Online food delivery platform Zomato has renamed its ‘pure veg mode’ to ‘veg only’ after continued backlash over the past few days for its ‘pure veg’ mode, and introduction of their green fleet.
Earlier this week, Zomato had come up with a new kind of service, catering only to the pure vegetarian customers. Zomato founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal announced the launch of the “Pure Veg mode” delivery service on Tuesday, keeping in mind the dietary preferences of its pure vegetarian customers.
“The ‘pure veg’ mode can be seen as an embodiment of casteist values, where vegetarianism is often associated with purity, self-control, and higher moral standing. This dietary preference, rooted in religious and cultural practices, has historically been used as a mechanism to maintain caste distinctions, with upper castes asserting their superiority and ‘purity’ through their vegetarian diet. The designation of ‘pure’ vegetarian subtly carries the implication that anything outside this category is ‘impure,’ perpetuating a harmful dichotomy that mirrors and reinforces caste-based notions of purity and pollution,” said Akshay CM, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion consultant in a LinkedIn post.
Deepinder Goyal, founder, Zomato took to his social media account to share views on the issue. “While we are going to continue to have a fleet for vegetarians, we have decided to remove the on-ground segregation of this fleet on the ground using the colour green. All our riders — both our regular fleet, and our fleet for vegetarians, will wear the colour red. This means that the fleet meant for vegetarian orders will not be identifiable on the ground (but will show on the app that your veg orders will be served by the veg only fleet). This will ensure that our red uniform delivery partners are not incorrectly associated with non-veg food, and blocked by any RWAs or societies during any special days… our riders’ physical safety is of paramount importance to us,” he said.