Akash K. Sajith was the Vice President of Customer Experience and Analytics at a firm when his life changed a couple of years ago, after both his parents became very ill.

This resulted in Akash starting to think about the nutrition value of the food we consume and the manner in which it is prepared. “I realised that good food is vital for good health. Real food is about trust and transparency. It is about ensuring quality and traceability at every step. We set up Living Food Company to provide the food we can trust and to meet a need to take control of our food production systems.”

Microgreen dreams

With his co-founders, Niranjan and Shikha, Akash decided to grow micro-greens, 10 to12-day old plants that are extremely rich in nutrients, antioxidants, essential vitamins and minerals. The Living Food Company grows and delivers the produce to households across the city and sells it to hotels such as the Hilton, Shangri-La and top chefs in the city.

Akash says, “We focus on growing highly nutritious micro-greens such as kale, broccoli, mizuna (Japanese mustard), pink radish, red chard and 15 other varieties. They are a rich source of vitamin A, B, C, E, proteins, calcium, iron, zinc, potassium, magnesium and folic acid. These essential nutrients are often neglected in our diets and the living greens help correct these nutritional imbalances. We aim at making these nutrient-rich foods affordable and accessible for the average urban Indian consumer and democratise access to super-foods.”

Describing the greens, Akash says, They are usually about one to three inches long and come in a rainbow of colours, which has made them popular in recent years as garnishes with chefs. We have climate-controlled hydroponics and aeroponics farms designed to eliminate soil contamination, enhance nutrition and preserve taste and flavour, making us one of the first climate-smart and sustainable farms in the country.”

There are daily and monthly subscription packs. “We deliver across the city. Koramangala, Whitefield and Indiranagar are areas where we have a good subscriber base. I am sure this will become more popular in the time to come.”

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Life & Style / by Nikhil Varma / February 01st, 2019