Vegetarian and Cultures

Food is often related to the culture and geographical factors. For example, meat is common food in North America, Australia and Europe. But most people in India are vegetarians. In modern era, vegetarian population has increased all around the world due to the health benefits.

Apart from the health conscious, there are many other reasons people become vegetarians. In the past, it is related to personal ethical, moral views or religious. For example, Buddhists and Hindus encourage the vegetarianism. Some vegetarian believes that it is not ethic to kill animals for meat. There are many interesting events, festivals and cultures are related to vegetarian.

Most Hindus and Buddhist are vegetarian because of the religious reasons. We can find a lot of vegetarian diets in Hindus where they eat during special celebrations and events. The Hindu festival of lights, Diwali, they normally prepare Khir and halva. These foods are meatless. Puran Poli, a sweet stuffed bread made from beans and lentils were served during their Holy festival, the event of the arrival of spring. Other festive vegetarian foods are Samosas (flaky crusts) and Gujjia (deep fried pastries).

Muslim also obey a set of rules of food. During Ramadan, the holiest month for Muslim, they fast from sunup to sundown. Meals within this month are normally simple and meatless. The popular foods in the month are dates, bread, soup and fruits.

Many Jewish holidays are feature meatless dishes. Kosher dining, for example, a practice of eating according to the rules of religious document, has the deep impact on Jewish holiday foods. For instance, one rule forbids eating meat and milk together. Due to this, many meals that are meatless were developed. Passover cakes (made from matzo, a type of bread) and Blintzes (a thin pancake) are famous Jewish vegetarian dishes.

Many Christian holidays also serve vegetarian dishes. For example, in Polish Christmas Eve or Wigilia, the dinner is meatless. Their traditional diet includes borscht (beet soup), potatoes and noodles. Stollen in Germany and Bunuelos for Mexican are famous Christmas vegetarian meals.

These are only few examples of vegetarian food that related to cultures and festival. Food plays an important role in celebrations in many countries and cultures. The holidays and events are when we practice the old custom or create new food traditions. No matter what event, the vegetarian diner can easily celebrate with a decadent meal.

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