Hyderabad: Talakaya kura, paaya, dum biryani, tala hua ghosht, gongura mamsam, chepala pulusu, natukodi iguru, royyala kura, endu chapala vankaya… The list of non-vegetarian specialties of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh is long indeed and almost, in endless supply. In fact, it is now a proven fact that Telugus love non-vegetarian food the most in India.
As per data from the central government’s Sample Registration System Baseline Survey 2014, Telangana tops the list of 21 big states in the country in non-vegetarianism with 98.8 per cent men and 98.6 per cent women being non-vegetarians.
Andhra Pradesh is not far behind with 98.4 per cent men and 98.1 per cent women being non-vegetarians. West Bengal came second in the country in non-vegetarianism, not far behind Telangana, with 98.7 per cent men and 98.4 per cent women.
As per the National Sample Survey on Household Consumption released in 2014, united Andhra Pradesh had topped in per capita monthly consumption of chicken among the 21 big states and was second in consumption of goat meat after Jammu and Kashmir.
The two Telugu states are also the largest producers of egg and meat. AP stands second in egg production in the country with 1309.58 crore eggs whereas Telangana stands third with 1006 crore eggs. In meat production, AP is fourth with 5.27 lakh metric tons and Telangana stands sixth with 4.46 lakh MT.
AP also tops the country in exporting buffalo meat and is well known for its shrimp exports. Among the South Indian states, Karnataka has the lowest number of non-vegetarians whereas across the country, it is Rajasthan with only 26.8 per cent non-vegetarian men and 23.4 per cent non-vegetarian women.
