Meat and chicken

‘This is roast chicken, this is minced lamb, this is a beef stew,’ Aisha explained to me. We were sitting in an outdoor restaurant in the outskirts of Lahore, overlooking a pretty, green park. It was mid-summer and the monsoon season was on. It was extremely humid and hot. We needed fans even when sitting outside on the balcony.

‘But, Aisha, I am vegetarian,’ I said in disbelief as looked through the menu and all the items there seemed to be meat dishes. I had arrived in Pakistan the night before and this was my first time in this country. Aisha worked for the local charity that I was going to do some consulting work for. She had wanted to take me out on my first proper evening in Lahore in order to have a good start for my placement in Lahore. 

Aisha laughed a little. ‘You’ve come to the wrong country then. We Pakistanis love out meat!’

I stared at the menu.’ So, I can only eat rice and bread?’

‘Oh no, don’t worry. We can order you some vegetable dishes. We have a lot of them too, but people tend to treat them as side dishes to the main dish, which is usually meat.’

The waiter approached us and Aisha ordered a list of items. She was talking fast and so my rusty Urdu was not enough to understand everything she was saying. The waiter looked at Aisha in amazement and the glanced a quick look at me. He wrote down all the items, poured us more water and retreated to the kitchen. 

Aisha felt the need to explain their interchange. ‘Here in Pakistan most people still have the mentality that you need to eat meat in order to eat properly. They don’t really understand vegetarians. We don’t eat pork, because it is haram and so to say a dirty meat to eat. But other than that, we believe that God created animals for this earth and we can eat them as long as we respect them, slaughter them rightfully in the name of God and are grateful to God for the food that we are given.’  

‘I see. Many people in the west also think in such a way. I am used to having to explain my reasons for being a vegetarian to people,’ I explained. ‘I understand that there is a biological reason and a more fundamental creative reason for why it is fine to eat meat. For me, it is just that I don’t want to eat animals. I like them too much to eat them. And there are reasons for it to having a bad effect on the climate and environment plus health reasons too. I am not judgmental at all to people who do eat meat, but I just personally don’t want to do that.’ 

‘I understand,’ Aisha said. ‘But many people here don’t. They are so used to eating meat that to them it is an alien concept. I’m just telling you so that you get used to having to explain yourself. I am sure many people will ask you for reasons for being a vegetarian and will try to give you meat.’

We looked at the scenery in silence for a while and then started talking about work related issues while waiting for our food. 

The waiter came with a trolly and started lifting all the foods in our table. It all smelled and looked delicious. Aisha started explaining to me what each dish contained and which ones I could eat. 

‘And this is a very typical food from Lahore,’ she pointed at a brown dish. ‘It is made with this special mixture of spices that gives it its unique taste. It also has vegetables and rice in it, and chicken.’

‘Oh but I don’t eat chicken,’ I exclaimed. ‘I told you that I am vegetarian.’

Aisha looked at me with wide eyes. ‘You don’t eat chicken either?’

‘No, I don’t eat an meat, including chicken meat.’

‘Oh I thought that vegetarians can eat chicken meat!’

‘No, no meat at all. Only vegetable and plant based things. Some eat seafood. I can eat a little bit of it.’ 

‘Well, then you better get used to even more questions since people really won’t understand it if you don’t even eat chicken!’

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