A Closer Look
NKD Pizza
A bit of background:
Founded in late 2006 as one small store in New Orleans, Naked Pizza was launched as an ambitious business model that seeks to change the nutritional profile of fast food. It was branded to NKD Pizza for the Middle East launch.
By way of example, NKD Pizza is demonstrating that pizza, while still of a fast food profile, does not have to be part of the problem in our global epidemic of obesity and chronic disease, but in fact can be part of the solution.
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What it offers as part of its special diets menu:
The first thing is the opening warning on its online menu that explains which ingredients may affect customers with certain allergies. For example it states its Ancestral Blend (crust, cheesy breadstixx, and manakeesh) contains wheat and soy; its mozzarella and feta cheese contain milk; its BBQ sauce contains wheat and is also produced in a facility that processes peanuts. For the gluten-free audience, it recently launched a gluten-free crust pizza and is currently looking into lactose-free offerings and vegan cheese.
Other cool facts:
To ensure the vegetables used on its pizzas and in its salads is additive and chemical free, it works with the organisation Greenheart Organic Farms to create the NKD Greenheart Garden here in the UAE. The organically produced vegetables are then handpicked daily for its dishes.
A Closer Look
Memsaab Restaurant, JLT, Dubai
A bit of background: Launched earlier this year in the Jumeirah Lake Towers area of Dubai, by chef Anil Kumar, the restaurant is dedicated to offering dishes that are healthy. It does this by preparing them with little or no oil. The kitchen also promises to offer gluten-free, lactose-free and vegan dishes to suit a diner’s dietary requirements provided the kitchen is given notice.
What it offers as part of its special diets menu:
Menu options at Memsaab have reduced or lower fat versions of milk, spreads, cream, yogurt, butter and so on. Specialised cooking techniques such as grilling, using the tandoor-hearth oven, steaming and baking are favoured over frying. Cooking in the tandoor melts off all remaining traces of fat without compromising on the nutrients, flavour or texture. Sugar-free lassis are an alternative to the traditional lassis.
The restaurant is also almost trans-fat free as it does not use hydrogenated fat in any of its dishes and it doesn’t feature biscuits or cakes in the menu.
Other cool facts:
To ensure the food is as natural and healthy as possible, chef Anil swears against “tinkering with it”. Instead he prefers serving it in its raw and most natural state. The further away food gets from it's natural, original state, the worse it gets in terms of taste and benefits he says. Gluten-free for example, it doesn’t mean you have to add other whole grains.
Top 3
challenges in offering a special diet menu
Supply – Suppliers are not willing to seek out better quality products, due to the price and low demand.
Demand – While gluten-free is gaining momentum, with the opening of independent gluten-free stores, this along with dairy-free and sugar free are still not demanded enough for all outlets to offer it as part of a mainstream menu. Many have to have such items specially requested.
Price – Low demand and poor supply often results in ingredients that are made available here being very pricey.
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