How food has evolved a fancy vocabulary of its own

One subject we might think doesn’t need words, since it expresses a human need far more elemental than language, is food. After all, people are hungry before they need to (or even can) speak, so food has existed before language was even invented. Still, food has evolved a fancy vocabulary of its own, with unusual words for various ways of preparing it, and even more exotic terms to name or label each dish. And then there are words to describe you, the eater, depending on your food preferences.

In the old days when I was growing up, the world was divided into two kinds of people — vegetarians and non-vegetarians. Vegetarians didn’t eat meat; the ‘non-veg’ folks did. In those less-complicated times, the simple ‘veg/non-veg’ distinction was straightforward and clear, or so we thought. But with growing worldly sophistication, that’s no longer enough. There are many more kinds of classifications of people by the food they eat, or don’t. A vegan, for instance, doesn’t eat animal products of any kind. Whereas a vegetarian only objects to consuming a creature that has been killed, and has no ideological problem with milk or eggs since the animal is not murdered for his meal, the vegan diet eliminates meat, fish, poultry, eggs and dairy products, as well as other animal-derived products, such as honey. On this diet you also avoid rennet, gelatin, collagen and other types of animal protein. Even soup made of animal stock or fats derived from animals are taboo.

Vegetarians themselves have become far more complex than just people who refuse to consume animal flesh products, whether fish, meat or fowl. Now there are several sub-types of vegetarians. Most common are the Lacto-ovo vegetarians, who won’t eat meat, fish and poultry but are happy to consume eggs and dairy products (I am one of those). Less common are the Ovo-vegetarians, who reject meat, fish, poultry and dairy products but eat eggs. Next are the Pescatarians, who in my book aren’t vegetarians at all because though they abstain from eating all meat and animal flesh, they make an exception for fish. It’s almost impossible to find a Bengali vegetarian, but if you do, the odds are that he is actually a pescatarian. Most Bengalis seem to think fish is a sea-vegetable!