"Pure veg" — what it actually means in our kitchen
The phrase gets used loosely. Here's the specific version of it we follow, including the parts that cost us money.
"Pure veg" is one of those phrases that means whatever the person saying it wants it to mean. Some kitchens use it to mean "we have a vegetarian menu." Others mean "no meat, but egg is fine." A few mean it properly.
Since you can't see into our kitchen from the counter, here's exactly what we commit to.
No meat, no fish, no egg
Not in any dish, not as an ingredient, not in a sauce, not in the bread. Egg is where a lot of kitchens quietly draw a different line — in mayonnaise, in bread, in cake. We don't.
One kitchen, not a section of one
There is no non-veg side of our kitchen, because there is no non-veg. This matters more than the menu does. A vegetarian dish cooked in a kitchen that also cooks meat shares air, surfaces, utensils and often oil.
No shared oil, ever
Frying oil is where the line most often breaks in practice. Ours has only ever fried vegetarian food.
No onion/garlic on request
For families who avoid them, tell us when you order and we'll cook without. It takes a bit longer because it's made separately — genuinely separately, not scooped out afterwards.
The part that costs us
Committing to this means we turn down catering orders that need a non-veg component. It means we can't use certain cheaper prepared ingredients whose supply chains we can't verify.
We're fine with that. It's the one thing on our board we're not willing to be flexible about, because for a lot of families ordering from us, it isn't a preference — it's a rule they've kept their whole lives, and they're trusting us with it.
If you ever want to look at the kitchen, ask. We'll show you.