10 Nov DIWALI AND INDIAN SNACKING

 Diwali, the festival of lights, is the biggest festival celebrated across India and probably one of the biggest festival in the world. It celebrates the homecoming of Lord Ram, the prince of Ayodhya, after 14 long years in exile. Diwali these days is associated with eating the best quality food including preparing delicious home made snacks and indulging in sweets.

Since the last 5 years, a plethora of Indian brands have tried to make their way into the Indian households in their snack dabbas (containers). As nuclear families and working couples replace joint families and homemakers, there is an increased requirement of readily available packaged snacks for festivals.

Types of snacks

India as a country has the biggest variety of snacks with each state and each region having their own snacks or their own version of the same snacks. The Indian snack food market is estimated to be a whopping 728 billion INR with about 43 % of it being unorganized sector. Snacking companies have caught on to this and there are companies in each region which cater to their regional snacks. For example, Gujarat has bhakarwadi, chevdo, chavanu, khakhra, ganthiya, fafda, chorafali etc while Maharashtra has kothimbir vadi, chivda, shankarpali, chakli, etc.

Bhakarwadi

South India also has a big variety of packaged snacks like murukku, kara sev, thattai, ompodi, etc. All the above-mentioned snacks are usually shallow or deep-fried and have a shelf life of 1 month – 6 months. Packaged food companies, through use of various technologies like nitrogen flushing, vacuum packing, Aluminum foil multi layered packing, have been able to increase the shelf life of some of the items.

Murukku

Snacking as a habit is not just during Diwali but throughout the year, throughout the country. The most common time for snacking throughout the day is afternoon between 4 – 6pm. This is when hunger pangs are most.

Healthy snacks

As working hours and sedentary lifestyle increases, there is a segment of brands which are trying to focus on healthy and convenient snacking options too. Smaller packing sizes and higher nutritional content are the core focus areas of these brands. Roasted and vacuum fried snacks are also being offered in place of fried snacks from health point of view. With 2023 being declared as the International Year of Millet, lots of millet based healthy snacks are also making an entry in the market. The variety and option of snacks that can be made with millets is unimaginable.

Snacking is a part of lifestyle of all Indians irrespective of their economic status and type of work. The market for snack foods is only going to increase over time. There is a high preference of  Indian ethnic snacks in comparison to western snacks. The main reasons are crunchy texture and tasty flavour profile which is usually absent in other snacks.

There is an expectation of seeing FMCG MNCs who are not yet a part of the Indian snacking revolution to be a part of it in the near future.

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