Zomato Row- Food for Thought, Religion for Review!

by Saba Siddiqui

So with everything fast changing its color either saffron or green, food too has draped itself in communal colors. Apart from turning highly upgraded and technology savvy, food has become political as well, dangerous, in fact, volatile!

Remember how baffled Rahul Bose was last week when he grudgingly gulped two bananas at the cost of Rs 442 at JW Marriott and cried foul all over the internet for the injustice? The same hotel chain has been fined Rs 25k by the court! What’s interesting is that the tax experts say that those two infamous bananas who bore the weight of 18% GST, were under the fresh food category which is exempted from any kind of GST! Seems like JW Marriott has got itself into a hot cauldron 
More than the issue, I admit, I loved how from Zomato to, Oyo, to Amazon prime, everyone came out to promote their brand with wittier quips. With all this in motion, me sure, PVR food-courts all over the country are scared of Rahul Bose for ever buying popcorn there! the internet meme machine is on and I love binging on them...! Believe me the topic is too hot to let be just yet, especially if you love a little humor.

But that was all last week, the news that’s baffling the nation now is the one where a certain Amit Shukla, who no-one other than his own family and friends knew, rose to lime light across the nation. The man who has internet divided, admitted he cancelled a food delivery order from Zomato without getting a refund (without even quibbling for one) because the delivery boy didn’t match his requirement of religion! Find a match to that one! Food is fast becoming spicier in our country. I tell you, internet is a more entertaining platform than watching bollywood potboilers infiltrated with raunchy song-&-dance routine.

Though, as an initial stakeholder, it was Zomato which got in this soup by supporting their delivery boy and declaring their non communal policy, UberEats, just to add to the mess, roped itself in and landed in a thicker curry. While we are all in awe of the bhai-chara (Camaraderie) between competitors, the rest of the country deemed it differently. Both the apps are being widely boycotted by the people who think the twitter guy who started this mayhem was the one who needs support since the guy got neither food nor the refund! The whole schism is now about nationwide sharing of the screenshot of the benign act of uninstalling the apps on all social media platforms. Swiggy and FoodPanda, on the other hand, are silently watching on, justified indeed.

The interesting thing is, to breach the fringe, political bigwigs, including P Chidambaram, are entering the war of words by declaring their support for the food delivery portals. Even this hitherto unknown dude, aka Amit Shukla, has been issued a warning by the state police for stoking communal hatred… and that amidst all chaos is a surprise I admit. Don’t know what the shakha buddies have to say to that, but hashtags like IStandwithAmit and BoycottZomato are trending with full flourish across the worldwideweb.

Abating the accusation of hypocrisy, Zomato had to issue a lengthy explanation asserting it has no role in categorization of halal tag and that its restaurants which obtain halal certification by an all India body, and Zomato only wants to cater informed service and hence seek proof of authenticity when a restaurant claims to serve halal food.

Enough food for thought isn’t it? About religion, let’s leave it for personal preference for once, shall we, because a lot of damage has already been done in the name of food and religion in the country, lets leave everyone's platter to escape uncalled criticism and eat in peace!!!