Why marketing to ‘pure vegetarians’ landed this Indian delivery giant in a pickle

A popular food delivery app in India has sparked controversy, and an abrupt retreat, after launching an initiative to attract vegetarian customers...

This list will exclude all restaurants which serve any non-veg food item, the companys founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal said on X on Tuesday...

. Non-veg, short for non-vegetarian, refers to any food that contains meat, poultry or seafood.. . India has the largest percentage of vegetarians in the world, Goyal wrote on X, adding that many of them are very particular about how their food is cooked and handled.. ..

Some of these dietary laws are so deeply entrenched that there have even been instances of property developers not selling apartments to meat eaters.. . Restrictions on cow slaughter have become politically contentious in India in recent years, as many among the countrys majority Hindu population consider the animal to be sacred.. . While Goyal emphasized the new plans are not meant to alienate any religious, or political preference, the company has received a huge backlash on social media.. ..

Some users criticized the move as casteist, as many Hindus from dominant castes tend to be vegetarian, while many people from marginalized castes are not.. . Indias caste system was officially abolished in 1950, but the 2,000-year-old social hierarchy imposed on people by birth still exists in many aspects of life..

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