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  • Emirates Airlines
    Emirates drops ‘Hindu meal’ option from menu.Pixabay
  • emirates
    Emirates drops 'Hindu meal' option from menu. (In picture: Dubai, United Arab EmiratesFlight attendants serve journalists during a flight tour organized by Emirates airline in Dubai September 7, 2007.)Reuters

Emirates announced the decision to withdraw the "Hindu meal" option from its menu on Tuesday, July 4. Unsurprisingly, this decision has not gone down well with a section of their customers and users on Twitter.

Though the Dubai-based airlines offer a choice of other vegetarian options in the in-flight menu, the decision to no longer offer the 'Hindu meal' option has been questioned by many.

Why was Hindu meal taken off the menu?

'Hindu meal' was one of the options available in the wide range of special request meals which various international carriers offer to long-distance fliers. These are planned and prepared based on the passengers' religious and medical needs.

According to Emirates, it decided to drop the Hindu meal option from its in-flight menu based on a review of onboard products and services offered to passengers. Here's what the airlines' statement read:

As part of our continuous review of the products and services available to customers, Emirates can confirm that it will discontinue the Hindu meal option. We constantly review our offering, taking into consideration customer uptake and feedback. This helps us improve service efficiencies.

However, it clarified that as food is a significant part of their service the Hindu passengers can still choose from a variety of other meals.

"Food and drink form an integral part of any Emirates flight experience and our menus are created by leading chefs to reflect the culture and preferences of Emirates' diverse customer base. We have a wide variety of special meals that can be ordered in advance to cater to our customers with medical or religious dietary requirements, including our Hindu customers," the airline asserted.

Twitter's reaction to removal of 'Hindu meal' from the menu

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Emirates offers a wide variety of dishes for vegetarian people.Reuters

Despite the assertion that Hindus will still have dishes to choose from, a section of people on Twitter is not pleased with the announcement. While a few have condemned Emirates, others have said that they will not fly with the carrier.

Other vegetarian options that cater to Emirates' Indian passengers

The airline still has an option called the Indian Vegetarian Meal (VML) for vegetarian passengers. It incorporates flavours from the Indian sub-continent and uses varied vegetables, fresh fruit, dried fruits, legumes, milk products, cereal, grains and vegetarian gelatin. This meal is reportedly devoid of all kinds of meat or by-products, fish, shellfish, eggs and animal gelatin.

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Emirates has a list of vegetarian meals.Creative Commons

Emirates also serves the vegetarian Jain meal (VJML) for the Jain community who are pure vegetarian. It is prepared with a selection of Indian ingredients like fresh fruit and stem vegetables (which grow above the ground). It contains no animal products, by-products or any type of root vegetables such as onions, mushrooms, ginger, garlic, potatoes, carrots, beets, radishes, etc.

People who fly with this airline can also opt for Kosher Meal (KML) or choose from medical and dietary meals like Bland Meal, Low Salt Meal, Diabetic Meal, Non-Lactose Meal, Fruit Platter, Gluten Free Meal, Low Cholesterol or Low Fat Meal, Vegan Meal and Raw Vegetable Meal.