Latest news with #Padmanaban
Mint
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Mint
India's bars get creative with zero-proof drinks
How hard is it to find a good mocktail in a city like Mumbai? The answer is a struggle, as I inevitably learned. As someone who has always been a teetotaller, my biggest conundrum while dining out is to find a balanced, non-alcoholic drink. Most restaurants and bars tend to list the usual variety of tried and tested beverages like fresh lime soda, iced teas, virgin mojito or for the sake of nostalgia, pina colada—which get boring. With the introduction of zero-proof drinks and spirits as well as the rise of the 'sober curious", especially amongst Gen Z, one would think that restaurants and bars would be doing more. And while many are, with a significant shift towards organic ingredients and innovative flavour profiles, are they actually good enough to draw customers back? Also read: The most recommended books on spirits and cocktails Recently, I enjoyed a non-alcoholic cocktail at Ode, a European-forward restaurant in Mumbai. The drink, Apro Nuts, was well-balanced with the use of coconut water as the base, along with apricot brine, pickled apricot for a touch of tartness, and rosemary and lime to balance out the sweetness. It got me thinking about what establishments are doing to cater to sober drinkers. At Pandan Club, a Peranakan-inspired restobar in Chennai, restaurateur and partner Manoj Padmanaban shares how they've crafted their zero-proof programme, called 'zero fake", with the intention of flipping the script on mocktails. 'Most mocktail menus read like they've been written by a reluctant intern. Our menu isn't a footnote and we wanted to change that perception," he says, referring to some of their creations like nitro-infused zero-proof stout or a coconut toddy-inspired zero-proof champagne. Their 0% stout features kaya jam and pandan. Jamun and grapes are vinified for the 0% rosé, while ingredients like fennel and yuzu feature in their 0% sake. Padmanaban says there is now an uptick in places embracing fermentation, homemade tinctures, and botanical infusions for mocktails. At Masque, in Mumbai, seasonality is one of the mainstays of the beverage programme, which extends to non-alcoholic pairings. Head mixologist Ankush Gamre says they usually ask guests their flavour preference and then build the drink from there. 'Currently, a summer favourite is mango kombucha, where we use mango peel trimmings," he says. During the monsoon, the restaurant switches to ingredients like roselle and mint, and also makes batches of tepache, a Mexican fermented drink using pineapple skin. 'We get the best variety of pineapples from July to September, and come winter, we try to introduce drinks with ingredients like pomelo," he says. 'Increasingly, people are keen to know about the ingredients going into their drinks. They even tell us how they'd like us to sweeten them with agave nectar, honey, stevia or other sweeteners." Also read: Will zero-proof cocktails outrun the G&T? Bar and beverage consultant Nitin Tewari points out that one broad trend that they're seeing with zero-proof beverages is that restaurants and bars are making the effort to use regional-inspired ingredients, and create in-house sodas. 'To be fair, as a country we have always had a penchant for seasonal drinks like aam panna, shikanji, chaa, and sharbats. People often see value in ordering these, versus just lemonades and iced teas when dining out," he says. 'We're also seeing the use of exotic ingredients, such as Thai flavours like kaffir lime, galangal and lemongrass." Gurugram-based regional Indian restaurant, Bhawan, makes its own sharbat sodas in flavours like cucumber, mint and bela, and litchi and rose. Similarly, at the Thai restaurant Banng in Gurugram, zero-proof cocktails feature vibrant flavour profiles such as pink guava, tom yum broth, kaffir lime and salted plum water, in a conscious effort to cater to the growing number of sober drinkers. According to Tewari, a majority of restaurants don't realise the potential to make more profits off non-alcoholic drinks. 'After spending a significant chunk on acquiring liquor licenses, cocktails and spirits become one of the primary products for them to push out, leaving little scope for non-alcoholic beverages," he explains. On average, five out of 100 such restaurants that are paying close attention to their zero-proof menus, he adds. For all the efforts to appease the 'sober curious" or those who crave the flavour of their favourite spirit—minus the buzz, the numbers are still very minuscule. Not to mention, the flavours don't appeal to all. For a teetotaller like me, who has no reference point for a spirit like gin or tequila, such menus often tend to go unnoticed. Tewari notes that there is still not much demand for non-alcoholic wines and beers across the country, explaining the lack of such products. For one, the percentage of such drinkers is still very small. He also points out how mostly its alcobev brands that are producing such products, as a means for surrogate advertising. Sana Bector Parwanda, co-founder of Delhi-based Zoet Desserts, says she consciously started moving away from alcoholic drinks a few years ago. One of her biggest frustrations was the lack of sugar-free mocktails. 