Flavours of a new food world
- THE HINDU Ice cream displayed at Bellaria at Chamiers Road in Chennai. Photo: R. Ravindran
- The Hindu Bellaria ice cream palour on Chamiers Road Photo: R. Ravindran
- TerraEarth cake made with organic brown rice
- TerraEarth vegan mixture
- Bread from wholemeal flour
- Meghana of Fresh Baked Goodness
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- Fresh Baked Goodness Cupcakes
- Theobroma, a multi-layered eggless chocolate cake
- Meera Maran
Banana walnut cakes made out of wholemeal flour; cheese
straws made out of vegetarian Cheddar cheese and unbleached white flour;
ice creams made from soy milk or coconut milk; vegetarian cakes made
with bananas and apple sauce, instead of eggs; vegan ladoos and mixture…
there are organic, vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free substitutes for
everything. ANUSHA PARTHASARATHY meets the people behind a few start-ups
who have taken the preparation of such foods to an all-new level.
Terra Earthfood:
Brown
rice murukku, gluten-free cakes, buckwheat pancake mix, thinai ribbon
pakoda and vegan cinnamon cookies are just the beginning of a wide range
of confectioneries and Indian snacks that Meera Maran makes.
“The
fundamental principle is to take things from the earth as it gives them
to you,” she says, “unprocessed, unrefined, unpolished.” An architect
by profession, Meera began experimenting with gluten-free products after
she discovered that her daughter had an allergy.
“We
went gluten-free, sugar-free and milk-free. Once you remove this, you
remove all the junk from your body,” she explains. “When my daughter
wanted snacks, I began making ‘wholesome junk food’. And after years of
making gluten-free cookies and pizzas for her, and studying at a
culinary institute in the U.S., we came back and became a one-point
source for allergen-free food for our neighbours, family and friends.”
They
expanded from cupcakes, cakes and cookies to Indian snacks, making use
of organic millets instead of rice. Terra foods uses Himalayan salt,
cold-pressed oils, organic ghee, real fruit pulp and extract, and does
not compromise on the ingredients. “We make everything as organic as
possible. This way, we not only create awareness about healthy food but
also make it attractive. We also make idli and dosa batter with millets
and have a range of vegan ice creams. Since we use actual fruit in some
of our products, we are seasonal as well,” she adds.
Visit their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/TerraEarthFood.
Wholistic Breads
Software
professional Vanaja Arvind found that the preservatives used in white
bread led to conditions like diabetes. So, she began her tryst with
baking and it has been four years since she started Wholistic Breads.
“I
wanted others to benefit from what I make. Even the brown bread you get
outside is nothing but white bread with caramelised sugar. I
experimented quite a bit with bread because quite a lot of preservatives
go into it to keep it fresh. Otherwise, the bread gets mouldy within a
day or two in our climate,” she says.
Muffins,
cupcakes, chocolate brownies, oats and wheat flour soup are part of her
product range. “Many people want gluten-free products, and we’re working
on it. People who are weight and health conscious also prefer these
products. But, it’s an acquired taste; not everyone adapts quickly.
However, a couple of slices of oat bread will keep you full for long;
its glycemic index is low as well,” says Vanaja.
Vanaja
feels the response to these products depends on how open an individual
is. “We use only olive oil or rice bran oil, besides ragi, oats and
wholemeal in our cooking. People who travel look out for such food.
Elderly people like our products because they’re egg-free and diabetics
return regularly because we don’t use white sugar. It’s important for
people to be aware of what goes into their food.”
Visit them online at www.wholisticbreads.com.
Bellaria:
Ice
creams at Avanti Vissa’s Bellaria in Alwarpet are made right in front
of your eyes. The good thing about this is you get to choose what goes
into your ice cream, not just the flavour.
“I’ve been
in the food industry for long and am a food scientist by profession. I
chose ice cream to experiment with. We now have about 60 flavours and
work on new ones every month. Whatever we make can be customised to suit
individual tastes,” says Avanti.
At Bellaria, you
can choose the kind of milk (they offer regular, fat-free, soy and
coconut), sugar (white, brown or diabetic) and flavour. “People always
tell you what to eat and what not to. Here, you have no such
restriction. You can eat whatever you want and however you want it. When
we started, we were thinking of people who are lactose-intolerant and
found that soy milk and coconut milk are vegan options as well,” she
adds.
Since the ice creams are made fresh, there’s no
concern even with the power situation in the city. “There’s no concern
about bacteria as we use packaged milk, which is always in refrigerated.
We don’t open the fridge during a power cut. Our ice creams have no
overrun, which means that its 100 per cent ice cream (overrun is the
percentage of air in the ice cream),” she says.
Bellaria
also has a range of cupcakes, tarts, muffins, cheese cakes and mousses,
with some vegan options. For details, visit www.bellaria.in.
Fresh Baked Goodness:
Meghana
Karthik is an assistant director who studied Yogic Science, but plunged
head-long into baking. Eggless, vegan and vegetarian confectioneries
and ice creams are her forte. A Facebook page and blog later, Fresh
Baked Goodness became a business.
“I’ve been doing
this for five months now. I started with weekend baking. I announced
online that a particular product would be available over the weekend and
could be picked up fresh from the oven. My first few bake-offs were a
sell-out,” she says.
Meghana doesn’t stick to eggless
recipes but also uses bananas, condensed milk and applesauce as
substitutes for egg. “Theobroma, a six-layered chocolate cake, has been
the most successful so far. It’s now being sold at Fresca Pizza in
Nungambakkam. I sold almost 100 pieces of this cake in an hour at a
recent event. Apart from this, I make cakes, cupcakes, loaves, breads,
cold desserts and more.”
More people are opting for
vegetarian and vegan options, she feels. “The trend is definitely
growing. Vegan baking can also be challenging, given that we have to
produce the same texture and taste as the usual cakes and bread. But
honestly, it's not drastically different. I love baking quick breads and
fresh breads. I recently added the 'Baklava Bread' to my menu. Apart
from baking eggless, another aspect being, I don't use colours or
artificial agents in the food,” says Meghana.
Visit Fresh Baked Goodness at www.facebook.com/FreshBakedGoodness
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