NEW DELHI: After chanting Go Corona Go to ward off Covid-19, union minister
Ramdas Athawale said today that restaurants serving
Chinese food should be banned and that Indians should boycott Chinese food.
Restaurateurs and chains in the business of serving Chinese food have scoffed at the comments and called them 'bizarre' and 'ridiculous'.
"These comments are bizarre and loose. People should know that we are an Indian company, serving food made by Indian chefs with Indian ingredients. Our chefs who have worked with chains like Taj and ITC are all Indian," said Anjan Chatterjee, founder of Speciality Restaurants that runs restaurant chain
Mainland China and added that food made in India by Indians could not be equated to boycotting goods made in China.
Rahul Khanna, co-founder of Azure Hospitality which runs the
Mamagoto chain of restaurants said the comments were ridiculous. "I think we need to remind everyone that we live in a democracy. Whether I am selling Chinese food or Nigerian food I have a right to do so," he added.
Hashtags like Indian Chinese and Gobi Manchurian were trending on Twitter all through Thursday with memes and jokes and most users stating the cuisine had anyway been Indianised.
“Chinese have not seen chowmein in their life,” stated @ADenzing while another user @paneermakhani asked if someone could initiate a petition to save Gobi Manchurian by changing its name.
Anurag Katriar, president of
National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) said politicians shouldn't be playing to the gallery with such comments on critical matters.
“If you want to fight the Chinese, please be serious. Chinese food in India is made by Indians in Indian owned restaurants. 90% of the ingredients used in these restaurants are local barring some elite restaurants which might be importing some ingredients from China,” he added.
Saurabh Khanijo, managing director of the Kylin chain of restaurants who also operates the food court brand Wanchai said all his sauces and ingredients were made in India.
"We have not imported a single product from China. In fact, their sauces are not palatable for Indians. It is a known fact that when people go to China a lot of them can't eat Chinese food as their food is completely stock based and very different from what gets served here. We are made in India. These comments make no sense. We are Indian owners and have no Chinese alliances.”