India can suggest tasty alternatives if EU bans meat terms for vegetarian products

Only in India is the word burger not inevitably associated with a meat patty. Nor for that matter do steaks necessarily mean a hunk of red meat, poultry or even fish.

Potatoes and rajma beans are common stand-ins for the former, and chunks of paneer are routinely deemed steaks. India’s vegetarian default principle is manifest in that beloved Indian word ‘non-vegetarian’ that implies meat is the alternative — the very opposite of what the west thinks.

Given the penchant of European Union to formulate gratuitous rules, it is not surprising that a resolution (pending full approval) has been passed to ensure burgers, steaks and sausages can only be deemed as such when they contain meat.

“To avoid confusion” among meat-eaters is said to be the reason, but vegetarians may actually find the ruling more palatable. After all, most vegetarians and vegans are more squeamish about inadvertently ingesting animal products than carnivores are about mistakenly biting into tempeh.

Etymologically speaking, ‘steak’ came from Old Norse and indicated the cooking style (spit-roasted), not the ingredient. So, paneer steak is not an oxymoron — except for meatheads. But, still, if EU persists with a ban on meat-free products using terminology associated with meat, it could adopt alternative terms from India — such as tikka and even pao-veggie.