JOIN USThe whole concept of breakfast-on-the-go really seems to have picked up of late. But it isn’t just the City’s darshinis which are going brisk business with their standard early morning idli-dosa fare. Different fast-food restaurants and popular coffee bar chains have also introduced slightly more pompous breakfast menus, which are touted to be perfect for a quick bite before heading to the workplace.
In most cases, these breakfast menus aren’t much more than a slightly tweaked and glorified version of the food that is served during the rest of the day. At most burger chains, for instance, the items on the morning menu include burgers with fried eggs or subway sandwiches with omelettes and ketchup. At cafes, there might be calzones and croissants, but most of them are the stale leftovers from a batch that came out of the oven the previous day. Janhavi, a market analyst, admits that fast-food chains are a convenient option for many. She shares an apartment in Electronic City with a roommate and neither of them has the time to make breakfast in the morning. “So, when the branch of a popular burger chain near our home introduced its breakfast menu, we thought it was a great idea,” she explains, adding that both of them used to drop in for coffee and a quick bite on the way to work. “We used to have our food packed to go and eat it in the cab. But after sometime, we both realised that this wasn’t the healthiest option.
Eating fried food everyday for breakfast doesn’t make sense,” says Janhavi. Sharanya, a professional, adds that the issue with these menus aren’t solely that their unhealthy. “Most fast-food chains are unhealthy — everyone knows that,” she says, flatly, adding, “the problem here is that these menus are marketed as an everyday option. There’s a big difference between eating the occasional meal at a burger chain and having breakfast there everyday. But on the whole, I think that most people understand that. There are very few people who would drop in for some take-out every morning before going to work.”
At cafes, the breakfast options aren’t necessarily unhealthy. But Sudha, an HR professional, points out that the food on offer is often stale. “This might not be the case at individual, small cafes. But at many of the chains, it seems as though the food on offer at breakfast is simply leftover from the previous day’s menu. Bread items like croissants are nearly always stale,” she complains.
The best option, she feels, is to keep breakfast an at-home meal, no matter how hurried one’s mornings are. “It isn’t tough to fix a simple bowl of cereal with nuts and fruit, or a sandwich for breakfast. It makes a lot more sense than eating out everyday,” she states.