As soon as I introduce myself as a Jain, I just know that people will launch into a conversation about food habits. Eventually, you get used to it,” says Dhara Shah, 25 and a chartered accountant. Quite truly, no other faith is so immediately associated with food, or rather an outlook to food, as Jainism.
The faith’s extreme take on non-violence heavily influences its dietary guidelines, meaning anything that involves hurting or killing a ‘life’ is forbidden. For strict followers, drinking water must be filtered, root vegetables like potatoes are forbidden, mangoes and cauliflower go off the list as soon as the monsoon sets in because they begin to harbour worms by then and mushrooms are a no-go either. Since the idea is to consume satvic food, ‘tamasic’ ingredients such as onion and garlic are also kept at bay. Any intoxicant, including poppy seeds, often used as a paste in curry bases, is not allowed either.
One would think Jains are starved for choices. As an adoptee of the Jain cuisine, by way of marriage, I have found the opposite to be true. Not only does the community indulge its love for food, it wants to sample as many cuisines as possible - all altered as per Jain requirements. Where you won’t find Iyer, Chinese, it’s likely you have come across Jain Pav Bhaji, Jain Tex-Mex, Jain Continental or even Jain Chinese. Strictures have made the taste-buds hanker for something new and different, making way for innovations.
Srinathji’s, near C M H Road, has understood the order well. Nothing at the restaurant is made using onion or garlic, mushrooms are off the menu too. “A Jain diner only has to request it and we keep out any vegetable they don’t want served,” says general manager C V Subraamanian Iyer of this franchise.
Most strict Jains are at unease in eateries when they are not assured of how the kitchen works. This is why they avoid places serving non-vegetarian food even though it would never be their order. And this is why Iyer’s promise sounds perfect.
Only a month-old at this location, Srinathji’s is part of a restaurant chain started in Mumbai and that has franchisee outlets elsewhere in Bangalore - Bull Temple Road and Marathahalli.
The menu at Srinathji’s is a bit of everything, just as Jains eating out would love. Add chaat, mocktails, Jain Lebanese, Jain Arabian to the list above, well Jain multi-cuisine to cut to the chase.
There’s a bakery store in the front selling an assortment of breads, cookies and snacks. The cake and pastry shelf, of course, all eggless, is a worth a try. The chocolate gateau we sampled was all gooey goodness.
The tandoori platter with a variety of paneer tikkas and baby corn, scored for the softness of the Indian cheese. A platter of pasta, in different sauces, came next. “Everything made is first offered as naivaidya to the deity kept in the kitchen,” says Iyer.
Though one misses the option of a traditional Gujarati or Rajasthani thali with Jain delicacies to get a wholesome taste of regional fare.
Srinathji’s, for now, is keeping it al a carte, focusing instead on food they believe has been prepared to bless the body and mind.