Thiruvananthapuram makes good food choice with healthy eats

For 25-year-old Vrinda Vinod, who lost her grandfather to high blood pressure, an affinity towards healthy food started at a young age with her mother bringing in a healthy twist while packing her lunch boxes to school. Following her graduation from a law school in Bengaluru , Vrinda returned to the city and converted their rented space at Pattom to a cloud kitchen, The Salad Bistro, in November 2023, serving salads, smoothies and sweets, that were mindfully crafted.

Vrinda belongs to the list of foodpreneurs who have decided to venture into the business of “healthy food” in the State capital in recent years. Outlets such as Whealthier, Salad Caffe, Boiled, and Steamed are among those who are serving healthy but not boring food, ranging from salads to oil-free and sugar-free protein platters.

“Healthy food is the future. Illnesses that used to appear in 60-year-olds are starting for those in their 30s nowadays. The current generation have begun going to the gym not just for bodybuilding, but also for their general health,” says Sreenath Raveendran, one of the three founders of Boiled at Jawahar Nagar.

Boiled follows a strict “no oil, no sugar” policy, with their best-selling items being ghee chicken, honey chilli lemon chicken, coconut milk poached chicken and boiled special chicken salad. “We use only honey in our dishes,” says Sreenath.

Coconut milk poached chicken from Boiled
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“Evidence suggests that high-sugar diets can lead to obesity and inflammation as well as high triglycerides, blood sugar, and blood pressure levels — all of which are risk factors for heart disease,” says Dr Leena Saju, nutritionist at KIMSHEALTH Hospital.

Another outlet which follows the same policy is Steamed at Kuravankonam. Founded by young entrepreneurs A Pranoy Jose and Gauri Nandan VR, Steamed started as a cloud kitchen. Currently, the restaurant serves a variety of platters, shakes, wraps, momos and even mandis, which do not use oil. They also had a sweet box for Deepavali in 2024 with protein bars made without any sugar. Gauri Nandan says, “We keep in mind the quantity of nutrients, proteins, carbs and other components necessary for a person. Our focus is on the quantity of nutrients.”

Peanut butter banana smoothie from Steamed
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Sudheep Suresh, 38, discovered Steamed while scrolling through social media. As someone who was looking to shift to a healthier diet for the past few years, this was a welcome discovery. “The oil-free concept they offer is healthy and I like their menu as well. I specifically prefer their protein platter as it is not very heavy, but also filling,” says Sudheep, who has been in Thiruvananthapuram for the past eight years.

The outlets claim to have found healthy alternatives through trial and error. For instance, Steamed substituted mayonnaise by creating their own dip that uses cashew as its base. “Even for a cholesterol or a diabetes patient, if they want to enjoy a shawarma or a wrap, we have options for that,” says Pranoy.

Honey chicken from Steamed
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The emphasis has been on creating healthy dishes that are not boring, say the owners. Founders of Whealthier, siblings Aneesh Krishna AB and Anosh Krishna AB, have solved this problem by providing their customers with a variety of flavours with their salad dressings. A cloud kitchen providing premium customised salads, formulated in consultation with a nutritionist, Whealthier offers a wide range of dressings, which are leaf-based, vinegar-based, yoghurt-based, sauce-based and so on. Anosh says, “Seven different flavours ensures one can enjoy tasty and healthy food for a week without getting bored.”

They also use a diverse source of proteins such as beef, turkey, chicken and salmon to meet the dietary requirements of their customers. “To make salads more filling and nutritionally complete, it is essential to add protein sources. This helps balance the macronutrient profile,” says Dr Leena.

Mediterrenian Salmon Salad from Whealthier
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Apart from the ingredients, the process of cooking plays a significant role in ensuring that the food consumed is healthy. Initially, Pranoy and Gauri used pressure cookers to lock in the nutrients. Later they moved to other techniques such as steaming, air frying and toasting. These methods help reduce caloric intake, preserve nutrients and enhance flavours, explains Dr Leena.

While eating healthy is a step in the right direction, consistence is also important. “For any diet to work, it needs to be regular,” says Aneesh. Owing to this reason, several outlets are providing subscriptions for healthy food at prices ranging from ₹1,610, and going up to even ₹14,970, depending on the number of meals and days.

Sudheep says, “I incorporated healthy food into my daily diet, so it was economical to take up a subscription.”

“We have an average of 20-25 subscribers per month,” says Vrinda. “We see a lot of MBBS students, since there are multiple medical colleges in the city. There are techies too, but they are mostly customers not subscribers,” says Vrinda.

“Senior citizens with diabetes and cholesterol issues, come to us because they want to have something other than kanji (gruel),” says Pranoy. “We have also got contracts from messes as well as paying guest facilities, government and private institutions and others,” he adds.