Pizza in Gurdwara Langar : Acceptable ?

[West London Singh]

This is something that's been on my mind for a few years now. Put it to the back of my mind coz I've been very busy and frankly don't have a deep enough understanding to give my usual lecture.

Thing is......noticed how pizza is becoming very common in langars, especially during children's programmes. But.........my understanding has always been this : The mozzarella on pizzas is made via the stomach lining of an animal. In other words, an animal has to be killed and his stomach lining removed in order to make the 'vegetarian' pizza. Basically, in lay man's terms, I'm talking about the rennet that has to be used in order to make mozzarella. In America and Canada 99.99% of that rennet comes from an animal whereas for us in the UK over 60% of the rennet is made from animals and 40% is genuine vegetarian rennet. But how do we know the pizza that is being served in gurdwaras is pizza that has the mozzarella made from vegetarian rennet ? The only way we could be sure is if the pizza shop owner persoinally gets his mozzarella sourced from a vegetarian organic source. However, knowing how the majority of pizza in gurdwaras comes from pizza shops owned by local 'sikhs' and how these shops are extremely competitive on pizza price, we all know that none of them are personally sourcing their mozzarella from expensive organic farms. See, the trouble is this : Rather cleverly the animal stomach lining used for mozzarella is described on the packaging as 'enzymes'. Nothing wrong with that because enzymes are exactly what they are. But therein lies the problem........A Gurdwara will look at the long list of ingredients before authorising use in the langar and the word 'enzymes' will not trouble it. And that's where the problem lies. We are a highly educated community of doctors and things like dieticians, but generally these educated fellow members of our sangat don't bother using their education for our benefit.......unless they're being paid to do so. Thus, it normally falls to men like me. No nothing about dietry issues and no nothing about medicine. Know the very basic little about our dietry needs as Sikhs though so am posting this.

Cut a long story short then : Has any of the UK Gurdwaras personally checked that the enzyme used in their pizza came from a vegan rennet or was it the normal dead animal rennet ?

[Mehtab Singh]

I guess it would be best to have Sangat members prepare the pizza from scratch at the Gurdwara Sahib itself? That way you're sure what exactly is being used and can make sure to use maximum raw/natural ingredients? Only thing is they're gonna have to make a lot of it for the whole Sangat, lol. The concern regarding rennet is a genuine one, as one could never really know just by looking/tasting the pizza what kind of rennet was used. I personally find home-made vegetarian pizza much better, and it tastes a lot better as well. Another thing, as said above, is to prepare it at the Gurdwara Sahib itself, and even better when prepared by Sangat singing Satnaam Vaheguru. Perhaps some Gurughars allow folks to bring food items made at home, but I am not sure how right that is. If Sangat at a particular Gurdwara Sahib is ok with it, then its upto them, not gonna point fingers or judge as to what is right/wrong. But several Gurughars actually encourage Sangat to avoid bringing food made at home, rather cook it at the Gurdwara Sahib. In fact there also Sarablohi Amritdharis who prepare pizza at home in Sarabloh baate. That one is made entirely (or as much as possible) from pure raw/natural ingredients. Bottom line, its best to avoid foods at Gurdwara Sahib that are (a.) NOT prepared at the Gurdwara Sahib (some stick to this rule, some don't as its not a forced rule everywhere), (b.) prepared at places where they also prepare meat and/or meat-products as they may not be adhering to the principles of sucham.

[Mehtab Singh]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozzarella

Not sure how reliable this is, but it states mozarella is derived from milk?

[N30S1NGH]

I may be labeled as fanatic (for first time-lol- love to put others out of business jk)..seriously.. pizza served as langar should not be allowed at the gurdwara as more more langar is becoming buffet style.

We should go back to root of langar maryada which- daliya(oatmeal), chaul(rice), dal(lentils without any tarka) and kheer, simple satoguni food which everyone can digest..we should avoid cooking and serving enrich rajoguni food as langar.

The stuff we eat now - rajoguni enrich foods at langar especially at abroad gurdwaras is no where close to what sangat used to eat around Guru's time. Bhai Chaupa Singh Rehitnama along with his grandson bhai chibber singh rehitnamas talks about the diet.

I strongly believe whatever we eat effects our mind, too much rajas and tamas does not help with focus, makes our mind chanchal, lazy not to mention aggression and bring sheer hyperism.

[Wingz23]

Pizza tastes great so therefore i will eat and accept that as langar anyday :D I do also love my Sabjis aswell, Aloo and Mutter... Nice :D

:D :D :D

[ladli-fauj]

what is done at a local taksal run gurdwara is that on the side there is also pizza and tons of other food, but mostly for the kids, gurdwara is smaller than all the others but has a amazing strong following, all the local sikhs bring their children there who seem to be actually happy to come to the gurdwara, interact with others, eat...then the disipline and teachings come in and the kids seem to stay...iv seen kids whom were never in sikhi feel comforatable at the gurdwara because of food and other sangat then got into sikhi and not only came for food but actually valued the sangat, and now come for the guru,.....a simple idea of serving 'modern' food items brought the children and slowly they became fond of sikhi and learn kirtan, santhiya, diff topics that are touched on..so theres a good side

[TheFancyBanana]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozzarella

Not sure how reliable this is, but it states mozarella is derived from milk?

Yeah, cows and buffalo milk is used and then they need to turn it into a cheese.

Rennet is used to coagulate the milk. So that it seperates into curds and whey.

Male calves that have not even been weaned yet (very young calves) are killed and then the enzymes removed.

However you can use plants, fungi or microbes as a subsitute.

Or you can just add an acid, like citric acid.

[HSD2]

I'm surprised no one's come up with a paneer pizza or other way of desifying firangh food.

[TheFancyBanana]

I'm surprised no one's come up with a paneer pizza or other way of desifying firangh food.

LOL. You've never seen a paneer pizza????

My mum does turhka on noodles. :cool2:

[Wingz23]

I'm surprised no one's come up with a paneer pizza or other way of desifying firangh food

there is paneer pizza, you have paneer on top of the pizza along wiht all the other stuff cheese, spices, etc

TASTE GOOD

HSD2 you might want to try this :D