One afternoon
in 2013 while driving on the highways, I was struck with the word 'disruptive
eating.' LIke I was toying with so many words or phrases to define what we were
trying to do at Nirmal. Think of an Indian restaurant if you have had exposure
to Indian cuisine. What comes to your mind? Buffet, Tandoori Chicken, Naan
bread, full service, afternoon closed, may be in not this order. At Nirmal, we
did away with all 5 off course with a purpose or a reasoning. Part of it came
from our pursuit to find a model to build the first Indian food chain in the
world. Another part was how Indian food could fight the obesity and the
overweight prevalence in the US. Later we realized that 'Nirmal with disruptive
eating' can disrupt the food industry in the US and beyond if we manage to have
the wider footprints. How? In 2 years, our concept evolved to bring other
things under the umbrella of 'disruptive eating', 7 steps to be specific.
Because only healthy eating to achieve good physical health is not enough for
general well-being of a person or actually very few would be able to sustain
good physical health without other aspects.
Step 1 - Know
Your Body Mass Index (BMI)
This is step 1
and from our logo to our phone no-844-KNOW-BMI or the first poster at our
entrance blares this message. I am aware of some patrons' comment that we are
overdoing the things. A country with 74% overweight prevalence and 33% obesity
and $116 B in annual expenditure to fight these still wants to wait for
launching a war against is not comprehensible to me. Perhaps some people have
not come across the kids who have low self-esteem or bullied all around because
they are obese or well overweight. See we all know being overweight is
precursor to most of the health issues or being obese makes your day-to-day
life tough. Then why this non-chalance? Trust me once you know you are
overweight or obese, your eating habit would change subconciously. I am not
talking of people who dont give a hoot to the society, community or
the country.
Step 2 - You
don't have to eat 'Meat for Protein'
If you read
other posts on this blog, you would see how we try to dispel so many myths and
how 'Curry', the integral part of Indian food, makes veggie eating easier. But
the question remains here in the US how people would eat veggie and
where? Like veggie here means salad or some baked vegetables or potato
sandwich. Let me share some facts. At Nirmal, we do serve lentils, tofu,
soya and other vegetables.
Think of it.
Canada is the largest producer of lentils and the lentils may be the cheapest
source of protein as well as the dietary fiber. Then why it is not popular in
this part of the world. India is the second largest producer and it is staple
food item in Indian cuisine.
Lentils with
any whole grain is complete protein. We discarded Naan bread (made from all
purpose flour) at Nirmal so as to serve only 'Whole wheat bread' called Roti. Most of us
may know how beneficial whole wheat or whole grain is. But you wont find whole
wheat flour at Sam's club or GFS, the two biggest suppliers for the
restaurants. That shows why you won't find whole wheat bread for burgers or
tortillas at most of the restaurants?
Take Tofu,
processed food made from Soyabeans with low protein and low calories. It comes
from Chinese cuisine and you won't find or rarely find it in Chinese buffet
here. I did not eat Tofu in India, honestly did not hear about it. But then I
can see the reason.
We in India
eat Soya chunks, high protein and high calorie food. See the 'Meat for Protein'
poster under Nirmal at a glance. Please visit www.nutrela.com to know about soya products and I can
say abashedly we treated soya chunks as a meat substitute as it is complete
protein on its own. Then why no cuisine whatever I see in the US use soya
chunks. That is baffling. It could be cheap source of protein but it may have
stigma of poor's protein. Or there are so many myths with the soya products
here. In India, there are 500 million vegetarians, 65% of the world vegetarians
and Nutrela soya chunks is one of the most popular options for all rich and
poor everyone. As for myths' part, ask any Indian here and most of us grew up
eating soya chunks. Even we are non-vegetarians, it is once or twice a week
meat meal. For India, meat consumption per day per capita is mere 12 gms as
compared to 330 gms in US, 220 gms in EU and 160 gms in China.
Meat is not
sustainable, period. The link below details one part of story. How one pound of
beef needs 1800 gallons of water as compared to tofu needing 300 gallons, Soya
218 gallons, lentils less than 100 gallons. Add this to the fact that 70% of
the agriculture land we use now for the animals feed and think how long
majority of us would be able to afford the cost of meat.
