A wholesome bite

Legend has it that the word ‘idli’ first appeared as ‘idlika’ in Kannada writer Shivakodi Acharyan’s work way back in 920 AD. ‘Idlis’ aren’t just one of India’s favourite staple foods; they’re also steamed superfoods, packed with nutrition and are a great source of carbohydrates and proteins.

Today, 1,000 years after the term ‘idli’ came into being, iD Fresh Food celebrated ‘World Idli Day’ as a tribute to this humble wonder dish. And what better way to celebrate than to serve ‘idli’ lovers their favourite snack. The iD ‘idli’ wagon, a fully functional food truck, went all around the city distributing steaming hot, all-natural iD ‘idlis’ prepared on the spot. The ‘idlis’ were on the house — a treat from iD to ‘idli’ lovers in the city.

After the enthusiastic response on ground, iD plans to introduce the iD ‘idli’ wagon to other cities like Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai.The company is also doing some research and development on various kinds of ‘idlis’ to be launched this year. “The ‘idli’ wagon is a unique and one-of-a-kind concept. On ‘World Idli Day’, we wanted to promote the most nutritious breakfast to consumers outside prominent stores and high street locations in the city. The ‘idli’ wagon travelled serving ‘idlis’ across 16 locations in a day and served this superfood which is so dear to Indians. We have also launched the popular Udupi style rice ‘rava idli’ batter in the market,” said Mithun Appaiah, vice-president, iD Fresh Food.

“In today’s era of globalisation, the food habits of people in India have gone through a drastic change. Western foods, especially breakfast items like cereals, muesli and oats, have taken over the breakfast table. Authentic and healthy Indian breakfast items like ‘idlis’, ‘dosas’ and ‘chapati’ are the right kind of food needed for a healthy balanced living.

The idea of the activity on ‘World Idli Day’ was to pay our tribute to the humble yet powerful food that we all love,” added Musthafa P C, CEO, co-founder of iD Fresh Food. iD was founded in the year 2005 with ‘idli’ and ‘dosa’ batter and has since gone on to diversify their product offerings by introducing ‘Malabar parota’, ‘wheat parota’, ‘chapati’, ‘Udupi style batter’, ‘natural paneer’ and ‘natural curd’.