Farewell to Maggi - Maggi doesn’t seem to recover anytime soon

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) suddenly came into the news this past week, throughout India (and abroad too), when it announced that Maggi is “unsafe and hazardous”. It is because; according to several reports of lab tests Maggi noodles were found to contain a dangerous quantity of lead and monosodium glutamate, or MSG.

The government has now ordered in many states, including Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) to ban the product with immediate effect until further orders. Nestlé, the company which produces and endorses Maggi, has withdrawn Maggi noodles in India last week after coming under fire from every corner.

A statement issued by the company reads: “Unfortunately, recent developments and unfounded concerns about the product have led to an environment of confusion for the consumer, to such an extent that we have decided to withdraw the products off the shelves, despite the product being safe”. Moreover, Nestlé has now gone to the court of law seeking a judicial review of the order insisting that the Maggi noodles are completely safe.

But with the amount of attention the media has given to this issue, Maggi doesn’t seem to recover anytime soon. The other day when I went to a nearby grocery store to get a Maggi noodles pack, the shopkeeper stared me straight into my eyes with the cruelest look possible. I ignored my desire and came back empty handed.

In todays’ ‘hashtag era’ the instant reaction which the people gave to this episode, particularly on the social networking sites, was expectedly astonishing. It was as if everything else is not contaminated with heavy chemicals of different sorts –be it our fruits, vegetables and some other food products as well as our environment. 

However, banning of the Maggi noodles, of course, helped everyone recall so much of the fond memories attached with it. I personally don’t clearly recall my first encounter with Maggi. I think it was there forever.

And I had known it since I had known myself. One could only remember, as a child, grabbing the small Maggi pack first thing from the shops. Unconcerned about its potential threats, which one would often get from elders, most of the kids of my generation used to eat the Maggi noodles raw. My personal opinion is: it was equally delicious eating uncooked as it was cooked! 

The name Maggi was so generic and attached to the lives of people that nobody would have ever thought it would go away in such a way. Maggi happened to be a household name in India.

Everyone in this country must have a memory or two attached to it. Maggi was quite a ubiquitous product. From the restaurants in posh markets in New Delhi to the far away shacks located en route to the mountain trekking routes in Ladakh, it was found almost everywhere. While in the process of cooking, the smell of the masala inside the Maggi pack would spread to almost half a kilometer away.

It never got out-of-date; neither did it lost its taste. Most importantly, unlike some other food products, Maggi had not demarcated any class, age, region or any other parameter. It used to be a treat for the children, a relish for the adults and a good eat for the elders. People hardly drop eating it. Maggi was something which was cooked by anyone and everyone in the family. Cooking it was so simple that everyone would boast about being good at it with a sense of pride. It was actually a rescuer from hunger and starvation.

You come back tired from a day long work, you are in a hurry to go for work, you have a long unending work to do all night; an instant delicious food is ready at your service. The two minute formula would very much keep its promise. It was also among the cheapest food on the menu. Be it at the school or college canteen, roadside shacks or a dilapidated dhaba in a far flung place, the only universal food available on the menu was Maggi.

It used to be the first option for many a people. Of course, a generation has grown-up eating Maggi. It was the most comfort food during a road trip or adventure trekking. A friend of mine believes that “If Sachin is the god of sports than Maggi is the god of foods.” 

Now that Maggi noodles are all pulled down from the shelves, life without Maggi would be somewhat tough indeed. For the sake of all that nostalgia attached to it, one definitely feels sad about Maggi leaving us. But let’s not say goodbye. Rather wish it all well. And hope it comes back soon –safe and healthy.

The author is a Research Scholar at University of Delhi