Jain vegetarianism

The Jain cuisine is completely lacto-vegetarian and excludes root and underground vegetables such as potato, garlic, onion, cauliflower, eggplant, mushroom, etc., to prevent injuring small insects and microorganisms.

[1] The objections to the eating of meat, fish and eggs are based on the principle of non-violence (ahimsa, figuratively "non-injuring").

Their scrupulous and thorough way of applying nonviolence to everyday activities, and especially to food, shapes their entire lives and is the most significant hallmark of Jain identity.

[8][9][10][11] A side effect of this strict discipline is the exercise of asceticism, which is strongly encouraged in Jainism for lay people as well as for monks and nuns.

[19][20][21] According to Jain texts, a śrāvaka (householder) should not consume the four maha-vigai (the four perversions) – wine, flesh, butter and honey; and the five udumbara fruits (the five udumbara trees are gular, anjeera, banyan, peepal, and pakar, all belonging to the fig genus).

[28][29][30][31][32] Hence they take great pains to make sure that no minuscule animals are injured by the preparation of their meals and in the process of eating and drinking.

Also, tiny life forms are injured when the plant is pulled up and because the bulb is seen as a living being, as it is able to sprout.

Dry beans, lentils, cereals, nuts and seeds contain a countable number of lives and their consumption results in the least destruction of life.

Mushrooms, fungi and yeasts are forbidden because they grow in unhygienic environments and may harbour other life forms.

Many vegetarian restaurants and Mishtanna sweet-shops – for example, the Ghantewala sweets of Delhi[48] and Jamna Mithya in Sagar – are run by Jains.

Some restaurants in India serve Jain versions of vegetarian dishes that leave out carrots, potatoes, onions and garlic.

[16] When Mahavira revived and reorganized the Jain community in the 6th century BCE, ahimsa was already an established, strictly observed rule.

[51][52] Parshvanatha, a tirthankara whom modern Western historians consider a historical figure,[53][54] lived in about the 8th century BCE[55][56] and founded a community to which Mahavira's parents belonged.

[57][58] Parshvanatha's followers vowed to observe ahimsa; this obligation was part of their caujjama dhamma (Fourfold Restraint).