Travellers be sure, your vegetarian food is pure

We had booked our flight to Egypt by a foreign airline. Despite having exercised our option for vegetarian food, I was not sure if we’d be served it as per our norms. I called up the hospitality section of the airlines. “Being a pure vegetarian, I just want to confirm whether or not we’ll be served pure vegetarian food on the flight.” “Sorry, ma’am, I don’t know what pure vegetarian meal is, but we do serve vegetarian meal. Can you specify what pure is?” the man replied.

Delighted to have the opportunity to explain, I said: “A pure vegetarian food is not cooked in the kitchen or vessels in which non- vegetarian items such as chicken, mutton etc. are prepared. Vegetarian finger chips should not go into the same oil in which chicken nuggets have been fried. These sorts of precautions maintain the purity of vegetarian food.” “Ma’am, I do respect your feelings but I doubt if even the Indian airlines can meet such fastidious demands of the passengers. Anyway, I will convey your concerns to the catering department and we will do our best,” he commented in a lighthearted manner.

On the departure day, we carried cooked food for the flight. Hardly an hour had passed being airborne when two airhostesses shook us from our reverie. “Ma’am, here’s the special food ordered for you,” said one. Taken aback, we gazed around to find that food to the other passengers was not served yet. We were hugely overwhelmed by this special treatment. The aroma of hot food was irresistible and we took a bite impatiently, out of more curiosity than hunger. “Wow, simply awesome!” was our first reaction.

Now we were in our hotel in Egypt. As bellboy Mohammed came to remind us about breakfast, I thought it proper to be doubly sure and said: “Look, Mohammed, we are pure vegetarians. Can your hotel ensure that we get pure vegetarian cuisine?” Ma’am, most of the visitors to our hotel are Indian and we know what an Indian vegetarian food means. Please, don’t worry,” he riposted. The delicacies served in the breakfast were amazing. We thought it wise to get their names from Mohammed. “Ma’am,” he said, “these are Ful wa Ta’meya, Fatayer, and Tabouleh, which you can get from any eatery in Cairo.”

Now all through the tour, whenever hungry, we were munching on these items. One of the days when we returned bone tired from Alexandria, we decided to take the food to our room. The man at the counter was packing it when, just to ensure that he had heard me right, I asked him: “Is it the veg stuff ?” He looked contrite. “Sorry, ma’am, it’s a chicken burger. But don’t worry; I’ll change it,” he said. His gloved hand then removed the chicken cutlet from between the two slices of the roll and replaced it with a veg cutlet. Handing it to me, he said with a big grin: “There you are!”

Eyes wide open, I stood transfixed. “Don’t think too much about it. Either stop travelling or learn to live with this sort of mix-up. Pure is a relative thing, whether it is pure ghee or pure vegetarian food. Have you not read about the legal battle between Dabur India and Emami over the composition of pure honey?” my husband poured his wisdom.

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VEGETARIAN FINGER CHIPS SHOULD NOT GO INTO THE SAME OIL IN WHICH CHICKEN NUGGETS HAVE BEEN FRIED