On Wednesday, 15 May 2013 14:50:06 UTC+10, DavidW wrote:
> Timo wrote:
> > On Wednesday, 15 May 2013 12:42:59 UTC+10, John J wrote:
> >>
> >> "dishes are prepared daily (although you won't find onion, garlic or
> >> mushrooms)."
> >>
> >> I wonder why.
> >
> > It's descended from Jain food prohibitions. No root vegetables, since
> > microorganisms, the life of which we should not take, live
> > underground and therefore on them. No fermented foods, either, for
> > the same reasons (so no yoghurt, no vinegar). Or rotten food! IIRC,
> > fungi are classified as "rotten food".
>
> A bit of Googling shows there's some debate over the status of yeast-based
foods, since yeast is micro-organisms.

I wasn't aware of any debate on yeast in Jainism - AFAIK, it's well-accepted as prohibited. Other religions will vary on whether they classify yeast as vegetarian/ahimsa acceptable. There is debate on yeast among the Hare Krishnas.

Potatoes are interesting, coming to the India long after these religions developed. Some religions went "root vegetable, so forbidden", and others went "it isn't on our list of forbidden foods, so we can eat it".