A survey by a food delivery service chain reveals that no matter how much we may talk about fusion and experiments, when eating in, we really don’t look beyond 10 eternal favourites
No matter how much one experiments with world platters, when craving digs in, Indians have stayed indigenous as desi dishes topped the list of most ordered food items online.
While pizza (of course, with Indianised toppings) was the most searched dish, biryani topped the list of the most ordered food item. According to a survey, chicken biryani continued to rule the palate this year. However, masala dosa, butter naan, tandoori roti and paneer butter masala rounded off the top five most ordered items of 2017. Though pizza could not find a place in the top five, looks like it has been searched over five lakh times. The other searched items include burger, chicken, cake and momos.
leaving its mark on the calendar, December 3 saw maximum foodies order online. Considering the soaring temperatures during summer, juices and shakes saw a 40 per cent increase in average monthly orders during the months of March, April and May.
The overall order analysis by delivery service Swiggy highlighted India’s love of logging on and dining in across Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai and Pune. The analysis includes meal categories, late-night ordering, snacking, new food trends, desserts, healthy and international cuisine. The major factor of what foodies have gorged on in 2017 depended largely on when they were having their meals.
Quite a clear picture emerged of eating habits. Breakfast is usually ordered at around 9.30 am nationally. Chennai starts its day the earliest by ordering its breakfast at around 9.20 am with some pongal, the most preferred breakfast item in the city. However, masala dosa, idli and vada rule the breakfast menus for most Indians.
For primary meals like lunch and dinner, most people prefer biryanis (chicken, mutton and vegetarian) followed by paneer butter masala and masala dosa, dal makhani and chicken fried rice. While most lunch orders are seen at around 1.15 pm, maximum dinner orders are being placed at 8.58 pm where as Mumbaikars seem to be the last ones at the dinner table. However, the average time for snacks is 5.03 pm. In 2017, Indians munched the most on pav bhaji, French fries, samosas, chicken roll, chicken burger and bhel puri.
But what about the the late night ordersIJ From comfort foods such as chicken biryani, French fries, butter chicken to sweet items like Death by chocolate (chocolate sundae) and Nutella brownie, all are on the list. Delhi ranks the third, after Bengaluru and Hyderabad on late binges.
Sketchy working hours, living alone and laziness are not the reasons why one orders food from outside, rather it has become the in-thing across cities. While most cities had chicken biryani as their most ordered food item, Mumbaikars stuck to ordering their staple – Pav bhaji. The hungriest areas in Mumbai were Bandra West followed by Powai and Andheri West. Delhi and Gurgaon chose to order more of dal makhani and naan, suggesting that local cuisines in each of these regions take precedence. On the other hand, New Delhi also sees the maximum amount of pasta being ordered vis-Ã -vis other cities. The areas that witnessed maximum orders in Delhi and Gurgaon are Janakpuri, Greater Kailash, Dwarka and Cyber City, DlF Phase 4 and Palam Vihar.
Hyderabad is undoubtedly the biryani Capital of India. Biryani orders saw an increase in the months of June and October, possibly owing to the festive season. There were over 20 varieties of biryani that Hyderabadis ordered. The areas that witnessed maximum orders in Hyderabad are Madhapur, Banjara Hills and Kondapur.
Bengaluru foodies prefer south Indian basics for breakfast and chicken biryani for meals. The city ranks second to Hyderabad in ordering the most Chinese dishes such as Manchow soup, noodles and fried rice. Interestingly, Mumbai’s ever-famous vada pav is among the top five most ordered snack items in Bengaluru. Indiranagar, Koramangala and HSR are the areas that witness maximum number of orders.
Most folks from Kolkata prefer to order biryanis and fried rice for their meals and kachoris for breakfast and snacks. During Durga Puja, orders for sweets and desserts rise by eight per cent compared to the other cities. Central Kolkata, South Kolkata and Salt lake are the hungriest areas in the city.
For Chennai foodies, pongal and biryanis sum up the meals. Areas such as Adyar, OMR Perungudi and Alwarpet see maximum foodies ordering in.
Pune prefers dal khichdi over biryani for lunch. They also like to order shakes such as mango, strawberry and chocolate. Areas such as Kothrud, Baner and Viman Nagar see maximum online ordering.
If you are ordering main course, then what about something sweetIJ Desserts like gulab jamun, double ka meetha and rasmalai are ordered on a regular basis. But when it comes to ice-creams, death by chocolate, tender coconut ice cream and brownie fudge sundae are some of the top-picks.
The order analysis suggests desserts are women’s best friends as they tend to order way more than men. The analysis also highlighted that the country’s startup capital, Bengaluru, is big on ice-creams, followed by Hyderabad and Mumbai.
Consumers also made healthy choices. In this category, roasted chicken salad tops the chart, becoming the most ordered choice of food in most cities while Bengaluru stuck to juices. Ironically Hyderabad, the city that consumes most chicken biryani is also the city that orders the most healthy items. Superfood items such as brown rice chicken, chicken oats, momos and oats banana, date smoothies are also gaining popularity. Men between 25 to 34 years contribute the most to healthy food orders.
Further, most cities tend to order more non-vegetarian items than vegetarian. Overall, about 57 per cent of orders were non-vegetarian and 43 per cent vegetarian. While Bengaluru topped the list for highest non-vegetarian orders, Pune is the only city that saw more vegetarian orders.
This year also proved to be the year of Rooster as chicken, by far, is India’s most loved meat — Chicken biryani tops most meals, chicken fried rice tops the list of Asian food items and roasted chicken salad tops the list for healthy food items. After chicken biryani, chicken 65 is the most ordered chicken item nationally. Bengaluru and Chennai love their chicken lollipops, Hyderabad digs into chicken 65, Delhi and Gurgaon love butter chicken while Mumbai and Kolkata stick to roasted chicken sub and chicken momos.
Hyderabad proved quick to jump on to the bowl trend, as it emerged as the bowl capital of India. Other cities like Pune, Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai followed suit. Some of the popular bowls ordered are fruit bowl, Mexican burrito bowl, rajma-chawal bowl, paneer hearty bowl and Manchurian bowl. Indians also see value in ordering combo meals.