Shantanu Deshpande, CEO of Bombay Shaving Company, has sparked a conversation about the state of India’s nutrition amid the growing 10-minute food delivery culture. In his LinkedIn post, Deshpande highlighted the trend of prioritising ultra-fast delivery over the nutritional quality of meals. “We are suffering from the biggest epidemic of poor nutrition and unhealthy processed and ultra-processed food which is high on palm oil and sugar.”
He called out the alarming rise of ultra-processed foods, likening the country’s growing addiction to ₹49 pizzas, ₹20 energy drinks, and ₹30 burgers to a ticking health time bomb. He also warned that India is hurtling down the same path as China and the US in terms of junk food dependency, but without the economic infrastructure to mitigate the inevitable fallout.
His post also highlighted a broader systemic problem: The degradation of India’s grains over the past 50 years. As agricultural practices have prioritised yield over quality, the nutritional value of staple foods has plummeted.
In his takedown of this fast food culture, he said “Frozen purees and curries and old vegetables heated and garnished with dhaniya to look fresh and slammed in some 2 wheeler who rides like Mad Max to your door in 10 min cos you couldn’t wait another 15 min or you were too lazy to chadhao a cooker of daal chawal.”
Deshpande singled out foodtech giants like Zomato, Swiggy, and Zepto, urging them to rethink their approach. While he acknowledged the potential of innovation in delivering fresh, healthy meals quickly, he is sceptical of its current execution. “Zomato and Swiggy and Zepto – please, don’t. And if you are so keen, please make the product palatable.”
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The CEO also implored individuals to take control of their diets by embracing home cooking. “Please cook. It’s an adult skill. No one is too busy to take 10 minutes out to put a decent dal chawal or smoothie together,” he added.
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(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)
