Jain food is a specific set of rules, not just "extra veg"
A lot of vendors label a dish "Jain" simply because it has no meat, which misses the point entirely. Proper Jain food avoids onion and garlic, and it also avoids root vegetables — potato, carrot, radish, beetroot and the like — because harvesting them is understood to harm more living organisms in the soil than picking fruit or above-ground vegetables does. For someone who follows this strictly, a "Jain thali" that's secretly got potato in the sabzi isn't a small slip-up. It matters.
Why this is hard to get right on a train
Pantry cars cook in bulk, usually from a fixed menu, and cross-contamination is common — the same pan, the same masala base, the same serving spoon touching multiple dishes. Even well-meaning vendors sometimes just don't have a separate prep station for Jain orders. That's the gap e-catering from a dedicated local kitchen can fill, because the meal is cooked to order rather than scooped from a shared pot that's been simmering since morning.
What to look for when you order
- Ask directly — a good vendor will tell you plainly whether onion, garlic and root vegetables are used anywhere in that dish, not just in the "Jain thali" item.
- Separate preparation — ideally the Jain order is cooked in its own pan, not just plated from the regular vegetarian dish with the onion picked out.
- Consistency — if you've ordered from the same vendor before and it tasted right, that's often a better signal than any label on a menu.
What a typical Jain meal from Abu Road looks like
At Agarwal Rabdiwala, our Jain thali is built around dal, a seasonal vegetable sabzi made without onion, garlic or root vegetables, roti, rice, a small salad, and usually a sweet — all cooked fresh, close to your train's expected arrival time rather than sitting pre-made for hours. Coach and seat delivery works exactly the same way as our regular orders: PNR in, food handed to you at your seat when the train halts at Abu Road.
A note for families travelling together
It's common for one or two people in a travelling group to follow Jain food while the rest don't — you don't need everyone on the same order. Most vendors, us included, are used to mixed orders on a single PNR: a couple of Jain thalis alongside regular ones, delivered together to the same coach.