Gastro-Politics and the Caste Order: Unlearning Purity in Contemporary India

The Vichaar segment, in conversation with PhD scholar and activist Angel Sophan, explores the intricate relationship between caste and food practices in India. Ms. Sophan, a researcher in the Department of Psychology at Christ University, highlights how notions of purity and pollution govern dietary choices, reinforcing caste hierarchies and social exclusion. Tracing historical roots from the Vedic era to present-day institutional settings, she explains how vegetarianism became a marker of moral superiority and dominance. Through examples from campuses, public spaces, and mid-day meal schemes, she exposes how food restrictions perpetuate discrimination and humiliation among marginalized communities. Emphasizing the psychological impact of such exclusion, Ms. Sophan calls for resistance against casteist norms disguised as dietary ethics. She concludes by urging individuals to internalize constitutional values of equality, liberty, and fraternity, and to challenge the control exercised by the privileged few over the majority’s right to consume freely.