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Lithuanian army to serve vegetarian food for military conscripts after complaint lodged

Xinhua, January 15, 2016 Adjust font size:

Lithuania's conscript army is to accommodate soldiers with special eating needs following a complaint that religious customs could not be adhered to under the current meal plan, the Baltic country's minister of defense Juozas Olekas said on Thursday.

According to Olekas, the Lithuanian army's chief commander had already signed an order foreseeing serving vegetarian food to conscript soldiers. However, it would be ineffective to serve vegetarian food in all places of military service, as very few soldiers would need this exception.

"In the future, apparently, we will have more clear needs as vegetarianism consists of different features, therefore, probably we will locate this vegetarian canteen and soldiers in one place," Olekas was quoted as saying by ELTA news agency after a governmental meeting on Thursday.

"After decisions about military serving places are made, those with special eating needs or beliefs might choose to serve in those particularly adapted places," the minister explained.

Olekas also said consultations with the health ministry were in progress in order to ensure the specially-requested food met nutrition requirements.

Local website 15min.lt reported earlier that the Lithuanian army decided to serve vegetarian food to soldiers after representatives of a local Krishna movement submitted a complaint to the Office of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson claiming that conscripts' rights to freedom of religious practice or belief could be affected by not providing suitable nutrition.

"There will be soldiers practicing the Krishna Consciousness movement which is based on a few obligatory principles. One of them is the non-violence principle, which foresees vegetarian nutrition, without meat, fish or eggs," authors of the complaint explained.

Lithuania's parliament restored the mandatory nine-month-long military service last March in response to the changing geopolitical situation and threats to the state's security. Endit