Gig Subcontinent #2: Pleasure

Vandana Vasudevan organizes her book, OTP Please with one emotion per chapter. The first one is, unsurprisingly, pleasure.

 

Gen Z and Millennials are more willing to experiment with their food, try new things. Continental, North Indian, South Indian, Mughlai, Chinese – those have been there for ages. Add Italian, Korean, Thai, Japanese, Afghan, Lebanese, Bengali, Kashmiri, Rajasthani, North Eastern, Goan, Punjabi… Because hey, YOLO – You Only Live Once.

“Sushi was never expected to work in India… (raw fish, after all)… Our chefs have… created sushi rolls which have cooked fish and masala!”

When the author asked for masala tea in Sri Lanka, she was asked to choose between fresh, powdered and condensed milk! Variety, spice, life.

 

Not all combos work. Over time, you figure it out:

“Pizzas may not be hot, naans wilt, and chaats turn soggy. However, through practice, one learns what works from where.”

 

This willingness to order in and try new food has resulted in the rise of “ghost kitchens” – commercial kitchens used for preparing food exclusively for delivery without a physical dining space for customers. All this reduces costs. Which enables more people to try their hand at it. Aggregator sites help find customers. And the individual/company doesn’t need to invest in delivery services.

 

And boy, has it exploded:

“Dining out no longer needs a special occasion – just a strong enough craving for non-home-cooked food.”

(In any case, dining out has other problems – horrendous traffic. And parking.)

 

Gen Z believes in the “Little Treat culture”, the habit of rewarding oneself with small, enjoyable things, often as a way to find joy in everyday life. Not a trait of the older generations, working or retired. As one viral tweet put it:

“Little treat culture is getting out of hand. You don’t need an $8 coffee because you did laundry.”

 

Long work hours, late night calls, weekend work – all mean people feel the need for a little treat, in the form of food, “to unwind”. Another important reason:

“Incomes have increased and eating options have expanded at every price point.”

But this “affordable indulgence” is limited to India, not the other South Asian countries. At least, not yet.

 

Specialized apps exist for pre-cut vegetables, ready-to-eat salad kits and fermented drinks.

 

Hemant Morparia’s cartoon depicts the logical end to all this: