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Delicious diet food delivered to the off... |
Delicious diet food delivered to the officeAWHILE ago I had a wonderful experience in the healthy-eating department. In the process of being treated as a guinea pig for the Cuzina Fresca range of gourmet diet food, I took delivery at my office - for five consecutive afternoons - of chic, ingeniously designed, easy-to-carry containers of the most appetising vegetarian dishes I've tried. Among them were what looked like a miniature loaf of bread but was a light pastry enclosure for a flavourful vegetable terrine, melt-in-the-mouth phyllo mushroom tartlets, a vivid ratatouille and a creamy vegetarian pasta. And as I thumbed my nose at every appliance in the kitchen other than the microwave oven and tucked into them with my family, I felt the fact they were nutritionally balanced and low in kilojoules was almost beside the point. This is precisely what the men behind Cuzina Fresca discovered in the year since they launched the brand. "There is obviously a demand for our food because it is healthy and kilojoule-con- trolled," says Jerry Argyriou, who handles the marketing side of the business. "But what busy people are really grabbed by is Cuzina Fresca's convenience factor." At first dieters were targeted. They were invited to have proper one-on-one assess- ments - including cholesterol screening and electronic body composition analysis - before embarking on lean-eating programmes. But though the company still offers this service, the emphasis has switched to business people who want to eat healthily but who don't want to - or don't have time to - shop and cook. "Most of the 100-odd clients we have at any one time are single or couples who haven't got children," says Argyriou. "They tend to tailor the meals we offer to suit their own schedules. For instance, they will take lunch and supper on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays and make plans to eat out or cook on Wednesdays and weekends." They have a choice of meals from two health programmes a week - lamb with mint and yoghurt pasta and turkey and plum pie caught my eye - which are approved by the Heart Foundation and are also suitable for non-insulin dependent diabetics. Alternatively, they can choose from classic non-diet dishes such as sweet 'n sour chicken and a vegetarian programme. Each dish comes with an assortment of vegetables. The price, R19,90 a meal (plus a R5 delivery charge if you take only one meal in a day), is the same for all programmes - which, in contrast with the price of restaurant fare, isn't bad. In fact, a month of meals - two a day for 30 days - could work out lower than your average monthly grocery bill at R1 200. Cuzina Fresca is worth bearing in mind if your work pattern consists of peaks and valleys. In peak periods, what could be more convenient and pleasurable than to be able to take on-your-doorstep delivery of a couple of balanced and delicious meals a day? What's more, you could probably claim the R39,80 it will cost you a day as a tax- deductible expense. If my experience was anything to go by, real effort has been invested in making the food good to look at and to eat. Indeed, one of Cuzina Fresca's chefs used to cook for the Oppenheimers. The only problem, I felt, was that microwaved food is never as appetising as freshly cooked food - especially if pastry is one of its components. Still, there's no getting away from the fact the microwave is here to stay. Argyriou points out that when he and his partners were researching the concept, they came across a prediction by a trends guru. "It was that by the year 2005, hardly anyone in the US would be preparing food at home. They would either be eating out or having their meals delivered to them." Unsurprisingly, he adds, the US companies on which Cuzina Fresca is modelled are booming. "It's slower here not only because the market is small but because many people employ domestic staff to cook for them and there has been a proliferation of fast-food outlets." Cuzina Fresca competitor Nutrifit, which supplies weekly batches of frozen diet food to subscribers, closed in Johannesburg but is still operating in Cape Town. Cuzina Fresca has a good chance of doing well for a number of reasons. It appeals to a wider cross-section of people than simply those struggling to lose weight. Its daily delivery service - a fleet of Unos is used - makes it convenient and increases the fresh appeal of the food. And it is communicating in 90s fashion by faxing or E-mailing menus to subscribers, as well as by having established an Internet website (www.icon.co.za/~cuzina). ý Linda Stafford is a senior editor on the Financial Mail
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