Spy-cing on the Cake!
The word ‘Spice’ is very synonymous with us Indians. We associate spice with food and lifestyle, words and stories. ‘Meetha’, ‘namkeen’, ‘chatpata’ and ‘theekha tadka’ do the talking in the way we Indians are. From mixtures of masalas we use in our cuisines to the daily gossips and news in our storytelling and conversations-have it all. Indian curries popular globally have been successful to cater to international tastebuds.
With instant ready-to-cook, heat and eat powders, gravies and pastes, life has become much more easier than the time-consuming grinding processes. At the end, it’s the aroma and taste that matters. With a lot of health values seeping in today’s world, ‘multi-grain’ breakfast cereals, sugar-free beverages and light snack crackers are best-sellers for a healthy, tasty diet.
Claiming to be healthy and at the same time, maintain the Indian spice is a constant struggle of how to combine taste and health. Kelloggs after a its initial brand failure in the market, made flavours and friendly variants to keep the competition going. Health and nutrition for family breakfast has been chased by MTR, Britannia, Pepsico & Dabur. We all want to be fit and healthy, be it Yoga, gymming, exercises, aerobics or dance.
Eating-out options included McDonalds’ & KFC fighting with the combination of bland vs. spicy variants. Lays, Kurkure, Bingo & Parle chips have most of their variants spiced up with chilli masala. Hot garlic dips have been one of the favourites of the youth. Health is a matter of status and concern, but variety is the spice of life, and that can’t be replaced with anything. Eating out is once a while, and there’s no compromise on get-togethers with folks. But with the amount of increasing awareness on wellness and the amount of stress and sickness, avoiding the spice is fine as long as we have the required nutrients in our daily meals.
A trend of just because everyone’s doing it and we too know and follow the same. A spicy Indian heart with the mindset of health as being important, is a constant debate as to what one should follow. Health related products like green teas are way too expensive to have it daily, so a vada-pav once a while can drive away my hunger. Not biscuits or chips, I can’t starve.
Pricing plays an important role here. Road-side food is cheaper and quicker than the high-priced value meals which are healthy. Indian mentality of relishing the food, lip-smacking chutney, achar and sauces, adding salt, chilli flakes, actually hogging on as if there’s no embarrassment. It’s my way of eating. That’s why international brands have localized flavours in pizzas and noodles that seem Indian-like.
News coverages, movies, fashion and lifestyle, and every little Indianised way of doing things and displaying them with pride is all spiced up. We all complain, yet we love it that way.
Now with all our festive mithais, cakes, chocolates are left to be spiced up. Adding innovative masalas that makes us guess the taste-like Maggi and influence of the next-door aunties that want to know all that happens in other Indian households. From kitty aprties to conferences, boardroom meeting to the inside bedroom stories would not be interesting, if not spiced up like food. That’s food for the heart, mind and soul. So, cheers with spicy beverages, meals and desserts, what else is left in us Indians, if it’s not the spice to spruce up life to be lived and talked about. Even cell-phones have been named as ‘Spice’, and it continues to do the talking. Truly, a spy-cing on the cake. I can have it and eat it, too. Spice hazam hai!
With instant ready-to-cook, heat and eat powders, gravies and pastes, life has become much more easier than the time-consuming grinding processes. At the end, it’s the aroma and taste that matters. With a lot of health values seeping in today’s world, ‘multi-grain’ breakfast cereals, sugar-free beverages and light snack crackers are best-sellers for a healthy, tasty diet.
Claiming to be healthy and at the same time, maintain the Indian spice is a constant struggle of how to combine taste and health. Kelloggs after a its initial brand failure in the market, made flavours and friendly variants to keep the competition going. Health and nutrition for family breakfast has been chased by MTR, Britannia, Pepsico & Dabur. We all want to be fit and healthy, be it Yoga, gymming, exercises, aerobics or dance.
Eating-out options included McDonalds’ & KFC fighting with the combination of bland vs. spicy variants. Lays, Kurkure, Bingo & Parle chips have most of their variants spiced up with chilli masala. Hot garlic dips have been one of the favourites of the youth. Health is a matter of status and concern, but variety is the spice of life, and that can’t be replaced with anything. Eating out is once a while, and there’s no compromise on get-togethers with folks. But with the amount of increasing awareness on wellness and the amount of stress and sickness, avoiding the spice is fine as long as we have the required nutrients in our daily meals.
A trend of just because everyone’s doing it and we too know and follow the same. A spicy Indian heart with the mindset of health as being important, is a constant debate as to what one should follow. Health related products like green teas are way too expensive to have it daily, so a vada-pav once a while can drive away my hunger. Not biscuits or chips, I can’t starve.
Pricing plays an important role here. Road-side food is cheaper and quicker than the high-priced value meals which are healthy. Indian mentality of relishing the food, lip-smacking chutney, achar and sauces, adding salt, chilli flakes, actually hogging on as if there’s no embarrassment. It’s my way of eating. That’s why international brands have localized flavours in pizzas and noodles that seem Indian-like.
News coverages, movies, fashion and lifestyle, and every little Indianised way of doing things and displaying them with pride is all spiced up. We all complain, yet we love it that way.
Now with all our festive mithais, cakes, chocolates are left to be spiced up. Adding innovative masalas that makes us guess the taste-like Maggi and influence of the next-door aunties that want to know all that happens in other Indian households. From kitty aprties to conferences, boardroom meeting to the inside bedroom stories would not be interesting, if not spiced up like food. That’s food for the heart, mind and soul. So, cheers with spicy beverages, meals and desserts, what else is left in us Indians, if it’s not the spice to spruce up life to be lived and talked about. Even cell-phones have been named as ‘Spice’, and it continues to do the talking. Truly, a spy-cing on the cake. I can have it and eat it, too. Spice hazam hai!
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