Restaurant Can Be Sued For Serving Meat To Vegetarians

On August 10th, 2009, 16 people in Edison, NJ ordered vegetarian samosas from Moghul Express, an Indian restaurant on the town's almost-exclusively-Indian Oak Tree Road. The customers were devout Hindus. They did not eat meat for religious reasons, so they made sure to ask Moghul Express several times whether the samosas had meat in them. The person taking their order told them Moghul Express didn't even make meat samosas, according to the Star-Ledger. They ate some of the samosas, which tasted of meat. They again asked whether the samosas were vegetarian—but this time, they were told that the samosa contained meat.

They decided to sue for emotional and monetary damages. The plaintiffs claimed that eating meat had caused them serious spiritual harm, which could only be rectified by an expensive pilgrimage to the Ganges River. They asked Moghul Express to pay for the trip. At first, the courts told them that the suit was inadmissible. They appealed.

On Monday, a New Jersey Appellate Court decided to allow the suit to go forward. This does not mean that the suit will be successful. It just means that the three-person Superior Court found that the plaintiff's case met the basic prima facie qualifications for it to proceed.

The most famous such case, in which vegetarian groups sued McDonald's for including beef in its french fries, allegedly ended in a multi-million-dollar settlement.

Comments

[TofuMan]

04:34 PM on 09/09/2011

This happens to me too... I ask every time because I am a vegan rather than Hindu. However 30% of the time, I get a minced lamb samosa... so I have to break them open before I eat them, which soils things a bit.

There seems to be two problems from my experience, a number of the junior staff (inc. waiters) are not fluent in English or find OUR accents hard to understand and secondly the restaurants tend to be Hindu owned or Muslim owned. Sadly in my experience so far the problems are always at the Muslim places... Does anyone know why that is the case? I think as vegetarianism is not common at all amongst Mulsims maybe they aren't so observant of that detail... in Hindu establishments I notice that they always seem to recognise that my wife and I are not ordering any meat, and so we don't get any surprises.

I think if a Muslim really wanted to insult a Hindu by giving them meat (or a Hindu giving a Muslim pork), they could do that without making it so obvious!

I have never considered suing any of the places that served me meat, even though I was very offended by it (to me its like being served a dog poop)... Its more a matter of ignorance or carelessness rather than malice. Turning it a battle doesn't help anyone.

[pratyak]

06:15 PM on 08/20/2011

A restaurant that serves meat is in itself a source for contamination. If you ever were in a kitchen where meat dishes are served, you'll notice the air is already filled with it. What makes one think they'd get vegetarian food at such places?

Hindu being vegetarian is a funny thing (hypocritically) these days. Of all castes the people who call themselves 'brahmin' are traditionally know to be vegetarian and living in the US for past few years, I've found some of my brahmin friends either become non-vegetarians or have left the west to uphold their beliefs. I, being a non-brahmin caste by birth, have resisted my family's attempts to have me eat meat. My reason was simple - why kill another living being to satisfy hunger? Aren't grains, legumes, fruits, pulses, milk and such plentiful?

The whole point of being a true vegetarian hence is of personal choice regardless of religious propensities. Do you want to not harm anyone in thought, word or deed? If yes, you're already a vegetarian and a great soul. An ahimsa-vadin is hard to find these days. It is told in a yoga book that in the presence of such person, people will give up their urge to fight over paltry, mundane things. We need more of such people in today's degrading societies. One who can stand up to true civility to fellow living beings.

All in all, if you were a vegetarian in the true sense, you'd be diligent yourself.

[sensimilla]

01:10 PM on 08/04/2011

Think it's time to retire. I'm going to eat out every day, and sue each restaurant that brings me meat in my food after i tell them not to.

Woot, easy street here i come! ;0)

[sensimilla]

01:08 PM on 08/04/2011

It is very difficult as a vegetarian in certain parts of this country. We pride ourselves on our multiculturality, yet in some areas uniqueness is looked at like a threat and derided. Part of the reason i live in the Northwest.

[Disketta]

12:20 PM on 07/31/2011

The sick thing is how many nonvegetarians will secretly try to sneak you meat ingredients. Sometimes if you ask if there is "meat" they will neglect to mention that there is fat, reasoning that you did not ask about fat. It's sick. Meat-eaters have a real problem with vegetarianism.

On the bright side, meat-eaters weigh more, age faster and have poorer cardiovascular health, and sneaking a piece of bacon fat into your pea soup doesn't change that. So, they may think it's a joke, but the joke is on them.

But for an Indian restaurant to knowingly serve meat to devout Hindus is a hate crime against them for their religious beliefs. It should be prosecuted criminally, not just civilly.

[JackTheSkipper]

11:05 PM on 07/31/2011

How does an Indian restaurant serving meat to a group of upper caste Indian brahmins become a hate crime? The restaurant didn't intentinally serve the meat filled Samosas. Hate crime will be tough to prove especially both parties are Indians. I know hate crimes aren't now limited to race/ethnicity. But it will overreaching to call this situation a hate crime.

[Omar Khan]

01:18 AM on 08/01/2011

agreed.

[Tenjikuronin]

06:00 PM on 08/11/2011

How do you know that the people who are suing were "upper caste" or "Brahim"? The article makes no such mention, so I'm curious as to where you got this info from...

[sensimilla]

01:02 PM on 08/04/2011

yeah, my mother(and the rest of my "conservative" family hate my vegetarianism & NW lifestyle. She often tries to put meat into the food she serves me and lies about it. I generally cook for her now when she's around now...

