Healthy Food Trends Set To Overtake The Indian Culinary Space - BW Businessworld

The everlasting reign of food movements brings about a new drift across the F&B landscape time and again. A nation that is home to 1.3 billion consumers is slowly yet progressively becoming conscious of its consumption and the impact of its consumption on the environment. This awareness and the need to lead a healthy lifestyle have induced various food trends that essentially focus on eating well for your mind and body. These trends run deeper into the realm of wholesome nutrition and are not just superficial vanity-led fads that are bound to fade away quickly.

Here are some trends that have already caught pace and seem likely to dominate the culinary industry in the future:

Bring live old flavours

People are going back to the basic. Home-cooked food and grandma’s age old ingredients are capturing restaurant menus. “To stay healthy and fit, eat what your grandmother ate” is an advice we often hear from nutritionists and health experts. A new-found love for heritage millets and old-world recipes is making its way back into home kitchens. Blame it on the rise of lifestyle diseases or our fondness for all things traditional, but millets like jowar and bajra will replace all-purpose flour in cakes, cookies, muffins and crackers.

Fermentation and Pickling

From fermented chocolate, beer and cheese to vegetables and vegetable leaves, there is a clear inclination towards natural ways of preserving ingredients. The ancient methods not only offer striking flavours, they also bring in a much-needed dose of good bacteria into your system. Apart from its probiotic benefits, fermented foods are also known to be low-slung in calories, thus making for a healthier choice.

Microgreens

Microgreens have become weighty ingredients for chefs and inhabit a prime spot in fine-dining kitchens. The trend is a lot about adding a great amount of nutritional value to food, and it comes with a bonus of enhancing aesthetics too. That being said, these microgreens have intense flavours and are capable of enriching an otherwise mediocre dish.

Researchers have found that the minis are forty fold more concentrated with nutrients than fully grown veggies. While sprouts contain proteins, other varieties of microgreens like young radish, has vitamin C. Red cabbage leaves have vitamin C and K and cilantro has lutein and beta-carotene. Also, young broccoli is packed with sulforaphane, a compound that is said to inhibit cancer activity in cells.

Eating Root to Fruit

As the food crisis across the world intensifies, innovative chefs continue their drive to reduce food waste by using every bit of a vegetable. It’s about making the most of the entire plant and also about conscious cooking. Don’t be surprised if you see dishes that have melon skins or cauliflower and broccoli stems on restaurant menus.

As a nation, India continues to improve on all indices of health such as quality and longevity of life. Indians are living better, longer and have healthier life spans. Although consumers are time constrained due to hectic work schedules, they are certainly looking for avenues to build and maintain a healthy life style one of which is proactively choosing the right food products to meet their diet and health goals.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article above are those of the authors' and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of this publishing house. Unless otherwise noted, the author is writing in his/her personal capacity. They are not intended and should not be thought to represent official ideas, attitudes, or policies of any agency or institution.

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