When the going is not good financially, the world gets fatter — has been a finding in the US. The reason is not hard to find: With less money to spend, jobs on the line, and fears of loss, people cut back on healthier but more expensive options; fresh fish, fruits and veggies. Instead, they snack on easily-available carbs and sugars with empty calories, nutritionally deficient but much cheaper.
So, it was no surprise to read this week that McDonald’s had recorded a profit despite the recession — and that its “happy” or value meals had boosted profits by more than 7 per cent. The world is happy buying cheap burgers, and obesity (and health risks) may rise if the financial situation does not improve soon.
In India, on the other hand, this connection between (relative) poverty and unhealthy eating does not follow the Western paradigm. For one, McDeez or other burgers are not exactly “cheap” by the Indian Everyman’s standards. For the minimum Rs 20-30 that you’d spend on a happy meal here, it is possible to buy yourself a more substantial meal: A dabba, in Mumbai, of almost-home-cooked food, a plate of rajma-rice or idli-sambhar. Besides, each region, even each locality, has a mind-boggling array of “fast food”, not all of which is unhealthy like a samosa. Luckily for us in India, good or at least wholesome food need not always be more expensive.
Which is why it is such a pity that we, as a nation, are looking at unhealthier options — not out of economic necessity but as a symbol of our “advancement”. My cook, for instance, an ambitious lady with four young kids, no longer digs the sattu parathas or saag roti of her growing up years. Yes, she makes these for us — as “treats”. But for her own children, she has learnt to rustle up a quick pasta for their Sunday meal, assembled from the maida-Penne now so easily available at the local grocer’s, and packaged tomato puree, with a dash of chaat masala. But it is not to the latter that I object. It is no use explaining why dal-chawal may be infinitely better.
But unhealthy aspirational eating is hardly limited to a certain class. We’ve all ordered pizzas when cooking a fresh meal seemed too much like a chore and everyone who is a harried working-class, self-sustaining individual has, no doubt, indulged in the convenience of packaged products — from rustling up soups out of packets to butter chicken gravies to, lately, even Manchurian. (Ching’s, Knorr and other such brands have come out with packs of “Chinese” sauce mixes that you only need to blend in water and heat; the base for all these is cornflour, that staple of Indian-Chinese). To dream of our own Marks & Spencer is fine but is it really necessary to become a microwave-dependent nation?
Unlike in the US, where cheap burgers are scoring, in Britain, says a visiting chef, one of the healthier fallouts of recession has been “fakeaways”. The term came into being when Sainsbury’s reported last year on increased sale of plastic lunch boxes. Apparently, shoppers are trying to survive the credit crunch by making their own meals (from leftovers at home) rather than buying sandwiches or ordering takeaways. Unfortunately, in India, where cooking has survived till now, I can only spot the opposite trend.
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But recession or not, nothing to my mind is more alarming than the well-heeled Indian exulting at the expensive, imported ingredients increasingly available in our trendier restaurants. Their availability is going to be a big trend in 2009 (much as it was in 2008), we’ve been told. But should you subscribe to it?
While tuna belly or salmon or New Zealand lamb chops (despite the red meat) may not be “unhealthy”, they do take up carbon miles. All wannabe gourmets who like to wax on their merits would do well to also remember the astounding diversity of our own local produce and cuisines, whose smells and flavours remain unmatched. Try to find out the number of sambhars in the country first, or the varieties of rajmas.