Skip to main content

Food Choices and Social Distinctions among University Students in Hyderabad /Prof. G Nagaraju

Food Choices and Social Distinctions among University Students in Hyderabad

By Prof. G Nagaraju


Introduction and Framework


This sociological study explores the views of students at the University of Hyderabad regarding dietary choices and social hierarchy. The research focuses on how food mediates caste and religious identities, specifically examining the historical concepts of purity and pollution. While traditional Indian social systems used food habits to maintain caste rankings—a process often referred to as Sanskritisation—this study investigates whether modern university spaces serve as a "laboratory" for new, more inclusive values.

Student Perceptions and Dietary Preferences

Based on an empirical study of 450 students, the research found that while hostel menus typically only include "safe" non-vegetarian items like chicken and mutton, the student body's actual tolerance for diverse foods is much higher than institutional policies suggest.

 * Approximately 61% of students expressed a preference for non-vegetarian food items.

 * Only 21% of the student population preferred a strictly vegetarian diet.

 * About 41% of students were dissatisfied with current mess food, with negative attitudes often linked to students from middle- and upper-class backgrounds.

The Politics of Beef and Pork

The study highlights significant diversity in views regarding "prohibited" meats, challenging many popular stereotypes.

 * Beef: While 72% of Hindu students and 60% of Christian students opposed serving beef, nearly one-third of Hindu respondents were either in favor or did not mind its presence. Among Dalit (SC) students, 61% were in favor of serving beef, viewing it as a secular and economic food choice.

 * Pork: Around 42% of all students responded positively to pork as a potential menu option. Interestingly, 30% of Muslim students did not oppose the serving of pork, which challenges rigid religious stereotypes.

 * Social Coding: Students often use code words like "Kalyani Biryani" or "peddodu" to discuss beef in the public sphere to avoid social stigma.

Conclusions and Policy Implications

The author concludes that academically promoted notions of "purity and pollution" are slowly losing their grip on youth. Over 60% of students indicated they are comfortable sharing a dining table with others consuming non-vegetarian food. The article suggests that "good governance" in a pluralistic democracy like India requires university administrations to respect the diverse food cultures of all students rather than imposing a single dominant cultural norm.

🔗 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0262728020944279


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Annihilation of Caste/ B R Ambedkar

Annihilation of Caste is a polemical yet rigorously reasoned intervention in which B. R. Ambedkar presents a radical critique of the caste system and of Hindu society more broadly. The text originated as a speech that Ambedkar was invited to deliver at a reformist conference of caste Hindus, but it was rejected because of its uncompromising arguments. Ambedkar begins by explaining this context to underline a key point: Hindu reformers are willing to criticize certain social evils but are unwilling to confront the foundations of caste itself. From the outset, Ambedkar makes clear that his critique is directed not merely at social practices but at the religious and ideological structures that sustain caste hierarchy. Ambedkar’s central argument is that caste is not a simple social division or an occupational arrangement, as it is often presented, but a system of graded inequality. He directly challenges the claim that caste represents a division of labour. Instead, he argues that caste i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Book Review: Genealogies of Religion: Discipline and Reasons of Power in Christianity and Islam by Talal Asad (1993)

Are anthropologists supposed to explore Western history whenever they set out along with history? Posing this pertinent question at the beginning of the introduction to the book ‘Genealogies of Religion: Discipline and Reasons of Power in Christianity and Islam’ (published in 1993), Talal Asad, one of the most potent critics of colonial cultural politics, has astonishingly cast an arrow over the prevailing frameworks of the discipline, particularly related to religion. In this book consisting of eight separate essays, though profoundly tied together, Asad explores the historical foundations of important anthropological (and more broadly intellectual) concepts, spanning from Christian monasticism to Saudi sermons to anthropological theory: subjectivity, religion, and ritual, agency, cultural translation, and multiculturalism. The introduction generally scans over what he already carved out in his previous book, ‘Anthropology and The Colonial Encounter’ (1973). Not restricted to dispelli...
2 comments
Read more

The Dutiful Daughter/ Lila Abu-Lughod

  In The Dutiful Daughter, Lila Abu-Lughod reflects ethnographically and reflexively on her fieldwork among the Awlad ‘Ali Bedouins of Egypt, showing how her anthropological knowledge was produced through her lived experience as an adopted daughter within a Bedouin household. Rather than positioning herself as an external observer, Abu-Lughod foregrounds how her everyday conduct, emotional discipline, and moral comportment were central to her acceptance in the community and to the possibility of doing ethnography at all. She recounts how, upon being taken in by a family, she was treated as an unmarried daughter whose behavior directly affected the family’s honor. This position came with concrete expectations: she was required to dress modestly, limit her interactions with men, and seek permission for movement outside the household. Abu-Lughod describes instances where she wanted to travel independently or pursue interviews freely but was prevented from doing so because such ac...
Post a Comment
Read more