Dietary differences attributable to different cultures and faiths have often been the subject of jokes in popular culture. Rajesh Koothrapalli from The Big Bang Theory joked in one episode about how he was going to miss the real Big Mac, and would be forced to eat (gasp!) chicken when he was deported to India. An episode of Friends had vegan Phoebe Bouffe bravely attempting to eat veal at her prospective in-laws' house, and subsequently throwing up. Salman Rushdie's Pakistani aunt stirs hatred into her non veg curries in Midnight's Children, apparently because she intensely dislikes her India born nephew.
According to some, there appear to exist irreconcilable differences in dietary preferences in our country. These differences have recently resurfaced in the public space. Fortunately, the Indian film industry has by and large retained its secular character. This secular character is reflected in the films originating from Mumbai which show remarkable maturity and restraint while dealing with the tricky maxim "I am what I eat". Let us look at some films which have shown the way.
Bajrangi Bhaijaan
In his latest blockbuster, director Kabir Khan tackles the issues of caste and religious identity and the resulting dietary differences, with a light touch. Most actions of Hanuman bhakt Pawan (Salman Khan) come across as sweet, despite his hang ups about religion and caste, because Pawan is a simpleton. The scenes in which Pawan twitches his nose at the smell of meat cooking next door, or where he forcibly removes the hungry child from the generous Muslim neighbour's dining table, draw mirth, instead of derision. His kind side comes to the fore when, despite being a strict vegetarian himself, he offers to feed the child chicken dishes at the neighbourhood dhaba, even singing a ditty about the ‘cock a doodle do' of a chicken in the kitchen, and making light of his own "dharam bhrasht" (breaking a religious taboo) behaviour.
Ajab Prem ki Gazab Kahaani
Raj Kumar Santoshi directed this 2009 romantic comedy about Ranbir Kapoor's lovable act as the Brahmin boy Prem Sharma, who falls in love with the Christian girl Jenny. Prem is ready to go to any lengths to impress Jenny. In a hilarious scene, at his friends' suggestion, hitherto vegetarian Prem forces himself, despite his original misgivings, to start eating chicken and mutton with a vengeance, much to the disgust of his orthodox father. Only to be told, many, many non-veg dishes later, by Jenny, that she is a vegetarian!
Rice Plate (Dus Kahaniyan)
This short film directed by Rohit Roy, tells the story of a South Indian Brahmin widow (Shabana Azmi), who is on her way to meet her grandchildren. While waiting for her train, she orders a rice plate (meal), and goes to wash her hands. On returning to her table, she finds an old man (played by Naseeruddin Shah), eating from the plate. Being famished, she angrily snatches the plate and starts eating quickly from it. The old man, a Muslim by appearance, smiles and lets her eat. After finishing, she suddenly feels ashamed of her action, because she has consciously shared the leftovers of a Muslim man. Later Shabana discovers to her chagrin, that she had in fact grabbed the man's plate by mistake; the same man whose very presence had so offended her.
This concept of sharing the "jootha"(touched by mouth) of a man from a different faith, was also tackled well in Aparna Sen's 2002 film Mr and Mrs Iyer, where Mrs. Meenakshi Iyer (Konkana Sen) shares water from the bottle of her Muslim co-passenger Raja Chowdhary (Rahul Bose) by mistake, and initially feels repulsed by him. Adverse circumstances make them bond later.