SOUTH ASIA

RESEARCH
Vol. 42(3): 1–16
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DOI: 10.1177/02627280221105133 Copyright © 2022
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CHANGING FOOD HABITS OF URBAN

MIDDLE-CLASS YOUTH IN INDIA:
‘ORDERING IN’
Rituparna Patgiri
Indraprastha College for Women, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India

Abstract The liberalisation of the Indian economy facilitated

significant changes in the eating habits of urban middle-class Indians
since the 1990s. While there have been studies on food and Indian
society before liberalisation, on ‘street food’ and the impact of
restaurants and practices of eating out after liberalisation in India,
the rising phenomenon of ‘ordering in’ has remained relatively
under-researched. This article examines the impact of online food
delivery service providers on the food habits of urban middle-class
youth in India. It finds that the combined effects of demonetisation
and the related push towards digitalisation strengthened online
food delivery services in the market. Subsequently, ordering in has
become a regular part of the eating culture of urban middle-class
youth, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study
offers new insights into remarkable recent changes in the psycho-
social and socio-economic structures of Indian society, affecting
both consumers and service providers.
Keywords: consumption, COVID-19, delivery services, food habits,
middle-class urban youth, psycho-social change

Introduction
In early January 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic entered India, in a tele-
phonic conversation with a close friend, I asked where she wanted to go for dinner.
She suggested the Diggin Café, located in New Delhi, an outlet serving Italian cui-
sine and frequented by students. Although we had not gone there in a while, I replied:
‘But there is a long waiting line in that restaurant every time’.
At first glance, this seems like a mundane conversation, reflecting that one of the
criteria of our choice was the time spent waiting for a table. We also wanted an early
dinner, to be ready for an early morning the next day. Since it would take at least an
2 South Asia Research Vol. 42(3): 1–16

hour to reach the restaurant, eating out meant spending much time in traffic, plus
waiting for a table. After some deliberation, we decided to meet later in the week,
order dinner for the night, and ‘stay in’ at our respective residences.
However, this particular exchange also assumes relevance in a world marred by
COVID-19, as the pandemic drastically affected practices of dining out, an increas-
ingly ubiquitous part of middle-class Indians’ food habits in urban areas for young
people and families. Restaurants like Diggin Café that had people queuing for a table
before COVID-19 are half-empty now, despite lockdown relaxations. Popular restau-
rants like Barbeque Nations, with branches all over the country that serve buffet
lunches and dinners, are now calling up customers with information of discounted
offers to encourage visits, as reported by Neha, one of the interviewees. Popular Asian
cuisine restaurants in New Delhi such as Mamagoto and Yum Yum Cha no longer
require advance table bookings, further indicating a decline in the number of people
going out to eat.
Not just the practice of dining out but also ordering food suffered the impacts of
COVID-19 and led to new consumption habits. In the initial phase (25 March–31
May 2020) of the four-stage lockdown in India, food delivery services took a hit
because of mobility restrictions. Although food delivery, listed as an essential service,
was allowed to function during the first lockdown phase, business suffered since most
restaurants were shut, as confirmed by the Zomato mid-year performance report of
July 2020. Delivery personnel, seen as carriers of the virus, were beaten up by the
police in several cities, imposing a further toll on such services (Baruah, 2020).
There was much fear and suspicion of food pollution, as rumours linked COVID-
19 to eating meat (Patgiri & Patgiri, 2020). Additionally, lingering fears about deliv-
ery personnel were amplified when many people who deliver food tested positive all
over the country. When a pizza delivery person in New Delhi tested positive on 16
April 2020 (Kumar, 2020), this scared many people, even those who had been order-
ing food from outside till then (J.P. Sharma, 2020). Many Resident Welfare
Associations decided not to let food delivery personnel enter their colonies and
neighbourhoods, as outside food delivery staff were viewed with suspicion and fear.
In fact, prominent food delivery service providers like Zomato and Swiggy started
delivering groceries instead of food from April 2020 as a market strategy (Mint,
2020). Laying off of employees and pay cuts were reported (Tandon, 2020). However,
their business picked up once the unlocking of the Indian economy started from 1
June onwards, as many people resumed online food ordering (N. Sharma, 2020).
The phrase ‘online ordering’ here means using an application of a food delivery
service provider on one’s smartphone to place a food order from a restaurant. The
significant change in habit here is the act of ordering in, rather than going out for
food. Observing the topsy-turvy turn in the business of these food delivery services
and related restaurants, it becomes pertinent to ask certain questions: Why was there
a decline in ordering in during the lockdown? Should there not have been a surge in
demand for online ordering since people were locked in their homes? Who are the
Patgiri: Changing Food Habits Of Urban Middle-Class Youth In India 3

