Meat

Feliz

I have travelled a lot in Thailand, and there I eat everything!
On the streets in Bangkok, in a small restaurant in the midle of nowhere, and I have never been sick. So I'm not generally worried about eating in tropical climates, but I have heard so much about the meat in India.
And I have got vaccine against salmonella and ETEC bacterias.
I'll probably eat the meat.

kiwi_razz

er, not necessarily. Usually for me, the posh ones are more likely to give you problems than the cheap ones.

Nick-H

There always seem to be documentaries about how dangerous food is in West. The last one I saw talked about really bad standards of hygene and lots of germs in UK airport eating places. Maybe we shouldn't be so worried about India!

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Feliz

In UK!?!
Well, there you go, you really never can tell!

Nick-H

Oh indeed. A few years (well, maybe ten or so) a government minister was forced to resign for simply telling us that most hens in UK and there most eggs and chicken-meat products, were infected with salmonella.

Considering what most politicians get away with, or refuse to resign on account of, I always thoght that was a shame that she lost her job for being honest. Oh well, that's politics!

katyrafi

I remember the egg incident well and must say that I have had no problems whatsoever with the food I've eaten here and would highly recommend many of the meat and especially the fish dishes. A friend of mine who visited recently was being obsessively careful about the water and food she ate and ended up in hospital with anoebic dyssentry, I on the other hand have been somewhat careless with no bad effects - make of that what you will!

Also, on the posh restaurant front - I would agree that they are probably less safe than the local places - many upmarket restaurants use dodgy meat and pass it off as chicken. I've always found that where the locals eat, often despite appearances, is where the best food is at.

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Sunray

I never ate meat in India and I never got sick. I saw it handled very poorly many times and it removed any vestige I had of eating meat. Perhaps, with the posh thing, I was thinking Taj hotel (2500rs head) sort of posh.

Thailand is a special case for street food IMO. The reason for this is that everyone (thai), and I mean *everyone* eats on the street. Apartments don't come with kitchens because there's no point. I've watched them clean and cook and they do have a basic sense of hygene in Thailand, which is all thats really needed. In India, they don't, I've watched in horror on occasion.

I would totally agree with the locals thing, I just wandered round till I found a restaurant that was really busy and vaguely tidy. Ate there.

famous

I went vegetarian on my first time I lived in India and have stayed that way for about 6 years. Some german friends were craving beef in Hyderabad and went to a part of town with muslum btuchers and purchased beef to cook at home. I remember watching all the cows in Hyderabad eating out of garbage piles in the city. any we know what Indians use to throw away their garbage - those little plastic bags that are given away with everything. so the cows eat a lot of the garbage. I read later an article in a newspaper about veterinarians dissecting dead cows and finding HUGE balls of plastic in their stomachs. I can't remember the weight of the biggest ball they found, but it was BIG. And now think of all the sheep and pigs and chickens that eat the same garbage. Not a pretty picture. the milk from the buffaloes can't be so healthy. but then again, western meat is pumped full of chemicals and animals eat ground up dead animals and animal shit. I lived in india for 3 weeks before getting sick. After that I was eating everything from everywhere - again, following the rule of eat where the locals are. I enjoyed myself for 6 months until I went to a famous place to have some biryani. I finally found the place after hearing many rave reviews. I often find that the food that makes you sick tastes SO good going down. but it knocked me out for days. I've been living in Japan for a year and a bit (before I escape back to india in 2 months), and I'm a little afraid of japanese restaurnts. My workplace shares bathrooms with a bunch of restaurants, and in one year I haven't seen a single man wash his hands - and some stay in the bathroom a really long time. in public bathrooms as well, no handwashing by the men.

Indojingai

I will second that (unasked for). But that may have to do with the Japanese belief of 'Gods unique people'. That leads them to think that only gaijin have bad bacteria and that unprotected sex doesnt cause HIV to the Japanese.
(and for once i'm not joking...)

I've eaten meats here that I dont even know what animal it came from... and have never been sick. I can never say that for Indian meat!

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himadventures

You can eat meat in INDIA depends where you are eating. Good eating joints cares for hygiene and takes care of quality of meat.

You can keep some anti-amoebic medicines if you are first timer in ASIA.

thirdreel

When reading travel advice, there's a difference between awareness and alarm. A novice traveler reads the advice, "Be careful if you choose to eat meat," and interprets it as "ONLY A RAVING IDIOT WOULD EAT MEAT IN INDIA!!!! DO YOU WANT TO GET FOOD POISONING AND CRAMP UP AND DIE????"

So, yes, it's true that you should be careful of cleanliness and food-borne diseases in India. This is true whether you eat veg or non-veg. It's also true that many non-vegetarian visitors choose to eat a vegetarian diet when traveling in India. If you do, you'll have a little more security, and you'll certainly have no shortage of veg foods to choose from. You don't have to be alarmed or paranoid about your food, but you do have to make careful choices.

Chandra

How do you know what food made you sick? You can get a bad stomach from anything, something you had on your hand when you wiped your mouth, a badly washed chai-glass etc. And your body can take some time to react to the germs. I've never been able to pick out the source of my stomach problems with certainty. (Of course I have my ideas sometimes... )

freenote

the biggest up set to the gut apears to be a major change of diet!!!!! So if you are a meat eater and all of a suddern pure veg ,(and visa versa) you will get an upset gut .The only meat i will not eat in India is Pig.My own ,no problem, i no what i fed them. I have seen what most pigs eat in India.I will not eat pig.

hoshii2000

What do most expats do in India? Do all of you go vegetarian for the duration your stay?

Also, can you find fresh meat if you live in a big city?

freenote

some of the finest meat dishes can be found in the big cities . No problem.