- News>
- Newspapers
This is the bread story: The Pioneer
New Delhi, Mar 12: This one`s for all of you worrying over your daily bread. National Bread Day, celebrated on March 11 by The All India Bread Manufacturer`s Association in tandem with the launch of the Soy promotion by Ahaar, was all about promoting the goodness of bread - `nutritious and hygenically processed snack food, easily affordable for the common man.`
New Delhi, Mar 12: This one's for all of you worrying over your daily bread. National Bread Day, celebrated on March 11 by The All India Bread Manufacturer's Association in tandem with the launch of the Soy promotion by Ahaar, was all about promoting the goodness of bread - "nutritious and hygenically processed snack food, easily affordable for the common man."
Says Vinod Tiwari, AIBMA President, "March has been chosen for such an exercise as it is harvesting season in the country and a bumper wheat crop is expected, which should help boost the industry,"
Today, even with the competition of a growing variety of foods, bread remains important to our diet and psyche. It has a prominent place in the local market, in our cupboards and even in our language. The word "bread" is commonly used as slang for money. It connotes importance as when we say our work is "our bread and butter". Thought of as the "staff of life", for centuries, bread has been used in religious ceremonies. Even prayers make use of the word, for example requests to God to "Give us this day our daily bread", that connotative of not merely loaves but also moral sustenance. Sustenance is the key word, more than 30 per cent of the Indian population aims for it. And AIBMA aims to promote bread to this strata? And why not, after all the concept of roti is archaic. The famous quotation attributed to Marie Antoinette that if the poor could not get bread then "let them eat cake," proves how behind time we are. According to Tiwari, South India consumes 32 per cent of the bread produced in the country, followed by the North at 27 per cent, the West at 23 per cent and the East at 18 per cent. The total estimate of annual bread production in India is 30 lakh metric tones. "This is deplorably low for a country like India, which has over a billion-strong population. The per capita annual consumption of bread works out to three kg - extremely low as compared to consumption pattern in other developing countries," he tells us. However, going by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), the average monthly per capita expenditure in rural India during 2000-01 (July-June) amounted to Rs 494.90. Therefore, spending Rs 10-15 for a loaf of bread everyday seems like a distant dream. It sounds rather similar to the Americans promoting their silken tofu Rs 140 for 200 gm for the "malnutritioned Indian population". The promotion, according to Tiwari, will help boost the industry. Indeed, with Britannia Industries and Modern Foods (now owned by HLL) being the only two players with a national presence, why not? And you can't miss the fact that AIBMA President Tiwari is essentially a Britannia representative. And as far as the nutritional count of bread goes, an average white bread slice provides 1.5 per cent of protein content on daily basis, two per cent of iron, and two per cent vitamins. Wheat bread, per slice, on the other hand provides dietery fibre close to seven percent, 5.1 percent iron and a total of seven to eight per cent protien. Roti made of whole wheat alone is eight to nine per cent protien rich. "Any processed product tends to lose out on basic nutrients," says famous nutritionist Shikha Sharma, adding, "the same happens with wheat, especially in case of white flour or maida. Seventy per cent of nutrional value is lost." Also, higher fibre content in wheat which is lost during the process of making maida ensures easy digestion. "Most people understand by now that there are healthy and unhealthy fats. Similarly, there are also healthy and unhealthy carbohydrates. And overeating the bad refined kind of carb causes not only obesity but also heart disease and diabetes," adds Shikha. Switching to whole grain may also offer cancer protection. "The fibre in whole grain isn't broken down in your small intestine where it creates a healthier environment that seems to help protect you from cancer," she informs. Therefore, needless to say, roti is clearly less likely than white bread or maida to lead to these metabolic problems. Celebrating bread day is fine, after all we have had so many special days devoted to a particular cause in the past. We shall have another. But to promote bread as a solution to hunger and poverty certainly sounds false and a simple marketing gimmick.
Today, even with the competition of a growing variety of foods, bread remains important to our diet and psyche. It has a prominent place in the local market, in our cupboards and even in our language. The word "bread" is commonly used as slang for money. It connotes importance as when we say our work is "our bread and butter". Thought of as the "staff of life", for centuries, bread has been used in religious ceremonies. Even prayers make use of the word, for example requests to God to "Give us this day our daily bread", that connotative of not merely loaves but also moral sustenance. Sustenance is the key word, more than 30 per cent of the Indian population aims for it. And AIBMA aims to promote bread to this strata? And why not, after all the concept of roti is archaic. The famous quotation attributed to Marie Antoinette that if the poor could not get bread then "let them eat cake," proves how behind time we are. According to Tiwari, South India consumes 32 per cent of the bread produced in the country, followed by the North at 27 per cent, the West at 23 per cent and the East at 18 per cent. The total estimate of annual bread production in India is 30 lakh metric tones. "This is deplorably low for a country like India, which has over a billion-strong population. The per capita annual consumption of bread works out to three kg - extremely low as compared to consumption pattern in other developing countries," he tells us. However, going by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), the average monthly per capita expenditure in rural India during 2000-01 (July-June) amounted to Rs 494.90. Therefore, spending Rs 10-15 for a loaf of bread everyday seems like a distant dream. It sounds rather similar to the Americans promoting their silken tofu Rs 140 for 200 gm for the "malnutritioned Indian population". The promotion, according to Tiwari, will help boost the industry. Indeed, with Britannia Industries and Modern Foods (now owned by HLL) being the only two players with a national presence, why not? And you can't miss the fact that AIBMA President Tiwari is essentially a Britannia representative. And as far as the nutritional count of bread goes, an average white bread slice provides 1.5 per cent of protein content on daily basis, two per cent of iron, and two per cent vitamins. Wheat bread, per slice, on the other hand provides dietery fibre close to seven percent, 5.1 percent iron and a total of seven to eight per cent protien. Roti made of whole wheat alone is eight to nine per cent protien rich. "Any processed product tends to lose out on basic nutrients," says famous nutritionist Shikha Sharma, adding, "the same happens with wheat, especially in case of white flour or maida. Seventy per cent of nutrional value is lost." Also, higher fibre content in wheat which is lost during the process of making maida ensures easy digestion. "Most people understand by now that there are healthy and unhealthy fats. Similarly, there are also healthy and unhealthy carbohydrates. And overeating the bad refined kind of carb causes not only obesity but also heart disease and diabetes," adds Shikha. Switching to whole grain may also offer cancer protection. "The fibre in whole grain isn't broken down in your small intestine where it creates a healthier environment that seems to help protect you from cancer," she informs. Therefore, needless to say, roti is clearly less likely than white bread or maida to lead to these metabolic problems. Celebrating bread day is fine, after all we have had so many special days devoted to a particular cause in the past. We shall have another. But to promote bread as a solution to hunger and poverty certainly sounds false and a simple marketing gimmick.