While horrified mushroom-sausage-salami pizza-eaters in the city are turning up their noses at the 12,501st restaurant of the world's largest pizza chain, for the regular Gujarati, Pizza Hut's only vegetarian outlet in the world comes as a welcome change.

What started as an unimaginable experiment -- vegetarian pizzas from America's largest pizza chain -- has worked out fine. And from the 350 pizzas they say they are dishing out everyday, it appears that vegetarianism has not only met with the approval of the pizza-eater in Gujarat who is digging into his pre-mixed peanut, celery, pineapple salad with gusto, but has also caught the imagination of the American company credited for starting the pizza craze in the United States way back inNovember, 1957.

``When we first mentioned a vegetarian outlet, the Pizza Hut people were shocked. What brought them around were the surveys done locally and the fact that more and more people in the West are taking up vegetarianism as a food fad,'' says Vipin Sachdeva, restaurant general manager. ``We had to explain to them that people here were squeamish even about eating vegetarian in a place that served non-veg. They did not even want the same crockery and cutlery used for non-vegetarian food. We wanted to respect the beliefs and the religious followings of our customers,'' he explains.

And Amdavadis, who revealed their preferences in surveys conducted by the high-profile Indian Institute of Management a few months back, are digging into their flavoured breads and `Jain pizzas' with considerable delight. `Jain pizzas', incidentally, have no onion, garlic, mushroom or potato.

``According to the surveys IIM did for us, 80 per cent of the population of the city preferred vegetarian meals as a dining outoption. And 37 per cent preferred Jain meals, which means no root vegetables -- onion, garlic or even potatoes -- in the preparation,'' Sachdeva says.

That is the brief on which Dodsal Indmag, the company that sought the Pizza Hut franchise, put in a Rs 3.8 crore investment. And the results have been interesting. ``It is a relief to have a joint where even the smell of meat is not there. The thought that someone on the next table is eating an animal is quite unnerving,'' says businessman Yogesh Shah.