Mayonnaise: A Versatile Condiment

With the teeming numbers of urban Indian consumers of post-modern age with busy lifestyles, who are having less and less time to prepare elaborate and tasty meals at home, and with perceptible improvement of economic indicators among middle class India due to significant enhancement of disposable incomes during the last decade-and-a-half, it seems quite natural that the Indian foodservice industry is growing at an impressive rate. It is expected to thrive in the near future, and with it the market of condiments is also expected to prosper.

- Akshay Bector

The role of condiments in today’s food service industry cannot be over emphasised. They can be added to the dish or can complement the dish. Though condiments in themselves are seldom partaken, but they play huge roles in adding value to the quality of dining experience. Mustard, tomato ketchup and mayonnaise are some of the important condiments which are playing a significant role in our present day Indian food service industry.

Though their definition may vary, with some definitions of condiments even including herbs and spices in their ambit, but about their importance there is hardly any dispute.

Condiments to Thrive

The shift in modern Indian palate towards global dishes has also contributed towards giving a fillip to the Indian condiments market. “The deep penetration of international dishes like past as and other noodles has boosted the regular consumption of sauces and ketchups across all ages,” stated a Technopak report on the Indian food processing industry. And this trend is only expected to gather momentum in the years to come.

Euromonitor International in its report titled Sauces, Dressings and Condiments in India,, observed that busy lifestyles prompted time-crunched consumers such as working men and women in urban India to look for easy solutions such as cuisine-specific ready mixes with detailed instructions on how to cook them on the product packaging.

According to the report, facilitating this trend was the growth of the middle-income consumer base, growing disposable incomes and growing numbers of nuclear families. In addition, high aspirations for food apart from the daily norms such as other Indian regional, Chinese and Italian cuisines, helped sauces, dressings and condiments business to grow in the country during last few years. The situation in urban India has hardly changed in this regard during the last two years.