[JackTheSkipper]

10:01 PM on 07/30/2011

These same devout Hindus consider themselves descendant of God. They belong to the brahmin caste (upper caste) in India, never mind some of them are very dirt poor. For them, every other race is unclean and untouchables. If an untouchable inadvertently enter their Indian temple, they won't pray in it until their priests cleanse the temple of sin and impurity. The untouchables eat meat (i.e. you (non-veg) and me). The God's descendants, upper caste, can't do what the sinful untouchables do. So they don't eat meat. By serving the Samosas with the meat, the restaurant treated them like an untouchable and brought down their upper caste status. The only way they can cleanse their soul and regain their upper caste status is by bathing in the Ganges river, never mind the dead bodies and the worst water quality in the world.

[sensimilla]

01:03 PM on 08/04/2011

only the extremists feel this way. Caste distinctions are diminishing among the younger generations..

[dajester]

04:14 AM on 08/12/2011

you are delusional. castes are alive and well in the vast majority of india.

[Tenjikuronin]

06:02 PM on 08/11/2011

Lot of ignorance in your post about Hindus, and more importantly about the people filing the claim. No where in the article does it mention their caste or their economic status.

[JackTheSkipper]

10:21 AM on 07/30/2011

Those same devout Hindus who doesn't eat meat are fine with consuming dairy products. Some are even known to eat fish. I am fine if you say you don't want to eat meat because of health and out of respect for animals but religion, my arse.

[Disketta]

12:42 PM on 07/31/2011

In India, dairy products do not involve cruelty, as they do here, as cows and calves are not slaughtered. So, there is no hypocrisy.

[JackTheSkipper]

02:49 PM on 07/31/2011

For the upper caste Indian brahmins, who ate the meat filled Somosas, animal cruelty has never been an issue. They just don't eat meat because the lower castes and untouchables do. Not eating meat is a status symbol of their superior sub-race/caste and has nothing to do with religion or respect for animal rights. BTW, do you "really" know what happens to the cows in Indian after they reach their prime? I can bet any amount of money that you don't know. I am sorry but the hypocrisy reeks to high heaven. This is like a republican claiming he respects the sanctity of life and hunting animals in the woods. He doesn't see the hypocrisy because the bible tells him animals are put on Earth for humans to consume, never mind they are "life".

[dajester]

04:16 AM on 08/12/2011

you do know that dairy cows and beef cattle are different?

[Tenjikuronin]

06:02 PM on 08/11/2011

Its their religion, you aren't in a position to comment.

[dajester]

04:26 AM on 08/12/2011

utter garbage. you have no qualms commenting on other's religions, so why the double standard? hypocrite.

[dajester]

04:31 AM on 08/12/2011

rubbish. religion is the one that needs to questioned and commented upon.

[SoldAmerican]

10:01 AM on 07/30/2011

If that Muslim own restaurant did to spite the Hindus, he should be be_headed. Thats the Islamic punishment for Blasphemy.,

[dajester]

04:18 AM on 08/12/2011

quite typical fundamentalist hindu thinking, alive and well. anything which goes wrong is the fault of muslims. what were devout hindus in doing in a muslim restaurant anyway? they should not be eating meat, and if they do, should eat jatka meat.

[Tenjikuronin]

11:07 AM on 08/12/2011

What, pray tell, is a "Muslim Restaurant"?

[nikau nikau]

09:35 AM on 07/30/2011

Customer deserves to be given what they order and pay for.

If I say 'No X' then the company is liable for being dishonest and serving 'X'.

[TheInsomniac]

10:25 PM on 07/29/2011

People, religious and otherwise, need to stop being so sensitive and eat a damn (soy)cheese(soy)burger.

[SoldAmerican]

09:55 AM on 07/30/2011

Next time when you visit chinese restaurant, I hope they serve Dog meat to you.

[TheInsomniac]

10:48 PM on 07/30/2011

That is illegal in the U.S. In a nation where it was legal, I would be fine with it. Meat is meat - I'm not a hypocrite about it.

[RosesForObama]

08:29 PM on 07/29/2011

GIVE ME A FRIGGEN BREAK.

OH PULLLEEEEEZZZZZ.

COME ON

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDIN ME

[Tenjikuronin]

06:04 PM on 08/11/2011

How do you know? According to the filing, they did not finish the samosas after learning that meat had been snuck in them.

[supercarrot]

04:17 PM on 08/18/2011

he was trying to be funny.

[cricket]

06:24 PM on 07/29/2011

restaurants in oaktree road take customers for granted . they dish out any crap and people are there to eat without asking questions. many of them are far from genuine taste. this particular restaurant serve mysore masala dosa with pudina chutney in it while the actual paste in the dosa is different. i always disliked this restaurant for doing such things. i am glad someone took action for their slackness.

[jdbond]

05:04 PM on 07/29/2011

I will get angry too if someone serves "chicken" steak...

[Hillrick]

03:44 PM on 07/29/2011

Cleanse themselves in the Ganges? After seeing photos of people bathing as corpses float by I would feel that being dirty is a better choice.

[entreMundo]

03:56 PM on 07/29/2011

Who could possibly give a cr*p about your ignorance or what you feel about aspects of someone's religion you don't even want understand to begin with?

[Tenjikuronin]

06:06 PM on 08/11/2011

FAIL. There are no corpses floating in the river, seeing how Hindus CREMATE their dead...

[Hillrick]

08:24 PM on 08/11/2011

Want a link?

[dajester]

04:21 AM on 08/12/2011

FAIL

hindus do not cremate the remains of children. they set them afloat in the ganges if at all possible.