Air India on Saturday apologised for an article in its inflight magazine referring to “non-vegetarian” dishes being served at the Jagannath temple at Puri in Odisha, NDTV reported. The article, titled ‘Devotion Can Be Delicious’, was published in the October edition of the magazine, Shubh Yatra.
The article said the Jagannath temple’s kitchen was “said to be largest in the country”, with “an army of 500 cooks and 300 helpers to serve 100,000 people every day, round the clock”, according to The Times of India. The article said this meant that “almost 285 varieties of vegetarian and non-vegetarian” dishes were being served at the temple every day.
The airline was criticised for the article, with Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik calling it an “unfortunate incident”. “We will take it up strongly with the appropriate authorities,” Patnaik said. Members of the Jagannath Sena also held protests against the article.
Air India said its “intention was not to hurt sentiments”, adding that it had withdrawn all copies of the publication.
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