So this is a rant/list about food-related stuff that I feel should go mainstream in India. 3 things: these items are not necessarily unavailable back home, the list is not exhaustive, many of these things are not american, they just happen to consume it here.
1. In the candy section: Ghirardelli (similar quality and price range as some of the Lindt chocolates), Hershey's symphony and cookies n' creme, Nestle butterfinger, Heath bars.
2. Peanut butter and jelly in swirls in a single jar. Apparently, some local company introduced a peanut butter with sugar variant back home. Probably cos the normal version wasn't selling as much. Maybe people are not doing the jelly+peanut butter thing on their own in India and running ads are too expensive for the peanut butter folks.
3. Ginger flavored ice cream/gelato. Who is more into ginger than we are. Tiny tang + some heat + sweetness combo is pretty common in our snacks. I think Indian palettes will welcome a hint of ginger in ice cream. There is natural(s)? back in Mumbai I remember, which has fruit flavored ice cream, and they probably have ginger, but they run chains. I think ginger could almost be as common as mango flavor. Ginger has a drawback though, its an unsexy looking thing, like a crooked penis. The packaging has to compensate for the image that ginger conjures up.
4. Cookies. Not good day, not milano, real cookies. Not the soft, almost batter like cookies that they have here either (I hate those, its an atrocity, though that too may have a market in India). The crisp ones, like Tates, which are nonetheless packed with butter, those are the ones I am cheering for. Technically, Royal Danish is available everywhere, and I do love those. But for whatever reason, they are only available in tins and they are not as playful with their flavors as PepperidgeFarm. These may have a higher price point though. So my main suggestion would be for Danish Dairy quality cookies in paper bags at a lower price point.
5. Cookies remind me, shortbread cookies. These are not a thing in India, Though there are those local biskoots which are rich but not so sweet.
6. Macarons. not coconut macaroons, those are disgusting. French macarons (I am not sure if the difference in spelling isn't a recent phenomenon). I think this has to be supplied by bakers though. Supplying it mass-market may not be very feasible, just yet.
7. Biscottis. Again, these are more for bakers.
8. Baking stuff in the oven at home. Indian families don't really bake, other than cakes. This actually is quite amazing to me. But it has a lot to do with gas availability, at least back in my house. But even bakers don't bake as much as bakers could. It opens up the possibility of so many dishes. If you bake at home, you wouldn't need to buy those crappy bread bases you throw in the microwave at best or onto a pan at worst, to make a pizza. You can bake chicken, fish, so many things. You can make your own lovely bread! You can make those shiny golden brown turkey you always see in the movies.
9. Ready-to-cook meals. Their original supply point seems to be the supermarket, potentially with links to local farms or meat suppliers. So I am not talking about food from the frozen aisle. This is food that is all set with marination, dressing, veggies whatever, ready to be stuck inside the oven, especially non-veg items. They are not packed with the kind of preservatives or drained of nutrition like the frozen stuff. These sit well, for 2 or 3 days usually, like it would if you were to keep stuff all ready in your fridge to cook sometime over the week. This is as nutritious and as tasty as stuff you make at home, way more cost effective than eating out and easier than making from scratch. Tada!
10. Flavored instant-oats. A kinda healthy choice in the easy and tasty category. Sugar, yes, lots I am afraid. Fiber, pretty decent, depends. But low in calories and filling.
11. Another breakfasty item, those fiber-one bars. During my early days in Syracuse I was fascinated by these. These seemed almost like candy, but pretty filling and easy on the calorie guilt. If I was really hungry, I could always eat one more and I would be full for just another 140 calories. The charm wears off though.
12. Oh man, how can I forget this, Mexican food! Forget Mexican food, where is the guacamole and chips? where are the avocados?? This is no.1 among all the stuff that hasn't penetrated the Indian market. Taco bells are emerging and possibly chipotle, but I think this is one where we should at least simultaneously take the non-chain route; this can easily be included in restaurants or day-to-day cooking. It is so much more delish then.
13. I could say sushi, but I won't. This is really just for the culinarily open-minded folks in India who can also afford to eat at swanky places where you feel relatively safe and assured about eating uncooked meat. Unless you are all in for crappy sushi, you get that in the mall. This is too small a market though.
14. Ok, I just learned that salmon is kora/kaala in malayalam (I wouldn't touch that stuff back home, we need to cook that fish differently). So that item is not gonna make it to the list.
15. Oh seasonings! Meat rubs, steak rubs, fish rubs. There are some herbs and spices, but we mess it up by not knowing the proportions or the combinations and then get disheartened about using them altogether. Rubs on the other hand are so straightforward, you can't mess them up.
16. Cream soda.
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