finally somewhat of a credible source. this is from the newindpress.com
http://www.sulekha.com/redirectnh.asp?cid=256771
And you thought more South Indians were vegetarian?
CHENNAI: Contrary to popular assumptions, among urban populace, more households in southern India are non-vegetarian than those up north. The Easterners, however, are toppers in this. Also, two out of every three Indians _ almost 71 per cent _ are non-vegetarians.
All of these and much, much more are the findings of the National Food Survey (NFS) recently conducted by the Indian Market Research Bureau.
The sample survey, conducted in 101 cities and towns across the country, shows that while an overwhelming 94 per cent of the households surveyed in the East are non-vegetarian, 84 per cent of South Indians follow suit. They are followed by the West (58 per cent) and the North (53 per cent).
The NFS, which is representative of all towns with a population of over one lakh, covers two-thirds (approximately 32.8 million) of urban Indian households. A total sample of 19,812 housewives, in the age group of 18 to 54, were interviewed.
“The intention of the survey was to assess current eating trends to enable some of our clients to formulate marketing strategies,” says Rathinakumar, director, IMRB, Chennai. “In the process, we turned quite a few fallacies on their head and discovered that vegetarianism is largely driven by the geography and socio-cultural-religious milieu.”
The choice of food, it seems, is directly linked to a person’s economic status: of the four socio-economic classifications (SECs) studied, the more affluent A and B SECs are veggie-chompers (40 per cent), while the lesser D and E SECs prefer more tamasic food _ only 28 per cent of them are vegetarians.
Also, throughout the country, fish is more often cooked (46 per cent) than mutton (25 per cent) or chicken (21 per cent). And as far as foodgrains go, rice reigns supreme: while 83 per cent of South Indians consume rice as the staple food, only 69 per cent of North Indians eat wheat. In the whole of the country, 51 per cent eat rice while 41 per cent opt for wheat.
And the White Revolution has apparently not been the great leveller it was touted to be. SECs A and B used more milk than SECs D and E, with SEC C falling somewhere in between. All those ringing alarm bells about Indians growing more obese and cholesterol-clogged haven’t got the message through: more than 69 per cent of Indians still use unrefined oil as a cooking medium.
However, what will probably make the gurus of sensible eating see red is the ever-increasing addiction to packaged and processed food, an exponentially expanding market fuelled by increasingly elastic pay packets, especially SEC A and B Indians.
In one month alone, 84 per cent of those surveyed had consumed processed food, 58 per cent had splurged on bhujias and namkeens, 26 per cent on jams, 18 per cent on ketchups and sauces, 19 per cent on instant noodles and a staggering 100 per cent on pickles. More than 25 per cent of the housewives surveyed say they love to try out new packaged foods on a daily basis.
Does the increasing preference for preservatives-loaded processed foods mean that urban India is sacrificing sensible eating on the altar of convenience? “Preservatives have been known to trigger aggressive traits in people. A child who eats more junk food tends to be more hyperactive and when he is taken off the junk food and put on a normal diet, the situation improves dramatically,” says Dr Vijay Nagaswamy, family psychiatrist and relationships counsellor.
“More preservatives in the food mean more stress and emotional trauma,” adds Dr V Jayantini, child psychiatrist.
Food for thought?
What the survey found out
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Most of the housewives complained that their family’s diet was not nutritious enough.
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The market for branded products is also not that hot. In cooking oils, for example, despite serious hygiene threats, 79 per cent still buy the oil in loose.
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Foreign food fads are yet to penetrate in a big way. While 49 per cent of those surveyed say they buy samosas all too frequently, only 3 per cent buy burgers and pizzas and 13 per cent buy sandwiches.
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78 per cent Indians prefer to have their meals sitting on the floor.
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In only 40 per cent of the cases, purchasing decisions are made by the housewives.