people that order food online? How and why did business pick up once the lockdown
was lifted? The various sections of this article suggest that the answers to these ques-
tions indicate shifts in the psycho-social and socio-economic structures of Indian
society, related to habits of procuring food, food consumption patterns and also busi-
ness strategies.

Online Food Delivery in India and Middle-Class Urban Indian Youth

As India has been moving towards a liberalised and globalised economy since the
1990s, restaurants, cafés, fast food joints and tea points became part of everyday
urban middle-class public culture (Breckenridge, 1995; Nandy, 2004). No meeting
or ‘hanging-out’ plan was complete without going to a restaurant or café, favoured
spots for celebrating special occasions. However, other business models and food
habits also developed at the same time. Realising the potential for an expanding mar-
ket of online ordering in India, Domino’s, one of the most popular Italian–American
fast food joints in the world, seems to have led this trend and now has the largest
market share in India outside the USA (Ambwani, 2016). Domino’s, which has a
preferred policy not to offer its food in sit-down restaurants to save costs, became one
of the first brands to open online and mobile ordering nationally (CNBC, 2020),
allowing the company to beat rival pizza brands in India and capture a large market
share.
The popularity of social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, espe-
cially among young people, further added to the charm of restaurants, as every meal
and occasion was documented through pictures of food and décor (Tandoh, 2016).
Instagram particularly accelerated the circulation of food-centric images because of
its user-friendly character, as photos can be shared easily. Restaurants began to pay
extra attention to making their food and décor look ‘instagrammable’ (Ginsberg,
2015; Herman, 2017). However, in the last decade or so, the habit of ordering food
at home through various food delivery services became increasingly popular among
the middle class. Zomato, Swiggy, Foodpanda and Faasos are prominent food deliv-
ery platforms in various parts of urban India. Zomato and Swiggy dominate that
market with an 80% share (Tandon, 2018a).
As the conversation with my friend showed, ordering food delivered at your door-
step saves time and transportation costs. While eating in a restaurant became increas-
ingly popular for middle-class families and youth (Conlon, 1995; Nandy, 2004; Ray,
2012; Sen, 2015), ordering food involved especially young people living in hostels
and rented places without families. The above-mentioned Zomato report of July
2020 observed the decrease in demand for food delivery when such young people
returned to their homes. As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded in India, many peo-
ple including students moved back to their hometowns, influenced partly by fear of
staying back in a city that is not their own, partly because universities made them
return home. The Zomato report of July 2020 noted the resulting decrease in

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demand, but also optimistically anticipated future growth and, in fact, predicted a
sharp recovery in order volumes as professionals and students were starting to move
back to India’s large cities.
While most online ordering business depended on India’s youth, the majority of
my respondents confirmed that their frequency of ordering food tends to decline
when they live with their family. Outside food is not favoured, as Indian parents
emphasise eating home-cooked meals (Bruckert, 2015, Simi & Matusitz, 2015).
Outside food is meant to be eaten only on special occasions. Sumi (aged 29) said:

My parents are old-school middle-class people. They believe in savings, not consumption.
They do not like to spend much on eating outside food. We do not eat out much. Ordering
in is even more frowned upon. They like to eat home-cooked food, even if it is simple. So,
all my eating out and ordering from outside happens when I am in Delhi.

