COIMBATORE:Noticing a growing demand for organic vegetables, fruits and grains among busy bees, organic food restaurants and catering services are mushrooming in the city to cater to them.

At least five to six full-fledged organic food restaurants have come up in the city in the last few years. The restaurants promise to serve food made from organic vegetables, without adding any harmful ingredients. Hotel Nalan promises to serve food that would help a person live for 120 years.

“Our food ingredients are almost 99% organic. Only in cases that certain vegetables are not available from our organic suppliers, we buy it from the market,” said M Karuppusamy, who started the restaurant six years ago.

“Customers prefer our food because it is organic and healthy, without oil, maida, milk, sugar, tamarind or masala,” he said.

Karuppusamy said there has been an increase in awareness and craze towards organic food in the last two years. “Two years ago, we used to get around 100 to 150 customers a day. Today, we get 250 customers a day, and we have started a second branch in the city,” he added.

The customers to such restaurants are not just old people with health problems either. Youngsters, who are believed to prefer fast food or continental food, form a large part of their clientele, say restauranteurs.

N Karthikeyan, who started the Iyal organic store and Iyal organic lunch two years ago, said many of his clients are young doctors who work at a nearby major hospital.

“I initially started this lunch to show people how different food tastes when prepared with organically grown vegetables, millets and spices,” he said. “Today, a lot of my clientele are bachelor doctors, youngsters working in offices nearby and we provide lunch to some staff at Radio Mirchi office too,” he added.

In a clear indication of youngsters preferring home cooked, healthy food, Karthikeyan said his customers for lunch have grown multiple folds.

“Two years ago, we got one or two customers a day. Now, we get almost 20 to 25 customers for lunch,” he added.

“Quite a few of them are youngsters and we get good feedback about how they feel light and energetic after our meals. It is prompting us to start a lunch box concept which we can deliver to offices,” he added.

Asha Praveen, a young student writer, said she has organic lunch at least twice a week. “The food in Iyal, especially the millet biriyani and hand-pounded rice, is extremely tasty and I find it flavourful and energetic,” she said. “I find myself feeling more comfortable after eating it compared to eating any other cuisine,” she added.

Vishal H, another marketing professional who tries eating at one of the organic joints in the city at least thrice a week, says he tried it for the first time three months ago with a lot of hesitation and as an experiment. “I was mentally prepared for it to taste bad or ordinary, but I found myself feeling good after the meal. I then got used to how it tastes and am almost addicted to it. I also found myself not gaining weight after it,” he said.