What's in Your Basket?

Austerity, that’s the new buzzword these days. Rahul Gandhi to Shashi Tharoor, you either adopt it or it’s forced on to you. However, retailers across the nation tell us people are not so austere when it comes to filling up their vegetable basket.

Exotic is in, normal is out. Everyone’s got the munchies for broccoli, mushrooms, capsicum and lettuce icebergs these days and it doesn’t matter that prices have shot up. Iceberg lettuce prices have risen 86 percent in the last year. But that hasn’t stopped people from buying it. Sales of lettuce have gone up by a whopping 153 percent. Broccoli prices have increased 29 percent but sales have gone through the roof at 86 percent.

The ones that make it to the daily dining table haven’t done too badly. Tomato prices have gone down 22 percent and sales have gone up by 72 percent. People are cutting down on carbohydrates. Potato prices are up 44 percent but sales have only gone up 35 percent. What are you having for dinner tonight?

(Research by Nilofer D’souza)