Chicken biryani or masala dosa -- what did Indians order most during lockdown?

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown that started on March 22, people across the country have had to spend months without eating out at their favourite restaurants and pubs.

In the lockdown and the recent unlock phases, Swiggy observed customer buying trends and how people’s taste buds and eating habits shifted in these times of social distancing.

With this, Swiggy launched its StatEATistics report: The Quarantine Edition that highlights some interesting food and order trends when people were indoors - right from the most ordered dish to the number of orders delivered in the past few months.

Swiggy, an on-demand delivery platform delivered food, grocery and other essentials, picking it up from restaurants, several 5-star hotels, national supermarket chains, local convenience stores.

FMCG brands also partnered with Swiggy Grocery and Genie for delivering essential items and culinary delights.

Through Swiggy Grocery, 323 million kgs of onions were delivered and 56 million kgs of bananas were delivered, according to Swiggy’s StatEATistics: The Quarantine Edition, that reveals what Indians have been ordering for the past few months.

As far as food is concerned, data shows when people weren’t whipping up Dalgonas or baking Banana Bread, they found comfort in biryanis, which ruled the roost with nearly 5.5 lakh chicken biryani orders.

This was followed by butter naan and masala dosa with 3.35 lakh and 3.31 lakh orders, respectively.

Overall, Swiggy delivered 40 million orders in the last few months across food, groceries, medicines and other household items.

On average, 65,000 meal orders were placed by 8 PM each day.

Among desserts, around 129,000 Choco Lava Cake orders were placed through Swiggy. The humble Gulab Jamun and chic Butterscotch Mousse Cake followed.

As birthday parties moved to video calls, and virtual cake cutting sessions, Swiggy delivered nearly 1,20,000 cakes.

Around 3,50,000 packets of this ideal easy to cook meal were ordered during the lockdown.

Swiggy delivered over 73,000 bottles of sanitisers and hand wash along with 47,000 face masks as the definition of ‘essentials’ changed during these uncertain times.