Blurb:

Climate change and industrial meat production position vegetarianism and veganism as potential regulatory frameworks for lower-carbon ethical living. However, the meanings of vegetarianism, veganism, and meat are culturally specific and often fraught with racial, religious, sectarian, and gendered tensions. This paper explores vegetarianism, veganism, and meat-eating as cultural signifiers in South Africa and India. I examine how these diets manifest in two climate fictions – Leila by Prayaag Akbar and Nineveh by Henritetta Rose-Innes – in dialogue with a 2002 anti-Muslim pogrom in Gujarat and a 2015 controversy at the University of Cape Town over banning animal products.