Step 3 - Eat Goat if you are non-vegetarians
How much PETA
wants us to turn vegetarians, it is not going to happen in our life-time for
sure. 1 billion populace out of 7 billion are engaged in the meat production,
processing and delivery. If you talk of compassion for the animals, the factory
farming has killed our compassion. So what is next best option, the goat meat.
Why?
See our
poster. Goat meat is healthier than even Chicken and it is far more sustainable
meat. One pound of goat needs just 127 gallons of water as compared to 468
gallons for 1 pound of chicken, 576 gallons for pork and 731 gallons for lamb.
Goat could be reared anywhere from the sub-saharan Africa to the Himalays. It
needs 1/5 of grain needed for pork and 1/3 of grass for beef.
Then you may
ask why there is almost no demand for goat meat here in the US? Why the
Heritage Food has the weird slogan of 'Eat Goat to Save Goat.' Why Chinese
restaurants here dont serve goat meat as China is the largest producer of goat.
Few Indian restaurants do serve goat meat like us, India being the 2nd largest
producer.
Too many whys,
same nonchalance.
Step 4 - Avoid
Food wastage at any cost
The US alone
wastes $165 Billion of food, 40% by the consumers and 60% by the stores. But
for the global scenario, see this link – http://www.worldfooddayusa.org/food_waste_the_facts
We discarded the Buffet on this very ground
as we used to throw lot more food than the customers leaving on their plates.
Buffet is meant for the introduction of any cuisine and we now have $5 option
in the form of Food Box with 5 items. Food box has far more varieties than the
buffet. In Europe, you get fined for leaving food at your plate, see this link-
http://www.ibtimes.co.in/swiss-restaurant-imposes-fine-customers-wasting-food-600131
The fast food
culture has played a role in this food wastage too as most of the foods are now
ready to be served. And if it does not sell, it needs to be thrown away. At
Nirmal, we make 90% of our food as per order and our patrons have to wait
longer for their food. Indian food is not fast food and we make our food as we
do at home.
Step 5 - To
make healthy food affordable, Home cooking key
Majority of
populace here in the US wont be able to afford so-called veggie, nutritious
food and needless to mention why tacos, burgers, pizzas are the best selling
items in the US. You dont have to be a NASA scientist to guess that majority of
overweight population are the low income people. So we provide $5 lunch or
dinner but for a family of 4, it is still costly. Hence the home cooking is the
key. We share at the social media how to make the basic Indian food or now
people have so many options to know what and how to cook the healthier options.
Home cooking is a habit and it would take time to inculcate. But worth doing
it. Most of us Indians grew up with the home cooking specially by the ladies of
the house as per our culture. It strengthens the bond of the family and saving
the money is an added bonus.
Step 6 -
Self-Gratification, you make global impact
The meat
consumption alone counts for 21% of the green house gases, more than that
caused by all aeroplanes, trains, vehicles combined all over the world, the
main culprit for the global warming. I don't think Pope and the 90% of the
world are stupid who believes in the global warming. So if you eat less meat or
skip meat once a week, you do make a contribution. Say you start eating goat
meat instead of other meats, you are helping in fight against the global hunger
and poverty, see our last post. Just sharing our message of 'disruptive eating'
through mouth to mouth or the social media (Twitter, Facebook or Instagram), you are doing a favor to make the
world a better place.
Step 7 -
Physical health tied to mental n spiritual health
If you think
just eating the salads or the healthy food and spending some hours at the gym
is enough, you are missing something. Mental n spiritual health sustain your
physical health. My personal choice comes from the two pillars of Indian
culture - Yoga and Gita. The UN sponsored the first celebration of #InternationalYogaDay
on 21st June this year finally according the Yoga a status it deserved for so
long. 'Gita' celebrated 5151st anniversary last year and this is a book
technically. Please visit www.gita4free.com to have a look. But you have so many
other options just a click away.
We launched
our campaign for #DisruptiveEating on the Mothers' Day this year at Twitter handle @NirmalCurry. It was just
not symbolic as we believe the young kids need to get informed, guided from
step 1 to 7 and the mothers have all important role to play.
Join our
campaign 4 #PureMHealthyM if you are in Michigan. We are looking for the
partners who can join us in our endeavor to take our message all over the
Michigan and the US.
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