Although many Hindus can and do eat meat, Hinduism generally frowns on it. Meat is considered impure, and a worldly attachment best avoided. Of the four Hindu castes, the highest caste- the Brahmins- don't eat meat, or drink alcohol, or smoke cigarettes at all. In Hindu temples and in the food offered to gods, meat is never served. Plenty of people, depending on what traditions they follow, don't eat meat on either Mondays or Tuesdays, and don't eat meat during the Hindu holy month of Shraavana. In holy places- like Guruvayoor that I went to in Kerala, in the whole town meat will not be served. Then there are even ethnic groups- like Gujaratis- where every caste does not eat meat. Still, there are plenty more people who simply decide to live their life without meat, because in India it's quite possible.
Most resturants clearly show in their name either "Veg and Non Veg" or "Pure Veg". If a resturant does not have either of these labels, then it's assumed to be pure veg. Every packaged food, from big cakes to tiny little packets of ketchup at McDonalds is clearly labeled with either a big brown dot or big green dot to indicate Veg or Non Veg. Someone told me before I came, that the McDonalds in third world countries have better fries than in the US because they use real animal grease and good quality animal fat. This may true in other countries, but this is definitely not the case here, since everything that can be vegetarian is. In McDonalds for instance, burgers come in four kinds: chicken, paneer, aloo (potato), and vegetable mix. Even in KFC, half of the menu options are veg!
And still we haven't even come to the fact that if you do want to eat some steak you're outta luck. Beef eating is strictly prohibited in Hindu religion. There's nowhere in India where you can safely eat a cow. Some people have actually thought I was just making stuff up when I've said that in the U.S. People eat cow- arre so gross! In Kerala I got to eat beef and was so happy until I tasted it and found out it was water buffalo. Thanks to Muslim prohibitions on eating pork, most places will never offer pork (Muslims here will refuse to go into a resturant that serves pork, just as some Orthodox Hindu Brahmins will refuse to go into any resturant that serves any meat). And still, there are other religions like Jains who not only refuse to eat meat, they also refuse to eat any vegetable grown underground (such as potato or onion).
One of my favorite words or phrases to pick up in India are 'Veg Jokes' and 'Nonveg Jokes'. Any joke you can't tell to someone like your parents because it's got anything sexual, overtly political, violent, and anything else sketchy is a 'Nonveg Joke', and the opposite of that is a 'Veg Joke'. The kind of ridiculously overly poltical correct jokes that aren't funny, are 'Pure Veg Jokes'. I heard many Indians say that they love "English serials because of their Nonveg jokes" (Serial means sitcom, and any movie or TV show that is called English is not necessarily in English but is foreign made).
But of course the biggest thing about meat in in India is that most people- even ones who are entirely nonveg eat meat maybe once or twice a week. But that's actually much more possible in India, where the quality of veg food is so much better! Even though I do love meat, I love indian food for its spices and flavors! It's got a lot of strong flavors to offer- not just spicyness too. Indian sweets are some of the best- and Indian sour pickles are amazing.
Master Chef USA is popular here, though not as as much as Master Chef Australia. Master Chef India (in both Hindi and English) recently started and as far as I'm aware it's the first Master Chef to be pure veg.
Bust this all may be changing. Globalization and more and more of my classmates not being so religious as their parents means more and more people eating meat. The growth of the Christian community (who are in copying a lot of western lifestyles) in India means that now there is a growing community of people who eat meat daily. And as more and more people who previously couldn't afford to meat and starting to be able to buy meat, meat eating is becoming less of a rare occurrence.
