Beef-lover Trump Forced To Eat Vegetarian Meals During India Trip

Beef-lover President Donald Trump probably won't be eating any beef in India, where the cow is a sacred animal.

Indians are mainly vegetarians that consider the cow a sacred symbol of life that should be protected and revered. The cow is associated with Aditi, the mother of all the gods in the Vedas, the oldest of the Hindu scriptures.

Trump will be in India on an official state visit for the first time from February 24 to 25. He'll spend only one night of his whirlwind trip in the Hindu country where vegetarianism is a way of life.

Trump isn't a stranger to India, however. He's visited India a few times before since India has the most number of Trump Organization hotels outside the United States.

Prime minister Narendra Modi is a devoted vegetarian and plans to serve only vegetarian food to Trump, according to people involved in planning the trip. Modi and Trump will dine for a lunch and a formal banquet Tuesday evening at ornate Rashtrapati Bhavan, the official presidential palace in Delhi. No beef meals are expected be served and this fact should test Trump's resolve.

A meat eater, Trump's vegetable diet is known to be confined only to the occasional salad.

"I have never seen him eat a vegetable," said a person close to Trump, CNN reported.

It's also not known if Trump's aides will sneak in any beef dishes when Trump is inside his hotel room, which is a possibility. Trump is known for his love of steaks and has eaten steaks twice a day while on foreign trips. It's hard seeing him giving-up this habit, even when in India.

The few countries Trump has visited as president often accommodate his meat-eating diet, feeding him lamb or another alternative if steak isn't on the menu. There will definitely be no steak for Trump in his public events in India, however. McDonald's, Trump's favorite restaurant, doesn't serve beef burgers in India. It serves chicken burgers or fried paneer cheese sandwiches, instead.

"I don't know what he's going to do in this case," said another Trump official quoted by CNN. "They don't serve cheeseburgers."

Trump will arrive Monday morning in Ahmedabad, the largest city in Modi’s home state of Gujarat, where he will inaugurate the world’s largest cricket stadium. Local media said more than 100,000 people are expected to attend the “Namaste Trump” event that will be a clone of the Texas “Howdy Modi” rally in late 2019 that drew 50,000 Indian-Americans to greet Modi.

Trump predicts up to seven million Indians will be at Namaste Trump, however. The Modi government has refused to comment on Trump's claim. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump will later be guests at two days of diplomatic events where no serious business of government is expected to be discussed. No trade deals will be discussed.