Why should a vegetarian order from non-veg serving eatery if it hurts sentiments? Consumer panel says

Mumbai commission dismisses complaint against eatery for serving non-veg to vegetarians, questions choice of ordering from mixed menu restaurant.

A consumer redressal commission in Mumbai has said if meat-based food hurts a "strictly vegetarian" person's religious sentiments, why should the individual opt to order from a restaurant serving both veg and non-veg items.

It seems reasonable that "a prudent person would be able to distinguish between veg and non-veg food before consuming," the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Mumbai Suburban (Additional) said in an order passed last month.

The commission dismissed a complaint by two persons against an eatery for allegedly wrongly serving them non-vegetarian food.

"If the complainants were strictly vegetarian and non-veg food hurts their religious sentiments, then why did they opt to order the food items from the restaurant which was delivering both non-veg and vegetarian food, instead of ordering the food from the restaurant which was exclusively vegetarian and served only and only vegetarian food," it said.

As per the complainants, they had ordered a steamed 'Darjeeling momo combo' with a soft drink from a Momo outlet at Sion in Mumbai on December 19, 2020.

Also read: Why did the Brahmins become vegetarian? B.R. Ambedkar asks in this excerpt from ‘Beef, Brahmins and Broken Men’

They claimed to have specifically emphasised their vegetarian preference twice. However, they received steamed "chicken Darjeeling momos", the complainants said.