“Veg biryani is a myth.”

“There’s no such thing as veg biryani. It’s veg pulav.”

Being a vegetarian, this is the only thing I get to hear from friends, colleagues or even strangers, whenever I express my love for veg biryani.

I don’t understand why do we even need to argue over veg biryani being a thing.

See, first of all, I love eating veg biryani, and second, I will relish eating it no matter what you call it.

Since time immemorial, non-vegetarians have taken pride in dissing their vegetarian friends for eating veg biryani, or what they fondly love to call pulav. Can’t you just let us eat and enjoy what we want to?

We vegetarians, do know how to differentiate between pulav and biryani. They are two different dishes and we love eating both of them.

If we go by logic, it is insulting to call veg biryani, pulav. This is because, the definition of biryani does include vegetables.

I get it you don’t like veg biryani but that doesn’t mean it’s not Biryani. It’s the spices and cooking method that makes a biryani, biryani, and not just meat.

The special biryani aroma generated from its unique cooking style makes us crave more and more of it.

Veg biryani is one of my favourites and I’ve eaten really good veg biryani more than once. People who call it pulav, are doing it just to satiate their non-veg egos.

Agreed, that meat adds flavour to biryani, but can’t there be different versions of the same food?

From momos to kebabs, we do have vegetarian versions of everything. And it’s okay if vegetarians prefix ‘veg’ to them. Stop seeing it as an attack on your culinary choices.

Agar hate hi karna hai to biryani mein elaichi ko karo na. Why hate the veggies?

And TBH, there is already enough hate in this world. Do we really need this argument over biryani?

People can choose to diss those eating veg biryani, they can call it pulav or whatever the fuck they want, but the truth is vegetarians’ love for their biryani is eternal and beyond these criticisms.