Growing reliance on processed and fast foods will lead to severe problems going forward
The huge outcry by fans of the American fast-food chain McDonald’s when they shut their stores in northern and eastern India following a dispute with the local franchisee was remarkable. While tears are often shed when a particular favourite restaurant shutters its doors for the last time, the massive outcry in this case not only highlighted how important social media had become to the discussion but how central McDonald’s had become to the lives of middle class urban Indians in the 20 years since it started operations. Traditionalists lament at the rise of Western fast-food chains across the country, it appears that even Indian ‘fast-food’ is borrowing from Western concepts. Characterless outlets, with bright plastic tables and chairs, uniformed staff and seemingly hygienic kitchen, are multiplying across the country. In the past few years, despite the fact that chains do not serve beef in India, which is their mainstay everywhere else in the world, all sorts of major global fast-food chains have landed in India — Carls Jr, Burger King, Taco Bell and Wendy’s. India is seen as the next big frontier for fast food. This is because the economically growing middle classes, hundreds of millions strong, who can afford ‘happy price’ meals and what not, see such chains as ‘cool’, going to eat there is a sign of having arrived. Also, the spotless clean and Westernised interiors appeal to economically empowered youth.
Yet, what is the cost of such progressIJ While Indians across regions have always had a fondness for fried foods and sweets, Western processed foods pose a challenge to our metabolisms. This is not to say that the roadside samosa or vada is any day healthier than processed french fries, but the high sugar content in many processed foods and the increasing propensity with which Indian youth are consuming such foods will lead to problems later. Indians, on the whole, already have a genetic predisposition towards heart disease and Type-II diabetes. An unhealthy lifestyle led in the pursuit of being cool will only make matters worse. Some might say that such places ought to be banned, but banning is no solution, education is. Young Indians in cities have becoming accustomed to having a burger much like their parents had a ‘Vada pav’. To this end, even fast-food chains, whether they are Indian or multinational, must take steps to provide more nutritional information in their restaurants. Educational institutions and parents should also take a bigger interest in what children are consuming and no excuses should be made for them being children. The child or young adult who drinks a bottle of carbonated sugary drinks every day is more likely to get diabetes and take a lifetime of medicines than the child who does not. Across the Western world, fast-food chains have adapted by offering ‘healthy’ menus, in India the adaptation has been towards a more vegetarian menu, but maybe it is time for our fast-food habits to get a bit healthier.