no problem there, then why don't you want to eat meat?"
I wanted to add that the Shaolin monks are strictly vegetarian, but I couldn't be bothered.
She wrote my prescription and waved me away.
Dear Singaporeans, please take note of the following.
Wait a minute. Isn't indian food 'UNHEALTHY'!
I have to report my complete and utter frustration at people who like to examine my packed lunches and wonder just how much poison I am pouring into my veins because I am eating 'INDIAN FOOD'.
The last time I was eating my 'thayir saadam' [yoghurt rice] at work, my colleague thought it was coconut milk porridge.
When I tried to explain to her that we use other ingredients besides coconut milk, she had the cheek to reply "Where got? All Indian food got coconut milk what!" I gave up and went back to eating my thayir saadham.
Then it happened again.
I went to Komalas and bought back some pulisoru [tamarind rice].
Another colleague comes to see what I'm eating. "Oi, what is that ah?" I answered that it is Assam flavoured rice. "Hah? Indian food got such thing meh? I thought you all eat birr-yaaani ony wat?"
Then she asked me if the curry is "fish, chicken or mutton ah?" Hmmm... I told her that it is vegetarian food.
Which makes her stop, think and ask, "So the curry fish, chicken or mutton ah?"
I called my office phone with my handphone to get her out of my cubicle.
But that's not where it stops.
Just yesterday, I was explaining to my doctor that I am a vegetarian.
She then passes the assesment that the reason why I'm falling sick [as I had gastric flu] was because I don't eat meat.
She wants me to start eating more fish and lean meats. She said something like 'Look at the Shaolin monks in China, they are so fit and healthy because of their balanced diet.' She then goes on to talk about "Halal food being easily available everywhere". Errr... my patient card states that I'm HINDU.
I couldn't resist adding there that "I'm Hindu."
She looks at me perplexed, and asks, "So there is no problem there, then why don't you want to eat meat?"
I wanted to add that the Shaolin monks are strictly vegetarian, but I couldn't be bothered.
She wrote my prescription and waved me away.
Dear Singaporeans, please take note of the following.
1) Chapatti is not Roti Prata.
2) Vegetarian does not mean eating raw vegetables.
3) Vegetarians are not on the verge of death, in fact they are pugnaciously healthy and have better skin than the lot of you.
4) Indian food is not limited to roti prata, 'tho-say', fish head curry and birr-yaaani.
To my colleagues: The next time I'm eating my thayir saadham, leave me alone. Unlike the Laksa you polished off at lunch, my thayir saadham is healthy and home made. At least I don't drip COCONUT MILK CURRY all over my shirt.
To my doctor: Please don't dish out advice to patients anymore. You might succeed in killing off one of them. And NO we are not MUSLIM, and NO vegetarian is not the same as being Halal.
To everyone else: Please respect our dietary choices and spare us the inquisition. No WE ARE NOT OBLIGED to explain for the one millionth time why we choose to be vegetarian, and what we can or cannot eat.
Some Indians are Vegetarian. Deal with it.
To my colleagues: The next time I'm eating my thayir saadham, leave me alone. Unlike the Laksa you polished off at lunch, my thayir saadham is healthy and home made. At least I don't drip COCONUT MILK CURRY all over my shirt.
To my doctor: Please don't dish out advice to patients anymore. You might succeed in killing off one of them. And NO we are not MUSLIM, and NO vegetarian is not the same as being Halal.
To everyone else: Please respect our dietary choices and spare us the inquisition. No WE ARE NOT OBLIGED to explain for the one millionth time why we choose to be vegetarian, and what we can or cannot eat.
Some Indians are Vegetarian. Deal with it.
13 comments:
It's about time your collegues get engaged in reading this blog while you put up more on indian vegetarian dishes and etc.
I've always loved indian veg food! they have a better variety in taste than meat! really! Chettinad veg food... simply... muah!
HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA. that's brilliant. div remind me to tell you about the girl in my uni who asked me if we lived in mud huts.
and also how come i could spell better than her. hehehe
Heh I had a friend who was vegetarian, and I never teased him about it. Until he started mentioning about how animals die because of me every time we go out to eat and I have meat. He's teasing of course, but it got really annoying.
The next time we went out to lunch, he made the same kind of comment. I growled in response, screamed that I need to feel blood in my mouth and tore into the chicken wings and meat like an animal. I have to admit, I did enjoy his reaction.
Praba: I have doubts about whether my colleagues can even read.
Azzy: 75% of India's population can't have gotten it wrong. Go Veg!
Puj: Mud huts? I thought we lived in caves?
Indian Stallion: Don't arouse my vampiric tendencies like that!
But anyhow everyone, thanks for commenting on my post!
Sincerely,
Div
i sure have a problem getting those greens down my throat:)
Dear Dawgster
That's ok. Not many like their greens although that does baffle me! Take heart! There are yellow, orange, red, purple, pink and blue vegetables as well! Maybe those might taste better. ;)
deviousDiv
Ouch!!!!that was a below the belt hit! U definately knew wat i meant:)
i can so understand how you feel. whenever i tell my collegues i'm a vegetarian, they ask if i can eat fish. sigh! and then go on so say stuff like why dont you just eat the rice on a plate of chicken rice! i'm sure they wouldn't tell a muslim to eat just the rice on the plate of char siew rice. why is there so little awareness of vegetarianism in singapore?
gayatri
ha ha ha Dawgster,
You must not extend your leg so far out! It tempts me to pull it hard.
After all, this is the first thing that 99.999% of non-indians say when I tell them I'm vegetarian.
"I hate greens. I don't know how you eat it everyday."
And the reply I gave you is the same one I give them.
Most people actually want clarification on 'pink and blue vegetables'. pffft.
So in other words, there was noo below belt hit intended; all in good fun ok! :)
deviousDiv
I just have this to say. Divya's mum makes a great lunch. Yum. Though the flavour of potato chips she has at her place isn't much fancied by me.
Adieu!
hi Gayatri,
Yes, I completely understand! I have encountered such eejits in my lifetime.
Singaporeans are so oblivious sometimes you know! Most of them think that vegetarians will keel over and die because we don't get enough nutrition.
And they think that showing us a plate of meat is actually going to tempt us into eating it. This happened to me today. The offending food item was some bizzare chicken pie or something like that.
hmmph.
Thank you, but no thank you. I like my thayir saadham as it is. hahaha
Div
Potato chips?
You probably had jackfruit chips or something like that!
Or did you refer to the spicy like hell twisties thingy?
Hmmm...
Both are a bit of an acquired taste, but having seen my family Ah-neh, you will have known by now that we are two mangos short of a mango tree.
But my mum is a fabulous cook. It is a fact of nature.
She does not make her own chips like she used to when I was a wee one. Now that was shit to die for. She says its too much work. Sigh...
Div
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