The Jains are a religious sect in India, comparable in certain respects with Buddhists, who practise vegetarianism and who are prohibited from taking life, even in its smallest forms. Thus Jain monks sweep the paths in front of them, to avoid treading on insects, and may wear masks to avoid inhaling tiny flying creatures. Jain lay persons not only abstain from obviously prohibited occupations such as fishing, but are also debarred from agriculture, where the risk of inadvertently taking life (e.g. when tilling the soil or gathering crops) would be high. They have therefore tended to engage in commerce, with the result that they are on the whole a prosperous group.
The influence of Jains on diet in the Indian subcontinent has been distinctly limited, partly because they are not very numerous and partly because parts of their own practice overlap with that of the enormously more numerous Hindus (see Hinduism and food). Marie-Claude Mahias (1981) has nonetheless indicated a number of distinctive features in the rhythm and composition of their daily meals. She also points out that in declining to eat at night (when the smaller forms of life are more difficult to see) and in rejecting parts of plants, such as roots, which are essential to the life of the plants, and counselling avoidance of fruits with numerous seeds (fig, aubergine), they may be implicitly setting an example to others whose conception of the sanctity of life is less all-embracing. Jains do not eat any members of the onion family, Alliaceae, including garlic.
Alan Davidson was a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world's best-known writers on fish and fish cookery. In 1975 he retired early from the diplomatic service—after serving in, among other places, Washington, Egypt, Tunisia, and Laos, where he was British Ambassador—to pursue a fruitful second career as a food historian and food writer extraordinaire. Among his popular books are Seafood of South-East Asia, North Atlantic Seafood, and Mediterranean Seafood. In 2003, shortly before his death, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his contribution to European culture.
Mahias, Marie-Claude (1981), ‘Rhythmes culinaires indiens: quelques aspects des repas Jaina’, in National and Regional Styles of Cookery, Oxford Symposium on Food History 1981, London: Prospect Books.