Originally from Guwahati, Sumi now lives in Delhi, working in the media industry.
Staying alone in Delhi, she frequently relies on online meals orders, particularly dur-
ing lunch. While earlier she would order lunch at her office whenever her cook took
time off, during the pandemic, she ordered food at home because she was working
from home:

I struggled a lot during the initial phase of the lockdown since my cook could not come,
and neither was I able to order. I finally went home when flights were resumed, but at
home, we do not order. Parents do not like to order and eat from outside. In fact, they say
that it is our generation that orders food from outside.

Practices of eating outside food are intricately connected to the socio-economic pro-
cesses that have shaped Indian society during the 1990s. With the opening up of the
Indian economy, the term ‘middle class’ underwent fundamental changes too (Sen,
2015: 275). Various internal social hierarchies such as caste, region, religion and
language shape the Indian middle class (Fernandes, 2006). The theorisation of the
middle class has increased in recent times. Many new meanings have been added to
it in a globalised world, especially in a developing country like India, where many
people claim to belong to the middle class (Srivastava, 2012). Social scientists have
used the criterion of disposable income to distinguish lower and upper middle class
(Roy, 2018).
This article engages with upper-middle-class youth. Members of this class have dis-
posable annual incomes of more than $10,000 (Roy, 2018). Mostly engaged in non-
manual labour, they are involved in government jobs, academia, the service sector,
information technology and the media industry. My respondents are drawn from these
occupations. Although the middle class is a fluid category, it has certain characteristics
such as a high disposable income, investment in private education, accessing private
healthcare facilities and partaking in specific leisure activities. Increasing consumption
has become a hallmark, directly dependent on increased incomes (Fernandes, 2006,
Patgiri: Changing Food Habits Of Urban Middle-Class Youth In India 5

Jodhka & Prakash, 2016). One of the markers of this propensity towards rising
consumption has been the practice of eating out in restaurants.
This practice of dining out constitutes a historical change because India does not
have a tradition of the concept of restaurants or public dining (Sen, 2015: 275).
Norms of social life and caste conventions discouraged the use of restaurants as com-
mercial establishments for public dining (Conlon, 1995: 92). For most Indian house-
holds, important occasions of public dining only arose for birthdays, thread and
menstruation ceremonies, weddings and funerals (Conlon, 1995: 96; Sen, 2015:
278). In the post-independence era, there were only a few small inns and hotels cater-
ing to the needs of travellers, military personnel (Rajagopalan, 2016) and workers
(Carlin, 2008; Sen, 2015; Turner, 2014: 70). Dining out was initially not a leisure
activity, but fulfilled the daily needs of travellers and workers, with a few up-market
hotels as the exception.
Western-style family restaurants became popular in India only in the late twenti-
eth century. Burton (2009: 66) discusses how pizza as a highly adaptable multi-
purpose dish spearheaded new trends and habits in India, leading to tremendous
change since the 1990s, with rising numbers of large-scale restaurants, pubs, bars,
cafés and fast food joints in all major Indian cities, with McDonald’s, Pizza Hut,
Domino’s Pizza, Subway, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), and Yo! China, among
others. The food services market has continuously expanded, closely related to the
growth of towns and middle-class spaces such as cinema halls and shopping malls
(Fernandes, 2006: 142). When the first KFC outlet opened in 2012 in Guwahati in
Assam, there was a huge queue, extending at least a kilometre, such was the craze for
fast food and eating out. During Durga Puja, a major Hindu festival across the state,
almost every restaurant in Guwahati had hour-long waiting lines, as families, friends
and young couples celebrated by eating out.
While smaller restaurants and local tea shops existed in the past, generally catering
to working class and lower-middle-class individuals, the new fast food chains, upscale
bars, restaurants and nightclubs specifically target the upwardly mobile urban middle
class (Fernandes, 2006: 74). These eateries offer cuisine from various countries that
appeal to the urban elite and middle class as means of conspicuous consumption, an
old established concept (Veblen, 1899), creating ways of distinguishing themselves
from others. Restaurants and hotels have now become favourite hanging-out places,
particularly for urban youth, who do not mind spending lavishly on the small por-
tions of food from all over the world served in these locations (Dewey, 2012).
The entry of Zomato and Swiggy in 2008 and 2014, respectively, made it possible
for the middle class, particularly youth, to order food within the comfort of their
homes. With a population of now almost 1.5 billion, India is one of the world’s larg-
est consumer markets, with nearly 50% of this population under the age of 25. These
young people spend around 10%–13% of their expenditure on eating out (Tandon,
2018b), making middle-class youth an attractive key market for online food delivery
services in India, worth $7 billion in 2018 (Tandon, 2018a) and expected to grow

