A 2019 report on snacking said that the average Indian adult now eats more snacks than meals, and as uncertainty loomed due to the pandemic, we turned to snacks to assuage some of our growing concerns.
As published in The News Minute on August 19, 2021.
It is 5.30 pm on a Friday and the ‘Cooking From The Soul’ team, a group of home chefs in an apartment complex in Bengaluru, have finally put down their aprons. On the day’s menu is Dabeli, and Deepti Aggarwal, Pooja Beria and Vasudha Goyal have carefully assembled buttered pav stuffed with a tangy and spicy peanut–potato mix. The dish is topped with some spices, pomegranate seeds, sev, onions and contrasting sweet and spicy chutneys, heightening the medley of flavours.
Orders have been placed through a WhatsApp group, and over the next hour, their friends, neighbours and other members in their society are informed that their freshly made Dabeli is ready for pick up. Residents stream in one by one, and soon head out with their containers carrying the best antidote for the hunger pangs that creep in from nowhere on Friday evenings.
If this routine sounds familiar to you, then you are not alone. You may not be seeking fresh snacks from a kitchen a few blocks away, but you are definitely seeking it from somewhere. In 2019, Mondelēz International released its first- ever state of snacking report exploring the rise of snacking in India. The report stated that an average Indian adult now eats more snacks than meals. In fact, this is a global phenomenon as seen by the 2020 Global Consumer Snacking Trends Study by Mondelēz. The report revealed that 9 in 10 global adults increased their snack consumption during the pandemic and snacking will continue to be a part of the ‘new normal’. As uncertainty loomed all around us, we turned to our snacks to assuage some of our growing concerns.
Read the complete story here. –>Healthy nibbles to regional treats: How snacking has changed in India