We may hold cows as sacred (or holy), but that doesn’t stop us from being the 4th largest producer of beef (after the USA, China and Brazil), if we go by the graph provided in this site. 2.7m tons per year. No less. With rise in per capita GDP, our beef production has been steadily going up from 1963.
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Mr. Raj, this post is slightly misleading. Majority of Indians may shun beef but the minority who partake it form a substantial number....you are talking of figures close to 200 million. In lieu of this fact it should be no surprise that Gapminder ranks India fourth behind USA, China Brazil. Oh Ya, your posts are all in good humor...and I did get the point :)
ReplyDeleteMadan, you are right about the sheer size of the minority. But, for a change, I wasn't trying any humour here. I found the statistics counter-intuitive, that's all.
ReplyDeleteRaj - While driving around the districts, I have come across small shops with handwritten boards screaming " Ingu BEEP kidaikkum". You must visualize the BEEP part in Tamizh with a BEE and "ip" after that. I think I saw a similar one in a hole in Besant Nagar too...Balaji...
ReplyDeleteBalaji, I've heard that what passes off as mutton is actually beef, because latter is cheaper.
ReplyDeleteHi Raj:
ReplyDeleteOne doubt. Is buffalo also considered sacred? In most cases in India, the buffalo meat gets passed on as beef. It is very difficult (or rather I would say) impossible to pass off beef as mutton. Anybody who is a regular can make out the difference.
Denny
Denny, I've no idea. I used 'cow' as a generic term to cover buffaloes as well. But the stats do make the distinction of cow and buffalo meat. Whether buffalo is also sacred, I am not sure. Perhaps the bias against anything dark works here as well.
ReplyDelete