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much further before the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Several studies cover the
impact of restaurants and the practice of eating out in India (Conlon, 1995; Dewey,
2012; Sen, 2015; Staples, 2014). George Ritzer (2011) analysed, mainly for the USA,
the iconic ‘McDonaldization of Society’ in a prominent book which already exists in
several editions. While for India, the phenomenon of ordering in has remained rela-
tively under-researched sociologically, studies have begun to examine the marketing
and business aspects of food delivery services (Gupta, 2018).

The Field, Methods Used and Limitations

This study focuses on Hindu urban upper-caste, upper middle-class youth, mostly in
New Delhi and Guwahati and builds on my own personal networks. Since I migrated
to New Delhi from Assam for education, staying in university hostels for 10 years, I
became an avid participant in the practice of ordering food through various food
delivery applications. This was partly to avoid the unattractive food served in the
hostel mess (Gundemeda, 2020: 349) and partly due to curiosity about different
foods.
Sitting down to calculate my expenditure at the end of January 2020, I realised
that online food ordering had become a dominant feature. My former roommate
confirmed that it was the same for her, making us realise that we ordered so much
more while being away from home. Random talks about this to other friends, by
March 2020, resulted in formulating research questions. The field site had to be digi-
tal, as India was locked down since late March 2020 because of COVID-19. The
group I interacted with covered the age range of 20–35 years of upper middle-class
youth, a category that can afford to spend money regularly on ordering food online.
The research proceeded in two phases. First, an online questionnaire designed in
google form was circulated among family, friends and acquaintances through email
and social media networks. 40 responses were received, 12 from men and 28 from
women. Most questions were centred on online food ordering habits, such as
frequency of ordering per week, whether the person lived alone or with friends or
family, income, practices of ordering food during COVID-19, and eating out in
restaurants. In the second phase, 15 people were interviewed, 5 men and 10 women.
The names of all respondents have been changed to protect their privacy, and their
consent was sought to use their quotes in the article.
Although the questionnaire was circulated online, all respondents were based in
New Delhi, yet were migrants from other cities and towns such as Siliguri, Dehradun,
Jaipur, Lucknow and Guwahati, attracted to Delhi for education or employment.
This bias in sample selection can be attributed to my own location as a researcher
with roots outside Delhi. The responses to the question on income confirmed that all
respondents earned between $10,000–$11,000 per annum, which connects the abil-
ity to order food directly to their financial status. As they do not have to send money
home, they only need to manage their own expenses. Such young people possess
Patgiri: Changing Food Habits Of Urban Middle-Class Youth In India 7

smartphones and internet connections, allowing easy access to food delivery service
applications.
This also offered flexibility for follow-up questions to interviewees through phone calls
and other digital modes. The interviews were supplemented by observational notes, an
auto-ethnographic study and analysis of food content on social media, as it is important
to account for contemporary debates to understand the psycho-social and socio-economic
impacts of food delivery services. This became especially fruitful, as there is still a paucity
of literature on the practice of online ordering of food in the Indian context.

