Different shades of vegetarianism and starving on a flight

My wife has been a vegetarian, much like the other 500 million or so vegetarian Indians – no meat, no fish or chicken. They get their proteins largely from lentils, beans and dairy products. Most of them are unfamiliar with sea weed and generally avoid it. Her problems started ever since she started flying foreign airlines. I usually make a special request for a vegetarian meal for her and often she lands up with a vegan meal, largely unknown in India. It is a Spartan meal and half of it is unfamiliar food. She cannot even eat the bread roll that comes with such meals, as there is no butter. The butter-substitute she gets is not very inviting. As a result of past experience, she shudders when hearing about a special meal! I suggested once that we should not make any meal request because airlines can give you a standard choice between veg and non-veg meals; but as luck would have it, the cabin crew told her on that flight that they had run out of veg meals, and if she was particular about it, she should have made a special meal request! So, this time she explained it to the travel agent and asked that she should get a veg meal – not vegan and not Asian Veg! Asia is a big place; vegetarian food varies a lot between countries. On board, she was told that her special meal was waiting! She was ready to choose a parachute instead! She would have been quite happy with what goes for a veg meal on transatlantic flights – bread roll with some butter, pasta, a little milk with the coffee and perhaps some cheese, but the only way to ask for it in advance lands you up with an interpretation of a vegetarian meal by a European chef! All advances in computers do not suffice to let passengers say in advance that they want a common veg meal on board.

It took a while to explain it to the cabin crew, who kept saying that next time she should instruct the travel agent. Their world is one of certainty. The fault is always with the customer! However, they made the effort to put together a tray for her with a pasta meal.

In a world of online customization, it seems tragic that the categorization of meals cannot even recognize the needs of ethnic groups as large as 500 million! It is a good thing we don’t all fly, but a lot of us do! You don’t need to recognize Indians or Hindus as a group with certain food preferences. If you offered an online choice, in advance, of a Veg meal (with dairy products) on intercontinental flights, they would be very happy; if you cannot offer that, at least give them a choice in advance between the common veg and non-veg food. I also request that e-tickets/itineraries should not merely say “special meal” – no one can guess what that means. They should say what type of special meal, so that we know what to expect.
  

In the last few days since we started talking about this problem on Facebook and in person, we have heard from several people that they have starved on board some flights because vegetarian food was not available. I tell them that they should avoid the concerned airline in future.  

End