Delhi: Rahul Gandhi questions vegetarian-only BRICS dinner menu

Rahul Gandhi said the vegetarian-only menu at the BRICS gala dinner in Delhi should have reflected India’s wider range of food traditions.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted the dinner at Bharat Mandapam on Saturday as New Delhi staged the BRICS summit. In a post on X, Gandhi said that “80% of Indians are non-vegetarian” and referred to India’s non-vegetarian food traditions.

The menu featured vegetarian fine-dining versions of regional dishes and ingredients, including gucchi, or Himalayan morels; saffron; mamra almonds; sheermal; khandvi mille-feuille; mushroom-based khumb galouti; millets; and phirni with mulberries and gold leaf.

Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, Iceland’s former president, said he had hosted former president APJ Abdul Kalam for an entirely vegetarian state dinner during Kalam’s visit to Iceland. Grímsson described it as the first visit by an Indian president to a Nordic country.