The Impact of Socio-Economic Factors on Ordering In

Before the entry of food delivery service providers in Indian urban markets, nearby
restaurants might deliver food to local customers’ homes. Such home delivery by
restaurants depended on distance and available human resources but was not promi-
nent. However, more recently, reflecting a significant shift, various food delivery ser-
vices have entered the market and online food delivery businesses have successfully
captured urban India’s young and attractive market.
As more young and ambitious urban Indians, inspired by aspirations and dreams
(Hiro, 2015; Poonam, 2018), started working in the private and corporate sectors
after the economic reforms of 1991, their work schedules have become more and
more hectic. Urban white-collar workers began visiting cafeterias, lunchrooms and
diners, either alone or with friends, colleagues and partners (Fernandes, 2006; Ray &
Srinivas, 2012). An increase in the number of Indian women working outside their
homes meant that housework, including cooking, was outsourced to domestic work-
ers (Ray & Qayum, 2009).
The other major provider of food in the lives of young urban middle-class Indians
is online delivery services, especially when their cook is absent or during special occa-
sions like ‘get-togethers’ at their homes. This is particularly important in the present
context, as eating out is perceived to involve certain risks. Therefore, most respond-
ents who earlier went out to celebrate occasions now prefer to invite their friends and
order in. Neha, a journalist who stays with her partner in Delhi, said:

I love to cook and generally when I invite guests, I like to treat them with home-cooked
food. But with work from home, I just do not have any time to cook. So now, when guests
come, I get food delivered. My cook cannot make fancy dishes, she only makes simple
meals.

While women like Neha prefer to order food online because it saves her time, and
offers more variety, others find it more economic. Many students prefer delivery
service platforms over going to restaurants, simply because they are cost-effective,
give attractive discounts and also save on transportation costs. These platforms also
accept non-cash payment modes (Paytm, Google Pay, MobiKwik, PhonePe and
debit/credit cards), a major reason for their rising popularity.

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While the impact of the economic policies of liberalisation has been well-documented
in relation to middle-class food habits, the influence of a more recent economic
measure, demonetisation, on food habits has been less recorded in academic studies,
though its impacts are clearly visible. This study found clear-cut evidence that the
sudden decision of the Indian government on 8 November 2016 to demonetise the
`500 and `1,000 currency notes gave a boost to online food delivery service providers.
Non-cash payments became particularly popular after this sudden announcement of
demonetisation of major currency notes (Lahiri, 2020). Due to the immediate effect,
many people quickly shifted to non-cash modes of payment. While the unorganised
and informal sector was reportedly hit quite badly, as it is mostly cash-dependent
(Shankar & Sahni, 2018), the measure created widespread chaos among all citizens,
with many socio-economic impacts well-documented in newspaper reports (Himanshu,
2017). Huge queues formed outside ATMs and banks as people faced a severe cash
crunch. Outstation students were particularly affected.
Clearly demonetisation also had significant effects on the food industry. As the
government pushed for digital modes of payment (Lahiri, 2020; Singh, 2019), the
online ordering platforms capitalised on this, facilitating non-cash modes of payment
to help distressed customers. In this process, their market presence was strengthened.
Vineet, a medical student in New Delhi, said:

When demonetisation was announced suddenly, I had very little cash with me. There were
huge queues outside the ATMs in Delhi. I live in a single room alone and generally cook
myself, eat out or order in. But in those cash-strapped times, I survived only because of
Zomato and Swiggy. They accepted card payments, and I was able to order food despite
not having cash.

Concurring with Vineet, Neha reported that while eating out was an option for her,
often the card machines of restaurants were not working because of the strain on
bank servers. Thus, ordering in became a much better alternative. Neha said:

We had gone to a popular restaurant in Satya Niketan three days after demonetisation.
They said they would accept cards, but when we had to pay, the machine was not working.
We had to give them the little cash we had, which meant that I had to stand in the ATM
queue the next day.

Vineet also stated that he could not buy vegetables from his usual local market, as
small shopkeepers did not use digital modes of payment, though they, too, quickly
got used to this. For the first two weeks after demonetisation, Vineet ordered almost
every meal online. He said there was no choice. After queuing for the ATM for hours,
by the time his turn would come, the machine had run out of cash.
Demonetisation thus introduced changes in the eating habits of urban upper
middle-class youth, and online food delivery services seized this opportunity to
capture the market. Such service providers saw a 40%–60% increase in their sales
Patgiri: Changing Food Habits Of Urban Middle-Class Youth In India 9

during this period (Dinesh & Reddy, 2018) and, since then, have only grown in
stature. Apart from allowing non-cash payments, they also give different kinds of
discounts to customers, including becoming gold or platinum members. Users can
avail various coupons and vouchers to order food at discounted prices, making it
much cheaper to use these online platforms than to order directly from restaurants or
go out to eat, which would also involve extra costs for transportation.
While demonetisation gave the online food delivery service providers a boost,
later, especially as a result of the pandemic, they managed to remain relevant by mak-
ing various innovations and adaptations in their business. The next two sections con-
sider some of these strategies and explore further how they have impacted on food
habits among India’s upper middle-class urban youths.

