Vegetarian Flatmates in India
Food is the quiet dealbreaker in Indian flatshares. It's the thing nobody asks about properly and the thing people move out over four months later. On Bunkd you filter for it before you ever talk.
Find your flatmate →Why food causes more flatshare fallouts than rent
Rent gets negotiated once. The kitchen gets negotiated every single day. A vegetarian sharing with someone who cooks meat at home isn't a small compromise — it's the smell in the kitchen, the pans, the fridge, and it wears people down.
The reverse is equally true. Plenty of people have moved into a flat, found the kitchen is veg-only by unwritten rule, and quietly resented it for a year.
Neither side is wrong. It just needs settling before anyone moves in, and it almost never is.
What to actually agree on
"Veg-only" means different things to different people. Worth being specific.
Can meat be cooked in the flat at all? Separate pans and utensils, or not at all?
Can non-veg food be stored? Separate shelf, separate container, or no?
Ordering non-veg to eat at home — fine, or the same problem?
Do the rules apply to visitors, or only to the people living there?
Eggetarian is a real category and so is a no-alcohol household. Both worth naming.
Where veg-only flatshares are easiest to find
Availability varies a lot by city and by area, largely along the lines you'd expect.
| City | How easy | Where to look |
|---|---|---|
| Pune | Straightforward | Kothrud, Karve Road, Baner — large Maharashtrian and Gujarati populations |
| Bengaluru | Straightforward | Jayanagar, Basavanagudi, Malleshwaram, parts of BTM |
| Hyderabad | Moderate | Kukatpally, Ameerpet, Miyapur |
| Delhi NCR | Straightforward | Laxmi Nagar, Mukherjee Nagar, parts of Dwarka and Rohini |
| Mumbai | Very easy in some pockets | Ghatkopar, Mulund, Borivali, Kandivali, Malad |
| Haridwar | Default | Most of the city is vegetarian by norm rather than by choice |
In many Mumbai and Gujarat-origin housing societies, veg-only is a building rule rather than a flat preference. Worth knowing that it may not be negotiable regardless of what your flatmates think.
What it actually costs to move in
The rent is the small number. The move-in cost is what catches people out, and it's worth budgeting for properly before you start looking.
| What | Typical |
|---|---|
| First month's rent | One month, up front |
| Security deposit | 1–2 months in Delhi NCR and Uttarakhand, 2–3 in Pune and Hyderabad, 3–6 in Bengaluru, 5–6 in Mumbai |
| Brokerage, if you use one | Usually one month's rent — zero on Bunkd |
| Basics for the room | ₹3,000 – ₹15,000 if it's unfurnished |
Joining an existing flatshare usually means a much smaller deposit than taking a fresh lease, which is the single cheapest way to move. The deposit guide covers what's normal and how to get it back, and the rent split calculator divides rent fairly when the rooms aren't the same size.
How to raise it without it being awkward
People tiptoe around this and it goes badly. Say it plainly in the first message and you filter out the mismatches immediately, which saves everyone time.
"I'm vegetarian and I'd prefer a veg-only kitchen — is that how the flat works?" is a perfectly normal question. If someone reacts badly to being asked, you have learned something useful.
The same goes the other way. If you eat meat and the flat is veg-only, saying so early is fairer to everyone than agreeing and resenting it.
If you're the one who eats non-veg
Worth saying: being non-vegetarian is not a problem to be solved. It just needs matching, the same as sleep schedule or guests.
- Set your food preference honestly rather than leaving it blank. Blank reads as "will explain later" and later is worse.
- Ask specifically whether the restriction is the kitchen, the fridge, or the whole flat. They're different asks.
- In some housing societies veg-only is a building rule, not a flat preference. Your flatmates cannot waive it.
- If you're willing to keep meat out of the kitchen, say so — it opens up a lot more flats than you'd think.
Jain, vegan and eggetarian
Bunkd's food preference covers vegetarian, non-vegetarian, eggetarian, vegan and Jain, so you can be specific rather than approximating.
If you're Jain or vegan, say so explicitly in your profile rather than selecting vegetarian and hoping. The difference matters daily — root vegetables, onion and garlic, dairy — and it's much easier to find someone who already understands than to explain it in month three.
What about PGs and mess food?
Most Indian PGs are vegetarian by default, which makes them the easy option if food is your main constraint. The trade-off is everything else — a bed rather than a room, house rules, and often a gate timing.
If you do go the PG route, ask how many meals are included and see the mess before you commit. "With food" ranges from one meal to three, and the gap between a good mess and a bad one is the difference between eating there for a year and eating out every night, which quietly doubles your monthly cost.
The PG versus flatshare comparison works through the real numbers on both.
How the matching actually works
You set what matters to you, then swipe. Nothing happens until you both swipe right, and chat opens only on a mutual match. Your phone number stays private until you choose to share it.
- Sign up. Phone number, OTP, a photo, your area. Under a minute.
- Set your filters. Sleep schedule, cleanliness, social battery, guests, food, smoking, and your one real dealbreaker.
- Swipe. You see people looking near you who fit what you asked for.
- Match and chat. Mutual right swipe opens a chat inside the app.
- Meet before you commit. Somewhere public first, then the flat.
Every profile is phone-verified, you can block anyone instantly, and reports stay anonymous. The safety guide covers what to check on a first meet.
Common questions
Can I filter for vegetarian flatmates only?
Yes. Food preference is one of the things Bunkd matches on, alongside sleep schedule, cleanliness, guests and smoking. You set it before you start swiping.
Does veg-only mean the kitchen or the whole flat?
That's exactly what to agree on before moving in. Some households mean no cooking meat, some mean nothing in the fridge, some mean no non-veg delivery either. Ask specifically.
Is it harder to find a flat as a vegetarian?
In most Indian cities, no — it's often the default. It's harder in some areas than others, and hardest if you also need Jain or vegan arrangements.
What if my flatmates change their minds later?
Put it in the written agreement alongside rent and notice period. It sounds excessive until it isn't.
Is Bunkd free?
Yes, and there's no brokerage.