'I'm someone who would rather eat my sugar than drink it, so I end up ordering tonic water as a safe choice." She adds that while travelling to other countries, non-alcoholic aperitifs with evolved flavour profiles are quite enjoyable, and even non-alcoholic wines and beers, which are tougher to find in India. Gamre is optimistic about the future of zero-proof menus. 'The fact that zero-proof beverages are finding a place on bar menus is pointing to a much bigger demand than we acknowledge," he says. 'Creating these drinks is also like writing a new flavour book each time, as guests don't want to settle for a concoction that tastes like a blend of juices they can easily make at home." Tewari adds that even a platform like 30 Best Bars India is acknowledging zero-proof drinks with the addition of an award category titled 'Best non-alcoholic cocktail menu" in 2023. The winners include Pandan Club in Chennai and Bandra Born in Mumbai. Is it a sign that zero-proof drinks will finally see the evolution it deserves? Arzoo Dina is a Mumbai-based food and travel writer. Also read: Why classic cocktails will never go out of style
The Hindu
26-04-2025
- Health
- The Hindu
No phenotype data details in GenomeIndia's proposal call
On January 9, 2025, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) called for proposals on 'Translational research using genomeIndia data' from scientists based in India. On February 20, eight days before the February 28 deadline for submitting proposals, DBT extended the deadline till March 31, 2025. The 10,000 human genome project had collected blood samples and associated phenotype data from over 20,000 individuals representing 83 population groups — 30 tribal and 53 non-tribal populations — spread across India. Of the 20,000 individuals, preliminary findings based on the genetic information of 9,772 individuals were published in the journal Nature Genetics as a Comment on April 8. The Comment article clearly listed the phenotype data collected from over 20,000 people, including height, weight, hip circumference, waist circumference and blood pressure. From blood samples collected, complete blood counts as well as biochemistry data such as glucose measurements, lipid profiles, and liver and kidney function tests were measured and are available along with genome data of 9,772 individuals. Surprisingly, neither the first proposal call nor the addendum extending the deadline for submitting the proposals listed what phenotype data were available to researchers. Even the GenomeIndia website does not have that information. The first time that information became public was when the Comment article was published on April 8. But the deadline for submitting the proposals was March 31. 'The anthropometric and blood biochemistry data were only collected to ensure that the samples covered under the GenomeIndia project were from healthy individuals,' says a DBT spokesperson in an email to The Hindu. 'The GenomeIndia project has not published a data dictionary nor released detailed information on the available phenotype metadata of the genotyped samples in the project. A Commentary in the Nature Genetics journal has been the first and only public communication about the details of phenotype metadata in the project, till date. Even before the publication of this article, DBT has completed a proposal inviting researchers for utilising the GenomeIndia data,' says Dr. Padmanaban V, Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at CMC Vellore. Incidentally, the addendum published on February 20 extending the deadline to March 31 noted that DBT had 'received many queries regarding the type of data that will be released'. Despite saying 'relevant phenotype data (as per request)' will be provided under Controlled (Managed) Access, what phenotype data that were available was not provided. 'Despite admitting that there have been many queries related to the data, there still wasn't any information on the list of available phenotypes that researchers can request even in this document,' says Dr. Padmanaban. Also, the Comment piece published in the journal, which is the only place the phenotype data is collected and available, was mentioned, is behind a paywall, thus restricting some researchers from reading it. The spokesperson points out that the One Nation One Subscription scheme will provide access to research articles and journal publications to students, faculty and researchers. However, the One Nation One Subscription scheme currently provides free access to journal papers to researchers and students only from public institutions. While researchers from 20 institutions involved in the GenomeIndia project would be aware of the phenotype data available, others would be unaware of it. 'Researchers who were not part of the GenomeIndia project team did not have information on the available phenotype metadata,' says Dr. Padmanaban. 'Not only GenomeIndia data but any biological data available at IBDC can be accessed by researchers as per provisions in Biotech PRIDE Guidelines and FeED Protocols, which are in harmony with practices followed by international databases,' the spokesperson says.
