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Gulf Today Report

Who doesn’t love eating out? Nowhere does this trend seem to be more evident than in India, where at any moment innumerable people snack or binge out, with friends, family or alone, on dishes of their choice.

The venue could be a roadside dhaba, a modest restaurant, or even fancy, expensive eateries. This covers the eternal favourite biryani, snacks, fried or otherwise, and sweets – plenty of it – with no regard for nutrition or the consequences of adding to their girth.

The country's love for biryani only seems to be growing as online food delivery platform Swiggy said on Tuesday that Indians ordered 115 plates of biryani per minute in 2021.

The report mentioned that over 4.25 lakh new users made their Swiggy debut by ordering a chicken biryani, while the most binged snack of the year was samosa with about 5 million orders on Swiggy, equal to the population of New Zealand.

"Swiggy's sixth annual StatEATstics report reveals how Indians ordered 115 plates of biryani per minute, samosas equal to the population of New Zealand, and enough tomatoes to play the Spanish Tomatina festival for eleven years," the company said in a statement.

"In 2020, 90 biryanis were ordered per minute, which has gone up to 115 in 2021, which comes to 1.91 per second," the statement said.

While samosa was ordered six times more than chicken wings, pav bhaji was India's second favourite snack with 2.1 million orders.

With a total of 2.1 million orders, gulab jamun was the most ordered dessert on Swiggy followed by rasmalai with 1.27 million orders, according to Indo-Asian News Service.

The search for healthy food on Swiggy doubled in 2021, and health-focused restaurants on Swiggy HealthHub witnessed a 200 per cent increase in orders. Bengaluru emerged as the most health-conscious city, followed by Hyderabad and Mumbai.

Instamart delivered over 28 million packs of fruits and vegetables alone in 2021. Tomatoes, bananas, onions, potatoes, and green chilies were the top five fruits and veggies delivered in under 30 minutes.

The total bananas ordered on Instamart outweighed the Statue of Liberty by 2.6 times.