Jain diet + chicories?

November 18, 2019 9:25 AM

I am making a menu for a person who adheres to the Jain diet tonight. The difficulty is, I can't use rice or lentils and am limited to produce that's currently available in Northern California. Can he eat chicory salad and escarole? I asked him, and he doesn't know.

The research I'm doing online is only confusing me further. I think that there is a difference between Cichorium intybus (root variety) and Cichorium endivia (leaf variety), but I'm also seeing something about root chicory (var. sativum) and salad chicory (var. foliosum).

I appreciate any help! Thanks!

posted by pgoat to Food & Drink (10 answers total)

AFAIK Jain won't eat animal products or any root veggies (ginger, potato, onions, garlic, carrot etc.). Lettuce-type stuff should be a-ok as it grows above ground.
posted by speakeasy at 9:52 AM on November 18, 2019 [1 favorite]

If he doesn't know, then just serve it! Anyone asking you to feed them a highly specialized diet needs to be able to articulate what those restrictions are. If he doesn't know, how should *you* be expected to know?
posted by mccxxiii at 9:58 AM on November 18, 2019 [46 favorites]

Seconding mccxxiii's comment above -- if they can't clearly specify their dietary restrictions to you, how are *you* supposed to know and understand them, never mind prepare a meal based on them?!
posted by Jade Dragon at 10:01 AM on November 18, 2019 [4 favorites]

I don't think that's fair. I had to google chicory (I'm from Northern Europe) since I wasn't sure what OP was talking about - you can't expect everyone to know every food item on the planet. I reiterate, anything above ground is ok, so essentially you could serve the green stuff of carrots to a Jain, just not the carrot.

you wouldn't serve a vegan honey, just cuz they forgot to mention it. that's pretty uncool.

edit - it's also a religion, so it's not really about being a finicky eater just to be difficult.
posted by speakeasy at 10:07 AM on November 18, 2019 [25 favorites]

Response by poster: Thanks for the answers so far, everyone!

I should've explained that chicories, as I'm referring to them, are hardy, bitter salad greens. They are not chicory root, the stuff that's used to make coffee, etc, but I don't know how closely they're related, nor whether it'd be a problem if they were in fact from the same physical plant.

I didn't realize that you could serve carrot greens to a Jain; I thought that'd be off-limits, even if they can be harvested without killing the plant.
posted by pgoat at 10:22 AM on November 18, 2019

I think the best way to resolve this is not research but asking the person whether to them, don't know means "I don't know... so sure!" or "I don't know, better not". If it's not possible or appropriate to ask for whatever reason I'd err on the side of caution and nix it. I don't think research is a super fruitful route here, because I don't know a ton about Jainism but if it's anything like other religions that I have more personal knowledge of, there is going to be an overwhelming amount of nuance and diversity of thought for you to work through.
posted by dusty potato at 11:58 AM on November 18, 2019 [2 favorites]

I second speakeasy that it's not cool to expect people to be familiar with every local food.

Based on this, and what I know about Jain vegetarianism I don't think chicory salad would be OK. It seems like there's a good chance they're uprooting the plan when harvesting chicory.

Unfortunately I don't have any suggestions. It's a very restrictive diet.
posted by jzb at 11:59 AM on November 18, 2019 [2 favorites]

Basically if you think any of the ingredients would involve harming or harvesting roots, among other things, don't serve them. This is a pretty good brief summary of why.
posted by limeonaire at 3:50 PM on November 18, 2019 [3 favorites]

Ask him what he'd like to eat? Or for recipes that he knows are compatible? I feel like that'd be more successful than starting with an unknown and then figuring out whether or not it's compatible with his diet.
posted by Aleyn at 5:26 PM on November 19, 2019

Response from a Jain friend of mine: "Yes, I can it's veg. Seems like cauliflower." He did note you would need to clean it very carefully to avoid any risk of insects.
posted by matsho at 6:12 AM on November 20, 2019