Swiggy reveals that this year, Indians ordered 115 biryanis per minute, samosas equal to the population of New Zealand, and enough tomatoes to play the Spanish Tomatina festival for 11 years. By Team Viva

There is no denying that 2020 has left an indelible mark on the way we lead our lives. While masks, sanitiser and bottles of handwash were still added to carts in 2021, ever-lasting favourites like biryani, samosa and grocery staples like bananas reminded us that things are still somewhat normal. As another year of ups and downs draws to a close, Swiggy’s sixth annual StatEATstics replays what India ordered, ate, and ferried in 2021.

Note: The analysis is based on millions of orders received by Swiggy for food delivery, grocery on Instamart, pick up and drop service  by Swiggy Genie and HealthHub between January and December, 2021.

Their food delivery is present in 500 cities across India.

Top food orders of the year

The most binged snack of the year was the samosa with about five million orders — that’s one Samosa for every New Zealander!

The Desi samosa was ordered six times more than chicken wings. Pav bhaji was India’s second favourite snack with 2.1 million orders.

However, the order history of the night bingers saw a twist. Post 10 pm, India’s night owls looking to satiate their cravings turned to cheese-garlic bread, popcorn, and french fries, more than any other eatables. Chips were the top item ordered then.

The rose-inspired dessert that rose to the top, with a total of 2.1 million orders, was the gulab jamun was the most ordered dessert. On the second position was rasmalai with 1.27 million orders.

India's top dishes in 2021

The mighty Biryani has topped the charts…well, for six years in a row! In 2020, 90 biryanis were ordered per minute and in 2021, India ordered 115 Biryanis per minute, or two (1.91) biryanis per second.

Chicken Biryani is still the queen of our hearts and was ordered 4.3 times more than her humble vegetarian counterpart.

The most common first dish ordered? Over 4.25 lakh new users made their Swiggy debut by ordering a chicken biryani.

Mondays and Thursdays are when India eats the healthiest

While chicken biryani topped the charts in Chennai, Kolkata, Lucknow and Hyderabad, Mumbai ordered double the dal khichidis as compared to chicken biryanis.

Bangalore emerged as the most health-conscious city followed by Hyderabad and Mumbai.

Keto orders grew by 23 per cent, 83 per cent in vegan and plant-based food orders.

Grocery that India wanted

Instamart delivered over 28 million packs of fruits and vegetables alone in 2021. Tomatoes, bananas, onions, potatoes, and green chilies were the top five fruits and veggies delivered in under 30 minutes.

This year, Indians ordered enough tomatoes to play the Tomatina festival in Spain for 11 years!

Talk about going bananas — The total bananas ordered on Instamart outweighed the Statue of Liberty by 2.6 times.

SOS, need it now: Over 70,000 packs of band-aid, 55,000 packs of diapers and three lakh packs of sanitary napkins were delivered in 15-30 minutes.

War against Covid-19 continues: One lakh masks and over four lakh soaps and handwashes were ordered online.

Over 80 per cent of customers opted to pay online, instead of paying by cash on delivery.

Note: Swiggy’s express grocery delivery service Instamart was present in two cities at the beginning of 2021 and is currently present in 18 cities.

Things India ferried in 2021   

Food items approximated 48 per cent of the total Genie orders. Interestingly, over 20,000 of these orders were for pet food.

The long and short of it: The maximum distance travelled by a delivery partner was 55.5 kms to deliver a food package in Bangalore. The shortest distance? To a store 200 meters away from a customer’s doorstep to pick up a tongue cleaner.

Despite a growing inclination towards veganism, Indians continue to enjoy their meat

While Chicken was India’s preferred choice of non-vegetarian food, ready-to-cook meats evolved into the new favourite category in meat this year.

Believe it or not — 2021 edition

Chennai turned out to be the most generous city where a delivery partner was tipped Rs 6,000 for a single order.

Not only did Bangalore top the charts for ordering dosas, dosa batter was also very popularly ordered by people in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai.

A biryani lover in Kolkata made a delivery partner to travel 39.3 kms from home to bring her her favourite mutton biryani!

7-9 pm seemed to be the ‘happy hours’ for food lovers with maximum orders being placed then.

Pan Asian, Indian, and Chinese were the top three cuisines ordered, followed by Mexican and Korean.

 In a single order, a customer in Kolkata ordered 15.4 kgs of Hilsa from Swiggy Meat Stores.