Geetanjali Krishna: If not Maggi, then what?

It's cheap. It's hot. And, of course, it's ready to eat in two minutes flat. It's no wonder that the popular instant noodle has come to embody the food of people like them. But the ongoing controversy about the excess monosodium glutamate and lead contaminants in Maggi has caused an abrupt change in hard-working Indian kitchens. The other day, when I went to the neighbourhood store to run some errands, I overheard a group of ladies talking. "It's so sad I can't buy Maggi anymore," said one. "It used to be our staple dinner every time I had to work late." said one. Her friend said that the noodle used to be her seven-year-old son's favourite tiffin. "Now, all I can give him in his lunch box is sandwich." I recognised one of them as the local press-wala's wife. She smiled at me and said, "Some of us work as domestics, others have small businesses. But we all are really missing the convenience and taste of these instant noodles."

The shopkeeper joined in the conversation. "After bread and eggs, Maggi used to move faster off my shelves than even glucose biscuits! Children and adults alike used to buy them... but it's a different story now." The group started nostalgically discussing their favourite ways of cooking Maggi. One advocated adding a pureed tomato while cooking the noodles. Another added a tablespoon of butter or ghee to improve the flavour. A third said that the best way to eat Maggi was to never dilute its taste with vegetables as the advertisements suggested. "They just spoil its taste in the name of health," she said. I was listening to ways, I realised, of ensuring that a nutritionally empty product stayed empty. But could it be made unhealthier? Just as I was wondering about this, I heard one of the women say that she liked to use two packets of seasoning with one packet of noodles. "It is quite salty but really good," she said.

I asked them what they were using as substitutes for Maggi, now that the noodle was off the shelves. Did they eat regular noodles, I asked? "Oh no, noodles have too many vegetables," said one, adding that making them at home was too much of a chore, and her children weeded out the vegetables on their plates anyway. "The other day, when I got really late ironing clothes in this heat, I was in no mood to cook. Maggi would have been the perfect option for me. Instead, my husband had to get some greasy puri-sabzi from the local sweet shop to feed our children. I don't think it was very hygienic, but we had no option," said the press-wali. A third piped up that she bought samosas from a roadside stall one evening when her children were hungry. "My stomach still hasn't recovered from the experience," she shuddered.

Whatever happened to home-made snacks, I wondered? The women glared at me. "We barely get the time to cook two square meals," said one. "Where's the time to make snacks? Fruits are too expensive. Even when we buy a watermelon, we have to eat it right away or it spoils, as we don't have a fridge. There are no decent ready-to-eat snacks that people like us can afford." Puffed wheat and rice were just not appealing to their children, the group unanimously agreed. The shopkeeper said that he had Rs 5 packets of namkeen and glucose biscuits that they could buy.

As the group began to disperse holding their Maggi substitutes, I wondered whether if tested, these products would be any safer than the tainted two-minute noodles. Just then, one of the women sighed, "We were better off when we didn't know."