National Museum drops non-veg dishes from menu of food event due to 'sentimental' reasons

The National Museum has barred non-vegetarian dishes from being served at Historical Gastronomica, a weeklong exhibition-cum-event on culinary history that offers “the Indus dining experience” through an “ethnoarchaeological kitchen of the Harappan culture” on the museum lawn from February 19 to 25.

New Delhi: Non-vegetarian food has been dropped from the menu of the National Museum's week-long exhibition-cum-event on India's culinary history, Historical Gastronomica, due to an "unwritten policy" based on "sentiments."

"The organisers came under fire after the event's menu comprising non-vegetarian dishes was put up on the museum's website. Shortly afterwards, it was decided that only vegetarian food would be served at the exhibition which will be on 19 February to February 25," a senior official of the museum said on Thursday.

The food event is being organised jointly by the National Museum, the Ministry of Culture and One Station Million Stories (OSMS), a private firm.

The additional director general of the museum Subrata Nath told that OSMS did not discuss in detail the non-vegetarian part of the menu with the museum officials.

National Museum drops non-veg dishes from menu of food event due to 'sentimental' reasons

"They (OSMS) got our approval but the non-vegetarian part of the menu was not discussed with us. We assumed that they would know that we do not serve non-veg food here given the policy of the institution. Just 10 days back we had a Guru Nanak festival and we never had this controversy," Nath said.

"It (non-veg food items) was on the site for a day and we withdrew it as soon as we realised the issue," Nath added.

Nath, however, said that the "policy" of not serving non-vegetarian dishes was not a written one, but a "sentimental one".

"The museum is full of idols of several gods and goddesses, we have to respect the sentiments of the people who visit us. We cannot serve non-vegetarian food here. It is an unwritten policy based on sentiments which we thought they (OSMS) knew," said Nath.

When asked if this was straying from the culinary history of ancient India where non-vegetarian dishes were common, Nath said that visitors will just not be served the food, but will be briefed on them.

"We are not serving the non-vegetarian food, but we will brief visitors on the historical dietary practises of ancient India, so it is wrong to say that we are not giving a true picture of the food in ancient times," he said.

Some of the non-vegetarian dishes on offer were fish in turmeric stew, quail/fowl/country chicken roasted in Saal leaf, offal's pot, bati with dry fish, meat fat soup, lamb liver with chick-pea, dried fish and Mahua oil chutney.

(PTI REPORT)