Blues of vegetarians at Battle of the Blues

People gather at the Royal-Thomian big match, to enjoy cricket and the attendant fun. But eating becomes necessary when one spends the whole day out there.

At this year’s Royal–Thomian, meat eaters were catered to well, with slaughter products, such as beef, pork, and chicken, mutton, fish, and egg, being freely available. Vegetarians and vegans had to settle for manioc; even chickpeas were mixed with eggs!

Who should take responsibility for this? Organisers or caterers, or both? Will action be taken to respect people’s food habits at the Royal-Thomian big match, at least in the future?

I was privileged to meet a gentleman, who is a former national Table Tennis and captain and was a member of Royal College Table Tennis team in the 1970s. We met after the first day’s play in the SSC dining room. It was quite accidental. He is a member of the Muslim community, and to my surprise he said he was a vegetarian. “I do not believe in killing animals for food when there is enough plant-based food available for human consumption,” he said.

The Royal-Thomian organising committee should be considerate towards vegetarians and vegans and must not make them starve by handing over catering to meat vendors.

Senaka Weeraratna