This incident happened a few years ago. A little neighbor of mine had come to keep me company, on a Sunday morning when I was apparently alone in the house. It was morning time and I had barely finished my breakfast on a sandwich. She declared that she was hungry because she had decided to visit me almost as soon as she woke up and she had not had her breakfast. I offered to make a sandwich for her. She said No. I offered her a variety of things, fruits, poha, biscuits, khakra, cake, milk shake etc. she said no to everything. Finally she said, 'If you have Maggi, please make Maggi, I have not had anything since morning.' Although reluctant to give her Maggi for breakfast and the fact that there was no Maggi in my kitchen shelf, I still walked up to a nearby shop to buy Maggi and cook it for her. A hungry child's dismal face can make you do that.
Later I found that there was a ration on Maggi in her house, and the consumption was limited to once in a week rule laid out by her wise grandmother. She had already consumed her quota of Maggi in the week and there was no way she could get more. And thus, this intelligent child had thought of a plan and had executed it most effectively, interlining some drama and emotional black-mail into it. With a glint in her eye, she said, after she had finished her Maggi, 'Grandmom says that if I eat more Maggi, than it is once in a week, the noodles will get entangled in my stomach and it will ache badly, but I have chewed them so well that they will not get entangled.'
There were times when Maggi was not a part of our lives. This entanglement with Maggi happened rather quickly making it a 2000 crore brand in India. To think of 2000 crore worth of money spent in creating a health hazard is horrific. The value of a food item becoming a 2000 crore brand comes from the fact that it has become an essential part of the Indian Dining Table. There are not too many 2000 crore brands in India among food items. It is also a fact that there have been many people around us, like my little neighbour's wise grandmother who have been cautioning against the possible health hazard caused by Maggi. Greater Common Wisdom receded in the case of Maggi, and gradually gave way to irrational, emulous, consumerism of modern living.
Later I found that there was a ration on Maggi in her house, and the consumption was limited to once in a week rule laid out by her wise grandmother. She had already consumed her quota of Maggi in the week and there was no way she could get more. And thus, this intelligent child had thought of a plan and had executed it most effectively, interlining some drama and emotional black-mail into it. With a glint in her eye, she said, after she had finished her Maggi, 'Grandmom says that if I eat more Maggi, than it is once in a week, the noodles will get entangled in my stomach and it will ache badly, but I have chewed them so well that they will not get entangled.'
There were times when Maggi was not a part of our lives. This entanglement with Maggi happened rather quickly making it a 2000 crore brand in India. To think of 2000 crore worth of money spent in creating a health hazard is horrific. The value of a food item becoming a 2000 crore brand comes from the fact that it has become an essential part of the Indian Dining Table. There are not too many 2000 crore brands in India among food items. It is also a fact that there have been many people around us, like my little neighbour's wise grandmother who have been cautioning against the possible health hazard caused by Maggi. Greater Common Wisdom receded in the case of Maggi, and gradually gave way to irrational, emulous, consumerism of modern living.
Maggi lead scare has forced many packaged food manufacturers to conduct food tests. Packaged food market is around Rs. 8000 crore in India. According to an analysis done by Tata Strategic Management Group (TSMG) in 2006 the ready-to-eat (RTE) market in India, was expected to expand to reach Rs. 2,900 crore by 2015. AC Nielsen estimates the Indian RTE market growth slowed from 44.9% in 2010 to 28.1% in 2011, reaching INR 506 crore. According to Raju Bhinge, CEO, Tata Strategic Management Group, “There is a huge untapped market opportunity arising due to rapid demographic shifts in income, urbanisation, and proportion of urban working women in India. The industry needs to concentrate on broadening the market and increasing penetration amongst Indian consumers.”
The reasons given for the rise in packaged food and RTE markets are lifestyles getting busier, rising disposable incomes and increasing number of women becoming a part of the workforce. Propensity for frequent substitution of traditional meals with ready to eat meals was estimated by A C Nielson for various countries, the results showed that Asians are fast changing their eating and cooking habits.
India does not feature in this list of Asian countries, yet. Indians traditionally abhor ready to eat or packaged food. An idea of fine dining in India is about a freshly cooked food served hot. Greater Common wisdom has put checks in India over a picking trend of ready to eat foods. A disbelief in the ability of the authority to keep a vigil on quality has been another reason why Indians remain apprehensive about consuming ready to eat or packaged foods. Indian consumers are reluctant to believe in the safety of a ready to eat food supplied to them by a temperature controlled supply chain, so far.
However, it is a fact that lifestyle is becoming fast in Indian cities and more and more women are spending more time out of the house.