Impact of Ordering in on Middle-Class Urban Youth

Sociologists, especially functionalists, who have studied food have emphasised the role
played by food in connecting the individual to the community (Beardsworth, 1997;
Counihan, 2004; Durkheim, 1995 [1912]; Malinowski, 1913; Ritzer, 2011). In different
parts of the world, the practice of eating meals together is seen as a social event that brings
families together (Counihan, 2004). This experience is prominent also when food is
ordered in. Friends, families or couples, who have had busy days, would come back home,
order food online and eat together. Shreya, who works for an NGO in Delhi, said:

Food is best enjoyed when eaten together. I live with two flatmates, and all three of us are
busy throughout the day. It is only during dinner time that we meet. Most of the time, we
try to eat together. Generally, our cook makes the food but, on some days, we do not feel
like eating roti-sabzi. Then we order and eat together.

Many fast food chains and online delivery services understand their market well and
have devised various ‘combo’ offers that cater to groups. KFC has multiple combo
meals, like friendship buckets, that can be shared by several people. Domino’s sells
‘bumper pizzas’ and ‘family pizzas’. Similarly, Zomato offers ‘BOGO’ deals to its
customers, where one dish comes free with another dish. Such lucrative options give
people various alternatives that are seen as cheaper and can also be shared. Thus, the
food delivery service industry promotes the idea of food bringing people together.
However, this is only one side of the story. A somewhat unexpected finding of my
research is that many youths said that they prefer to ‘order in’ because it gives them
the space to eat alone and avoid social interaction. Apart from allowing non-cash
payments and being cost-effective, ordering through delivery services is preferred
because one does not have to speak to anybody to place an order, as everything may
be completed online. Vaani, a PR professional in Delhi, stated:

I like to have a burger from McDonald’s for breakfast. But the person who takes the order
asks so many questions, and I do not want to engage in early morning conversations. Now,

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10 South Asia Research Vol. 42(3): 1–16

as McDonald’s has tied up with Zomato, I can place the order online without answer-
ing those questions. It is much more convenient and easier. As a PR professional, I have
to speak to people continuously, therefore I do not want to engage in other meaningless
conversations.

Similar reasons were expressed by Nita, a journalist in Delhi, who observed that
online food ordering had made her life easier:

Earlier I used to call up restaurants near my home and order food from them. But I had to
explain my address again and again, which is very cumbersome. After long hours at work, I
do not want to talk to others about anything, just want to eat my dinner and have a quiet
time. With Zomato or even Swiggy, the good thing is that the address is stored through
GPS, and I don’t have to explain it.

Champa, a student living alone in Delhi, said that after a long day she wants to come
back and eat by herself. Instead of engaging in conversations, she prefers to watch
something on her laptop:

I am a person who likes to watch a good movie or an episode from a series when I am eat-
ing. I don’t get much time otherwise to watch anything. Hence, I utilise my dinner time for
this. It also gives me the chance to spend some ‘me time’, which is so important in today’s
hectic world.

These testimonies of Vaani, Nita and Champa provide fascinating insights into how
online food delivery platforms are becoming a means to avoid social interaction for
some young Indians. This contrasts with what had facilitated the entry of restaurants
in India, namely that they became popular meeting points for friends and couples to
share a meal and conversation (Conlon, 1995: 92). Even now, people such as Vaani,
Nita and Champa agree that when they want to meet friends and socialise, they will
go out and eat in restaurants. Interestingly, Champa said that she does not upload
photographs of her eating alone at home, as it would be seen as ‘depressing’. She only
does it when she goes out to eat with friends:

If I post pictures of eating alone, people would think I am alone and have no friends. I do
not want to give that impression. I like to eat alone. But in Indian society, doing anything
alone is not encouraged, be it travelling, going to the movies or eating. So, I only post
photos when I go out to eat.

