Not ‘Maid’a To Be Healthy : Maggi’s Experiments With Grains
Let’s start with a quick quiz:
What are Maggi noodles made out of?
a) The souls of the innocent
b) Lead, plastic, MSG, death
c) Amitabh Bachchan’s tears after the FIR
d) Literally every grain in existence
It’s d). If you’re reading this in the future, b) may not be so far from the truth.
After every mom cried out ‘Don’t eat Maggi, it’s made of maida’, the brand executives reasoned:
Maggi = Good, Maida = Bad
Maggi = Maida, Maggi = Bad
But if Maggi ≠ Maida, then Maggi = Good?
So they threw everything in the mix, hoping to create the ultimate ‘Healthy Maggi*’, that no mom would find offensive enough to feed her kids.
In 2006, Nestle thought, ‘Hey moms tell kids to have Dal right? Fuck it, let’s make Dal noodles.’
Maggi’s Dal Atta noodles — Sambar flavour was unleashed onto unsuspecting south Indians, who once again had to bear the stereotype advertisers love to abuse.
If Sambar on your noodles sounds unappetizing, you’ll be happy to hear that not many people liked the taste — including this one blogger who thought he was eating literal shit. The product was discontinued shortly due to low demand. However, the flavour made a sneaky comeback in 2018 with ‘Super Chennai Masala Noodles’ from their Masalas of India collection.
While Dal Atta Noodles faded away from the supermarket shelves, another ‘Atta’ companion was going strong. Maggi Vegetable Atta Noodles was finally a worthy replacement to ‘unhealthy’* Maggi.
The flavour sachet had ‘actual’ vegetables in it and had a similar yet distinct taste as compared to regular Maggi.
And now to activate the memories that were lying dormant in your brain for 12 years.
If you binge-watched TV in 2007, the jingle would have stuck in your head like a blood-sucking leech. We won’t blame you as it was created by the same man who made Britannia’s ‘Ting Ting Ti Ting’ and Maggi’s 2 minutes, a part of Indian culture.
The Rice Noodle Mania didn’t catch on, but one of the flavours did. Chilly Chow still exists in Maggi’s cup noodles.
2010 saw Nestle assaulting 4 grains for their Multigrainz Maggi.
And for this sin, karma hit them hard. People hated the texture of the noodles and Multigrainz was phased out quickly.
In 2014, Nestle wanted Maggi noodles to be a breakfast food (because ruining your health 2 times a day isn’t enough), with Maggi Oats Noodles. Time to revive Madhuri Dixit’s career with this ad:
Over the years, Nestle did it! They said a big ‘Fuck you’ to moms everywhere. Finally, they couldn’t complain that Maggi is only maida in disguise! Until Maggi got banned in 2015 and stopped existing for a while. After the exile, Maggi started focussing on their flavours and took a step back from being anti-maida.
As the failures show, Maggi was never about what seemingly healthy substance it was made of, it was the flavour (and lack of money) that made us keep coming back to it.
