biryani: O ye Eid biryanistas, vegan biryani is here


It’s not every Eid that you get an innovative idea that lands on your plate. And, yet, actor Fatima Sana Shaikh – who, among other films, played wrestler Geeta Phogat in the 2016 Aamir Khan-starring film, Dangal – has started something that could, that should, pick up. While biryanistas will turn up their nose, Shaikh, in league with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) and Little India Foundation, distributed vegan biryani to a 1,000-odd residents of Bengali Basti in Delhi’s Vasant Kunj locality ahead of Eid al-Adha. Shaikh, incidentally, is vegetarian, not vegan.

So, will replacing traditional mutton, even chicken and beef, dishes with nihari jackfruit, chana kebabs, soy milk kheer, soybean, green peas, beans and tomatoes work for an occasion that certainly associates itself with its food? Serving vegan on Eid would be much like not serving a turkey on Thanksgiving in America. Two things go for this little yum-yum Eid push. One, the biryani is a festival gift, and unlike other commodities, free food is appreciated up and down the economic food chain. Two, it’s unlikely that those who had the vegan meal had had it before – so, there was no negative baggage with ‘super-shakahari’ biryani except that it wasn’t masahari. So, even if initially for novelty value, and even if some like it, vegan biryani won’t be an oxymoron any more.



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