As recently as a few decades back, once widowed, women in Bengal had to shave their heads, wear starched white sarees and do hard labour. But most importantly, they were hit where it hurt the most. Widows could not eat meat, fish, chicken, eggs, garlic, onion or masoor dal. These were considered heaty foods that would ignite their passions. And of course passion was not allowed in the husks of womanhood that widows were supposed to be.

The simplest, most pointed way of controlling someone is through food, by restricting what they can or cannot eat. It’s power over their mind as well as body. What better way to show someone who’s boss?

When I shifted to Delhi, I was introduced to the practice of Karwa Chauth, a day when women must starve because that will ensure their husbands have long lives. The husbands don’t return the favour. Over the years, I’ve seen highly-educated, pregnant friends of mine, standing in the heat of the kitchen, cooking for their highly-educated husbands and in-laws, while starving the entire day. Why? Because that’s the convention and we’re brought up on the notion that the woman sacrificing is good for the family at large.

There is nothing worse for an adult than being told what you can or cannot eat, and when you can or cannot eat it. It makes you feel like a child. It is the ultimate power play.

Today, in the 21^st century when you’d think society would be moving forward, what used to happen in the confines of the regressive Hindu Undivided Family is happening in the Hindu Undivided Country (the non-Hindus, as is obvious from the dietary restrictions we’ve all been handed out, don’t count). The householder and his minions are telling us what we can and can’t eat. The only silver lining – if you look really hard for one – is that the restrictions are not gender-specific. The Hindutva Diet may well be the great equaliser we’ve all been looking for.

Suddenly, instead of focusing on governance and development, the current administration seems to be very focused on what is cooking in our homes, taking kitchen politics to a whole new level. If you don’t listen, the results can be deadly as September 28, 2015 showed everyone.

The Great Indian Diet Plan started way back in 2013, when khap panchayat leader Jitender Chhatar said, “Chowmein leads to hormonal imbalance, evoking an urge to indulge in acts such as rape and sex.” Before giggling and raising our eyebrows at Chhatar’s idiocy, we should have realised that he was the lesser of the evils that were to descend upon us.

In June 2015, Madhya Pradesh’s Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan rejected the inclusion of egg curry or boiled eggs in anganwadi meals to be served in the tribal areas of Alirajpur, Mandla and Hoshangabad districts. “Milk and bananas will be served, but never eggs,” he said. Why? Because Anil Badkul, Digambar Jain Mahasamiti spokesperson and professional egg-hater, reportedly said, “Do eggs grow on trees? No. Its consumption has several side-effects. When children eat non-vegetarian food, their sensitivity dies…Bachcho ko bachana hai, andon ko bachana hai (children have to be saved, eggs have to be saved).”

Ramdas Athwale, Union Minister of State for Social Justice, recently suggested that all restaurants in Maharashtra should serve Maharashtrian food. The Indian Hotels and Restaurants Association, or AHAR, said this suggestion was intended to “promote Maharashtrian cuisine and ensure all restaurants serve such dishes at affordable rates”. AHAR chairman Niranjan Shetty clarified that, “It is a request, not a diktat.” Since it is better to err on the side of caution, now when you go to Ling’s Pavilion — more a Mumbai institution than a Chinese restaurant — you can order misal pav with a side of egg fried rice.

But this effort to ‘promote’ Maharashtrian food has nothing on the veneration reserved for the holy cow.

Simply put, the majority of Indians do not have the freedom to eat beef anymore because the slaughter of cow and its progeny is banned in most of the country. If we do, we will be made into a steak and eaten by the BJP and their gau rakshak friends.

The most recent additions to the list are Maharashtra and Haryana. In 2015, the state’s BJP-led state government asked President Pranab Mukherjee to sign off on changes to the Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act, 1976. The amendments, which came into effect in March 2015, expanded the ban to bull and bullock slaughter and also made the sale and possession of all beef illegal. Maharashtra chief minister, Devendra Fadnavis, was so beside himself with joy at this step, he tweeted to Mukherjee, “our dream of ban on cow slaughter becomes a reality now”.

Overnight, the chili beef we were eating from Yacht and the steaks at Leopold vanished. Beef could no longer be bought in the market – despite it being a staple for a number of communities, including the the Goan Christians, Muslims, Parsis and Dalits (they who shall not be named or fed it seems).

In May 2016, the Bombay High Court broke Fadnavis’s heart and allowed the possession of beef in Maharashtra — but only if it is imported from outside the state. Justices Abhay Oka and SC Gupte ruled that the part of the law that made possessing beef illegal in Maharashtra, violated the privacy rights of an individual.

A couple of months earlier, in March 2015, the Haryana Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gausamvardhan Bills were passed by the assembly unanimously. These banned the sale of all kinds of beef. According to the bill, “No person shall sell or offer for sale or cause to be sold beef or beef products…”. Most impressively, the accused in a trial for cow slaughter or beef sale will be assumed guilty until proven innocent much like in the Dowry Act.

Leave aside how putting restrictions on food that is integral to certain communities’ culinary culture shows a callous, majoritarian disregard. According to the Constitution, all communities are equal in India, but in the country we live in today, the Hindu majority is more equal than others. Let’s ignore the fact that an Indian citizen’s right to eat can be interpreted as a fundamental right under the Right to Life guaranteed by the Indian Constitution. These are small matters for our government. In fact, the Maharashtra government’s former advocate general Shreehari Aney had justified the ban in the state by arguing that the right to eat a specific food item isn’t protected under the Right To Life – so we could all go suck an egg, or actually not.

One would think that since the government – state and Centre – are so focused on telling us what not to eat, it must have ensured every Indian has access to at least one full meal every day. Sadly, this is not the case.

One-third of the world’s malnourished children are in India. According to the The Global Hunger Report 2015, India’s cereal productivity is the lowest among the developed and emerging economies which were surveyed. China’s cereal productivity is double, Brazil’s is 32 per cent and South Africa’s 34 per cent of India’s. Cereals make up 92.7 per cent of India’s foodgrain production.

IndiaSpend reported we have the highest number of undernourished people in the world at 194.6 million – almost 12 million more than Pakistan’s population. A number which has increased 2.6 per cent over the past five years. Which begs the question, why would you remove a highly nutritional item such as eggs from a school meal when you know our children are malnourished and most families may not be able to afford eggs?

Speaking of affordability, one kilogram of buffalo meat (which would feed 10 people) costs Rs 80 with bones, Rs 100 without. Lauki or bottle gourd costs Rs 80 per kilo and once cooked, could feed four people at best.

But of course, it’s not about cost. It’s about priorities and freedom. Technically, you don’t have the freedom to eat what you want because you’re obliged to follow a different menu. It seems we’re so busy protecting our divine cows, we’ve forgotten about the ordinary citizen.