Why is India so afraid of meat? | Sylvia Karpagam

India is not a vegetarian country: Sylvia Karpagam explains | Frontline Conversations In this episode of Frontline Conversations, Dr Karpagam discusses the politics, science and social inequalities that shape what Indians eat. | Video Credit: Host: Ayesha Minhaz; Editing: Razal Pareed; Camera and production: Kavya Pradeep M and Muhammed Mukhtar T H In this episode of Frontline Conversations, Dr. Sylvia Karpagam, public health doctor and author of “The Meat of the Matter”, discusses the politics, science and social inequalities that shape what Indians eat. She challenges the widespread perception of India as a vegetarian country and questions the nutritional and environmental claims used to promote vegetarian and plant-based diets.Karpagam speaks about how caste, policy and corporate interests have shaped public ideas about food and nutrition. She discusses the nutritional value of meat, eggs, fats and other animal-sourced foods, and the problems with treating plant-based alternatives as direct nutritional substitutes. The conversation also looks at the criminalisation and stigmatisation of beef consumption and connects these questions to India’s wider problems of anaemia, malnutrition, stunting, diabetes and other forms of ill health.She also discusses the social determinants of health, drawing on her experience working with communities affected by demolitions and displacement. Karpagam explains how losing access to housing, sanitation, drinking water, livelihoods and nutritious food can worsen health outcomes, particularly among children, pregnant women, and older people.