Aksha Nanavati has a challenge at hand — that of growing avocados in her garden. It’s a bit tricky, she admits, but it’s worth the effort, because the 24-year-old likes using organic produce in her salads. The founder of Soul Soufflé (subscription-based healthy meal boxes) starts her mornings with a walk around her kitchen garden, where she plucks lemongrass, basil, mint, cherry tomatoes and spinach before tossing them into an assortment of flavours and packing them off for delivery. Each box comes with a personalised hand-written note that lists what each Soul Box contains. “The boxes have a smoothie, nutrition bar, and either a salad or sandwich or a breakfast bowl,” says Nanavati.
Soul Soufflé has 20 varieties of salads, eight types of sandwiches and three protein bars. “We keep changing the type of hummus, so that our clients don’t get bored. There is garlic, pesto, avocado and beetroot hummus. Even the type of protein changes based on the client’s requirements. We have salmon, chicken, egg white, prawn...” says Nanavati. Sweet potato, kale, arugula, soba noodles, red rice too feature prominently.
While coming up with her new menus, Nanavati keeps seasonal ingredients in mind. Recently, she tried custard apple smoothie. “The protein balls, weighing 20 grams, are our new introduction. There are three flavours: peanut butter and dark chocolate, cashew and ginger and fig and almond,” says Nanavati, who introduced breakfast bowls to her menu a month ago. This includes overnight-soaked oats, chia seeds, nuts, fresh fruits and berries. “We don’t use dairy. We use coconut water and almond milk which we make. There is no refined sugar. We use maple syrup for vegans, for others we use honey. We also do boxes for diabetics.” Soul Soufflé currently dispatches 45-50 boxes a day. Almost 50% of orders are from offices. Nanavati says it’s interesting that she receives a lot of party orders, too. “People want salads as healthy starters, and in some cases, as the mains as well.”
(For details, log ontowww.soulsouffle.in)
