Indians ordered biryani, samosa, and gulab jamuns in millions in 2021: Swiggy report

There is no denying that 2021 has left an indelible mark on the way we lead our lives. While our shopping carts are still filled with masks, sanitisers, and handwash, 2021 also saw us buying favourite foods like biryani, samosa, and grocery staples like bananas. As another year of ups and downs draws to a close, Swiggy’s sixth annual StatEATstics report replays what India ordered, ate, and ferried in 2021. 

The StatEATstics order analysis is based on millions of orders received by Swiggy for food delivery, grocery on Instamart, on pick-up and drop service Swiggy Genie, and HealthHub between January and December 2021. Swiggy’s food delivery is present in 500 cities across India.

According to Swiggy, the most binged snack of the year was the Samosa with about five million orders on Swiggy. The desi samosa was ordered six times more than chicken wings, Swiggy revealed in its report. Pav Bhaji stood as India’s second favourite snack with 2.1 million orders

However, the order history of night bingers was a little different. Post 10 PM, India’s night owls looking to satiate their cravings turned to cheese-garlic bread, popcorn, and french fries, more than any other eatables.

When it comes to desserts, Gulab Jamun was the most ordered sweet dish on Swiggy with a total of 2.1 million orders. It was followed by Rasmalai with 1.27 million orders.

Biryani again stood as India's top dish in 2021. Swiggy said that it has been publishing this report for six years, and the mighty Biryani has topped the charts for all six years! In 2020, 90 biryanis were ordered per minute and in 2021, India ordered 115 biryanis per minute, or 2 (1.91) biryanis per second.

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Chicken Biryani is still the queen of our hearts and was ordered 4.3 times more than her humble vegetarian counterpart. Over 4.25 lakh new users made their Swiggy debut by ordering Chicken Biryani.

While Chicken Biryani topped the charts in Chennai, Kolkata, Lucknow, and Hyderabad, Mumbai ordered twice as many Dal Khichidis as compared to Chicken Biryanis.

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Emergence of health freaks

Speaking about Dal Khichidi, the search for healthy food on Swiggy doubled in 2021, and health-focused restaurants on Swiggy HealthHub witnessed a 200 percent increase in orders. Bengaluru emerged as the most health-conscious city, followed by Hyderabad and Mumbai. India ate the healthiest on Mondays and Thursdays, the number of keto orders grew by 23 percent, and Swiggy saw 83 percent surge in vegan and plant-based food orders. 

Tomatoes and chips

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

Swiggy’s express grocery delivery service Instamart was present in two cities at the beginning of 2021 and is currently present in 18 cities.

Indians also ordered 1.4 million packets of instant noodles, 3.1 million packets of chocolate, 2.3 million tubs of ice creams, and 6.1 million packets of chips ordered online. In fact, chips were the top item ordered post 10 pm.

For SOS situations, over 70,000 packs of band-aid, 55,000 packs of diapers and three lakh packs of sanitary napkins were delivered in 15-30 minutes. Since we're still at war with COVID-19, Swiggy users also ordered one lakh masks and over four lakh soaps and handwashes.

Genie

Swiggy's Genie ferried a lot of food in 2021 for their pets. In its report, Swiggy said that food items approximated 48 percent of the total Genie orders. Interestingly, over 20,000 of these orders were for pet food. Swiggy pick-up and drop service Genie is present in 68 cities.

Between April- June 2021, Swiggy Genie delivered over 600 meals per day, prepared by COVID-19 heroes such as Sathya Sai Trust, Hyatt Regency Delhi, Abhyutthanam Society, Massive Restaurants, Vogue Kitchens, as well as by home cooks and “seva” kitchens, specially to the recovering COVID-19 patients during the second wave.

The “medicine” category on Genie registered an increase of 288.79 percent as customers ordered a wide range of over-the-counter medicines, including homoeopathic and ayurvedic products. Food and grocery, followed by medicines, rounded off the top three categories for Genie deliveries

The maximum distance travelled by a delivery partner was 55.5 km to deliver a food package in Bengaluru. The shortest distance was a store 200 meters away from a customer’s doorstep to pick up a tongue cleaner.