Online ordering of food allows these young people to eat alone while watching a
movie or a series and avoiding conversations. Restaurants, increasingly aware of such
consumer preferences, have also developed customised options in their menus to
cater to those who want to eat alone. Domino’s has ‘single pizzas’ in its delivery menu,
while McDonald’s has options like ‘meal for one’. Zomato now even has an option
where one does not have to call the delivery person but can leave a voice message with
Patgiri: Changing Food Habits Of Urban Middle-Class Youth In India 11

instructions. Thus, the practices of ordering food have introduced and also reflect
several changes in the food habits of middle-class urban youth.

Ordering in During COVID-19

It is also crucial to understand the impact of ordering in during COVID-19 since
self-isolation and physical distancing became absolutely necessary. As mentioned ear-
lier, initially there were apprehensions about ordering food from outside. All 40
respondents said that, for multiple reasons, they did not order food during the lock-
down, even after restrictions on online food delivery were lifted. One of them was the
fear of catching the virus by eating food from outside (Aggarwal, 2020). The other
was pressure from parents who disapproved of outside food. Some were not scared to
order from outside, but still did not order because of their parents.
Reba, who teaches in a college in Delhi, was living with her parents in Guwahati
during the lockdown. She said that after the lockdown was relaxed, she ordered food
from KFC, but was ‘heavily scolded’ by her parents, who were scared that she had eaten
‘outside food’. It did not help that she developed a fever after two days, raising worries
whether this was a symptom of COVID-19. Because of this, Reba did not order any-
thing from outside for a long time, stating that she would not get any satisfaction from
eating the burger she craved so much, because her family would be worried about
catching the virus either from the food or the delivery person. Viren, a male respondent
who works in the IT sector and lives alone in Delhi, had been ordering food through
Zomato even after the lockdown was enforced. But when the pizza delivery person had
tested positive in Delhi (Kumar, 2020; J.P. Sharma, 2020), he too, stopped ordering.
He stated that it became too risky to keep ordering from outside. Also, since his mother,
who is a heart patient, got scared, he started limiting his orders.
Realising that their business was under threat, the food delivery services adopted
new measures to reach out to their customers. Fast food chains such as McDonald’s
and Domino’s and food delivery providers such as Swiggy and Zomato sent advisory
emails to their customers, stating that they were taking all required safety precautions
as mandated by the World Health Organization. Emphasis turned to ‘contactless
delivery’ or ‘zero contact delivery’, which means one makes online payment for the
food and the delivery personnel simply leave it at the doorstep. Preventing contact
and hence minimising the risks of infection helped building consumers’ trust. Many
of these companies were also using modern technology to track the body temperature
of their delivery personnel and staff involved in the kitchen. Some also invested in
training their riders to maintain proper safety measures.
These steps have shown results, as online food delivery has picked up again after
the lockdown was relaxed. While most respondents were still apprehensive about eat-
ing in restaurants, food ordered and consumed within the comfort of one’s house was
seen as safe. Many respondents who were regular customers of online services admit-
ted that they missed the comfort and luxury of ordering food online. Reba, for

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12 South Asia Research Vol. 42(3): 1–16

instance, said that once she goes back to Delhi after things become better, she would
order food online.
Reema, a banker who lives alone in Delhi, said that she was not used to cooking
three meals every day, which took a toll on her. After the lockdown was eased, the first
thing she did was to order a pizza from Domino’s through Zomato:

Most of the places were closed, and even the ones that delivered were not coming to my
place. I missed ordering food during the lockdown. I had to manage all the household as
well as office work. It was not easy. It felt so good to have something different after so long.
Zomato delivered it very safely, it was well-covered and was a contactless delivery. The
delivery person left it at my door and then I picked it up. I am living alone for the past few
months, doing all the cooking by myself. It was becoming too monotonous and boring.

