Food, Religion & Controversy: Here's Everything That Happened With Zomato

Praises, criticism and clarification, a lot has happened in the world of Zomato for the past 2-3 days. It all started when a customer wanted the food aggregator app to change the delivery agent as he was a Muslim. He tweeted that Zomato refused to do so due to which he cancelled the order. The company gave an apt reply to the customer and the tweet became a national talking point. However, things are not as simple as they seem.

Jabalpur-based Amit Shukla got furious when Zomato refused to refund and requested him to pay the cancellation charges. He took to the micro-blogging site Twitter and shared screenshots of his conversation with the company. He wrote, "Just cancelled order on @ZomatoIN they allocated a non-Hindu rider for my food they said they can't change rider and can't refund on cancellation I said you can't force me to take delivery I don't want don't refund just cancel."

Photo from Screenshot from Twitter

The food delivery app gave an amazing response that received love from the internet. Zomato tweeted, "food doesn’t have a religion. It is a religion."

Photo from Screenshot from Twitter

The CEO of the company also came forward and wrote, "We are proud of the idea of India - and the diversity of our esteemed customers and partners. We aren’t sorry to lose any business that comes in the way of our values."

Photo from Screenshot from Twitter

Many prominent faces of the country came forward and applauded Zomato. In fact, Uber Eats also supported the company.

Photo from Screenshot from Twitter

Photo from Screenshot from Twitter

Photo from Screenshot from Twitter

However, there were some who started calling Zomato hypocrites for displaying 'Halal' as a food preference to users.

Photo from Screenshot from Twitter

Zomato also issued a clarification saying, "The halal tag on Zomato is a result of restaurants seeking that distinction - not us as an aggregator. Restaurants (whether a Muslim establishment or otherwise) serving meat specifically obtain halal certification by an all-India body."

Photo from Twitter

The issue is getting murkier with #boycottzomato trending on social media. As Uber Eats has been vocal about its support for Zomato, it got caught in the crosshairs as  #BoycottUberEats also started trending.

Photo from Screenshot from Twitter

Photo from Screenshot from Twitter

Meanwhile, Amit, who started the whole controversy told India Today, "The constitution gives religious freedom to everyone. The month of Saavan is on, so I requested to change the rider. I will not order anything from Zomato now on. It was my right to deny, I was paying for it. I ordered food and they sent a non-Hindu rider. [When] I requested them to change the rider, they refused, so I asked them to cancel the order."

What do you think about the whole issue?  In India, where companies prefer to stay away from religious controversies, Zomato's 'food is a religion' response was indeed brave. However, in this internet era, it has become easier for people to criticize. Is the company hypocrite? This still remains the matter of debate.

Picture Credits- Twitter

Feature Picture- YouTube.com, msn.com

Text- GirlStyle IN