Healthy food, slowly taking over menus

While gyms are introducing new facilities to keep up with fitness spree of Delhiites, the food industry also seems to have joined the league. Numerous restaurants and cafes in the capital are now limiting their menu to only nutritious and healthy food.

Raw King, Salad Days, Juice Up, Nutritious Nation, Biker’s Cafe, Beast Feast, Fruit Inbox, Lean Body Meals and Rawleaf are some of the recently opened food joints in the city that serve only nutritious food. 

“People are increasingly looking forward to have healthier options to have food on the go. We had Subway, which doesn’t provide entirely healthy food, but people got tired of it. So I decided to have a food chain which provides food with no processed ingredients,” Sagar Kumar, owner of Nutritious Nation, tells Metrolife.

At the Nutritious Nation’s kitchen, Kumar makes sure that seven ingredients, namely mayonnaise, cheese, maida, sugar, refined oil, butter and deep frying are completely off the table. Also, other basic ingredients like bread and burgers buns are replaced by multi-grain breads and whole-wheat burger buns.

“All our food items come with a proper calorie chart  attached to it. We make sure to stick to our core beliefs  and never to get into serving pseudo-healthy food or desserts on the menu,” adds Kumar.

The Greater Kailash outlet of Nutritious Nation had as many as 50,000 orders in the first year, he reports. People are now opening to up to food joints which are serving only healthy food, he says.

Another restaurant with a similar plan is Magic Potion, which is soon to open in south campus of the Delhi University. However, along with a menu highlighting only healthy food, they will also provide 20 per cent of ‘cheat code’ food to offer a break from the diet.

“We expect college students to be a major part of the footfall and hence we knew that we had to introduce something that they find inviting,” says Ashwini Walia, owner, Magic Potion.

“We would want people to follow a strict routine for six days and then take a break with our cheat codes on the seventh day. Our beverages will have interesting combination of fruits and vegetables, like beet root and celery juices which will, perhaps be, the first ones in the market,” adds Walia saying that their offerings will force people to believe that healthy food is not boring and is tasty.

Both Walia and Kumar feel that this food trend is currently at a very nascent stage and is gaining popularity. Attempting to provide the same at comparatively lower prices is Naman Kukreja, owner of Beast Feast, a take away and home delivery food joint in Kailash Colony.

“Earlier when I was working out, I wanted to follow a strict diet, which eventually became very difficult in terms of having healthy dishes every day. Given that about 10 per cent of the population works out and the number of restaurants providing only healthy food are comparatively less, I decided to open a separate kitchen that serves good quality food at reasonable price,” says Kukreja.

Dishes like Double Chicken Burger, BBQ Fish and Egg Wrap and a range of pizzas are some of the attractions of Beast Feast menu. All of them are prepared with whole wheat bread and low fat cheese.

Also joining the nutritious-food-only parade is Fitness Palate in Kalkaji, owned by Praveen Ashok. While agreeing that one can have healthy food at home, he mentions that it gets difficult for the working population to collect all ingredients and variants that are included in their diet charts.

“About 70 to 80 per cent of the working population wants to eat healthy, but are unable to do so because of lack of time. So I wanted to provide a one-stop-package for all fitness enthusiasts where I have a variety of options for breakfast, lunch and dinner,” says Ashok.