Viren, an IT professional living alone in Delhi, had been regularly ordering food using
Zomato even during this crisis. While, as stated earlier, he had stopped when news of
the pizza delivery boy testing positive had broken, he soon resumed ordering food:

I am not good at cooking. It takes me a long time to make even basic meals. I don’t have
that kind of time as I have a 10-hour shift that I am doing from home. Since my cook was
also off-duty, I ordered from Zomato. I would make rice and order some curry or sabzi. I
had a cook before, but she left for her village during this pandemic, and I have not been
able to find a new one. I also feel it is better to order than hire a cook at this point.

Apart from the important hints here about new ways of managing one’s household
without external help, such reliance and dependence on online ordering of food has
helped service providers to pick up business after the lockdown was relaxed on 1 June
2020. Although most suspicions and fears attached to outside food have now disap-
peared, most of the respondents remain sceptical about eating out in restaurants and
feel that ordering online is safer. They argued that the delivery is contactless, and they
can safely transfer the food to their own utensils when they ordered in, which reflects
a sense of trust placed on online service providers.

Conclusions
Social scientists have examined the emergence of new workplaces and associated
changes (Upadhya, 2019). Related to these changes has been the rise of new consump-
tion habits and food cultures in Indian cities (Baviskar, 2019), especially among the
urban middle class. The growth of fast food joints and restaurants and the practice of
eating out has been extensively studied (Conlon, 1995; Nandy, 2004). In contrast, the
fairly new practice of ordering in has not received much attention and this article tried
to address this gap. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, I had to rely on online modes
of communication with respondents. While this meant that I could not interact with
them directly, it also allowed me to incorporate my own experiences and observations.
Patgiri: Changing Food Habits Of Urban Middle-Class Youth In India 13

The study identified urban middle-class youth as primary consumers of food deliv-
ered through online services. While these had entered the market during the 2000s, the
2016 demonetisation and the related push for digital modes of payment significantly
strengthened the market presence of online food delivery service providers. They came
to the rescue of cash-strapped students and other middle-class youths who stayed in
cities without their families. Since then, the growing practice of ordering in has also
assumed new meanings in the consumption patterns of food. Notably, for many young
people, it has become a way of enjoying their meal alone in a peaceful environment,
without having to engage in social interactions, allowing more ‘me time’. For others, it
is a way of sharing and enjoying a meal with friends and families at home.
Both meanings of ordering in have been reflected in the changing food habits of urban
middle-class youth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although initially suspicious of
outside food, people are now slowly going back to ordering food in their homes and
offices. While part of this can be attributed to adaptive strategies like contactless delivery
and temperature tracking by food delivery service providers, other reasons are dependence
on and being habituated to eating outside food, which also offers much variety.
Most respondents had hectic work schedules, which meant that cooking was ear-
lier mostly outsourced to domestic workers. Keeping in mind the risks of COVID-
19, ordering in has become a much safer option than employing a cook, who prob-
ably works in many homes during a day, increasing the risks of infection. It also
reflects the changing food habits of urban middle-class Indian youth who want to try
new and different kinds of cuisines in the comfort of their homes. Many respondents
mentioned getting bored eating only simple home-made food during the lockdown.
Ordering in offered a welcome chance to break this monotony.
Thus, this study of the growing practice of ordering food through online delivery
service providers has helped to understand not just the changing food habits of the
urban middle-class youth, which was my initial primary interest, but it also allows
insights into several related changes in the psycho-social and socio-economic struc-
tures of contemporary Indian society, largely as a consequence of the pandemic. It
seems pertinent to suggest that further studies on these processes would be valuable.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship
and/or publication of this article.

Funding
The author received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of
this article.

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Rituparna Patgiri is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at

Indraprastha College for Women, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India. She holds
a PhD in Sociology from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and her research
areas cover the sociology of food and its relationship with digitalisation. She is one of
the co-founders of Doing Sociology, an academic blog dedicated to promoting
sociological knowledge. [e-mail: [email protected]]