BENGALURU: Deepak Joseph (33), senior country manager-marketing at jobsite Indeed.com, has a weekly fitness regime that involves functional training, running and swimming. To keep up with this healthy lifestyle, Joseph has a regimental diet. Be it his daily dinner or at the parties he frequently hosts at home, he indulges only in grilled meats like grilled beef, lemon butter fish and chicken steak.
“Productivity and happiness are strongly connected to workouts and good health these days. For a working couple like us, a grilled dinner with soup is easy, healthy and convenient,” says Joseph.
Grills and barbecues seem to be topping the food charts at private parties and dining menus in Bengaluru. Take the case of Rahul Rout (32), software developer at Walmart, who hosts a BBQ party every fortnight at his home in Whitefield.
“The live grill is the focus of our lunch parties. Options like grilled chicken and fish tikka are healthier, fresher and easy to prepare. Guests want healthy food today,” says Rout.
Rising health-consciousness, growing culture of hosting private get-togethers, renewed love for newage cooking at home has put grilled meats and veggies high on popularity charts. According to recent findings by fresh meat delivery platform Licious, the consumption of marinated meats for grills has gone up by 22% in the past one year. About 92% of their revenue comes from marinades for grills and barbecues like smoky barbecue wings and chicken tikka. Only 8% is contributed by marinades for deep fry products like Chicken 65 and Amritsari fish.
Joe Manavalan, VP-innovation and design at Licious, said, “Homestyle cooking is making a comeback in urban cities like Bengaluru, especially among millennials. Bengaluru’s good weather is an added factor for outdoor grill dos. Typically, the man of the house wants to try out his skills behind the grill at a party.”
Nutritionist Shalini Manglani has been observing a keen rise in the culture of consuming grilled food at Sunday brunches and evening barbecues. “I curate a dedicated session for my clients where I teach them key words to use at restaurants. The terms are grilled, barbequed, tandoori, sautéed, and steamed. Golden or deep fried are to be avoided,” says Manglani.
Restaurants, who are into outdoor catering, have been receiving increasing enquiries for live-grill stations too.
The growing grill culture has prompted chef Vikas Seth to add a Cambodian khmer barbeque grill at his upcoming restaurant where guests will get to grill Asian food on their own.
