‘Proud to be vegetarian’: Indian YouTuber’s post on dal chawal divides internet

A YouTuber’s post about a plate of dal chawal has angered the internet after she stated that the food was “free from tears, cruelty and guilt” and she was proud to be a vegetarian.
Nalini Unagar, a food blogger, shared a photo of her food on X and captioned it, “I’m proud to be a vegetarian. My plate is free from tears, cruelty and guilt.” This is not the first time Unagar has shared a picture of her food with the same caption.
In June, Unagar posted a similar photo of a plate of fried rice and paneer gravy and used the same caption. The post angered thousands including actor Swara Bhasker who wrote, “Honestly… I don’t understand this smug self-righteousness of vegetarians. Your entire diet is made up of denying the calf its mother’s milk.. forcibly impregnating cows then separating them from their babies & stealing their milk.” (Also read: Swara Bhasker slams food blogger over ‘proud to be vegetarian’ tweet: ‘Smug self-righteousness’)
She also added, “You eat root vegetables? That kills the whole plant! Please relax with the virtue signalling just because it’s Bakr Eid! (Folded hands emojis).”
The current post by Unagar has amassed over 3.4 million views with most comments calling her out for taking a self-righteous stand on food choices.
“I don’t understands why it has to be about cruelty Etc. Everyone has their own preference. Would you ask a carnivore animal to be vegetarian? Nature has created all of us in certain way, let’s respect that and move on with life. We are built to consume plants and meat both… plants are also living things,” wrote on user.
“Plants don’t go through child labour pain; animals do. Plants don’t suffer from pain; animals suffer. Plants don’t have brains; animals do,” the food blogger responded. (Also read: Outrage over Bengaluru woman’s vegetarian flatmate ad: ‘Shouldn’t mind alcohol’)
In response to her post, several users also shared pictures of their own plates of food with meat and chicken dishes, adding that they were proud of their food choices.