In India, what is with being different from anything west?

Yesterday I was having ice cream at BR and couldn't help but overhear ( more like just listen because of the volume) a conversation between a foreigner guy and a millennial Indian (male). The foreigner looked like a bag packer who wanted to have a conversation while finishing his ice cream. They were having a discussion on eating habits and the Indian guy kept pushing the narrative-we Indians don't eat junk food, in India you don't see people eating pizza in morning we eat paratha and it is fresh, in India we don't consume food with preservatives. Hl, he went to the extent that we don't even eat fried food. The foreigner kind of called him out on how he was exaggerating about fried food and he said he has seen Indians eating lot of fried street food. The Indian guy all glorified how a woman told him she is okay cooking for hours because she is not eating food with any preservatives. And the other guy started laughing and moved to next point. It was shocking how an Indian millennial was holding and more so pushing a not so true narrative to separate himself from 'the western culture'. More surprising was he was a millennial not in his 50s or 60s that he isn't aware what is it to live in 2025 India. My question is-why are people still pushing this narrative which is not even rampant and true anymore?