Covid-19 Spawns A New Food Culture

Not Many of us can say we have seen an economic and humanitarian crisis of the magnitude of the COVID19 pandemic, except those among us who have lived through the Great Economic Depression of 1929-33. Like the Great Depression, the pandemic too promises to leave its imprint on our lives much after it’s gone.

- Sourish Bhattacharyya

Here’s what I foresee happening to the business of eating out and the way we eat in:

■ Frugality is here to stay. Root to-shoot cooking is the rage of the moment. You can see it from the surfeit of 'potato peel' recipes floating around on Facebook. Local ingredients will become more fashionable. Amaranth, moringa, Malabar spinach, chayote, makhana, and millets will get even more buzzier.

■ Home cooking has staged a comeback. Heat-and-eat food will also see a surge, but the home delivery business may not pick up in the same proportion.