Bringing Breakfast Back

Amaranth grains,asparagus uttapam and other reasons why the Indian breakfast is making a comeback.

Written by Deepika Nath

April 29, 2011 03:22 AM IST

3 min read

Amaranth grains,asparagus uttapam and other reasons why the Indian breakfast is making a comeback

Jaideep Sippy,now a Pune-based entrepreneur took a flight almost everyday in 2008-09. He was a trained chef but worked instead with luxury brands like Gucci and Louis Vuitton. The job required him to travel constantly,and the hectic pace,airline food,and untimely meals made him sick to the point of hospitalisation. I searched for healthier food options, says Sippy,30,but there was nothing available in the Indian market. So he thought of investing in correct eating. Starting with breakfasts,Sippy began exploring traditional Indian foods with higher nutritional value and fibre content. Barely two years later,he is gearing up for the nation-wide marketing of traditional Indian,healthy,packaged foods. Having launched a wellness company,called The Style Kitchen,he wants to sell a healthy lifestyle under the brand Missisippy. The first product from that brand is Life,a breakfast cereal that was launched in Pune earlier this week. It is made of amaranth grains,seeds and berries to be eaten with milk,juice or yoghurt. Over a period of time,many Indian grains have lost relevance,like amaranth. Our forefathers used it for fasting,when the body needs one meal to compensate for the tremendous physical stress, he explains. One portion size,or 30 grams of amaranth,with your choice of dairy,can serve up to a quarter of your daily requirement, says Sippy.

Skipping breakfast being a habit among many urban Indians,packaged traditional breakfasts like Life can be a saving grace. While the branded breakfast market has been growing in the last few years,it largely consists of junk food. According to a Report On Indian Breakfast Cereal Market,published by Mintel in 2010,the breakfast industry raked in Rs 160 crore in the Indian food market. McDonalds was one of the first to latch on to the trend; it offered a breakfast menu in 2009 with home deliveries starting at 7 am. Select outlets open their shutters as early as 5 am. But no breakfast by any fast food chain has still been able to topple the popularity of the good,old Indian breakfast like that served in South Indian restaurants. Quick-service restaurants like Subway and Barista have breakfast menus but they open only mid-morning. Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks,set to enter India,plan to open as early as 6 am. Thats when the real breakfast wars might swing in.

Clinical nutritionist at Fortis Hospital Nidhi Sarin urges her clients to win the battle before the branded war begins. Unlike most international breakfast cuisines that concentrate heavily on only one food group,the Indian eating pattern is excellent, says Sarin who advises her patients to bring breakfast home. In terms of calorie content,traditional Indian breakfasts are more balanced,she adds,and recommends urad dal adai dosas,rice,rotis,egg vermicelli,mal puris,poha,besan rotis,sabudana khichdi,thepla,along with generous quantities of dairy products. Some five-star hotels in the city seem to agree. The Imperial has unique concoctions like uttapam with asparagus,a bright way to incorporate the great Indian breakfast with foreign ingredients.

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