5 ms·

> MTR provides just the spices, you have to bring everything else. This includes vegetables/meat, seasoning, additional spices, oil/salt, etc. Our products incl

by neya 8y ago

> MTR provides just the spices, you have to bring everything else. This includes vegetables/meat, seasoning, additional spices, oil/salt, etc. Our products include all of this so that the only ingredient you add is water which makes it much more convenient. Sorry, this is not accurate. If I buy an MTR Sambhar rice, or Paneer masala, everything is included. I just need to heat it and eat it. > Our packets are 100% fresh and don't have any preservatives, whereas existing packaged Indian foods are packed with them. This makes our products tastier, fresher and much healthier, although it comes with a shorter shelf-life. I can't vouch for the freshness of MTR's products, but I know they don't use preservatives (as it's printed on their cartons). They use a combination of food engineering and package engineering to preserve the food without using preservatives. That's why when you buy their ready to eat products, you will find a lot of oil in them (which you're supposed to drain away) as it helps to preserve the food for months, if not years. This is no different than storing dead specimens such as rats in biological laboratories, I assume. > Our recipes are curated from people in the community (for example, the rasam is my mom's!) This lends a very homemade taste to each dish. Ok, this sounds good. > We deliver to you! All existing pre-packaged authentic Indian foods are only available in Indian stores, so we're making good Indian food available to a much larger audience. So, basically a uber type of service? So that almost makes you guys like any other restaurant, no? I mean, what's the difference between calling an Indian restaurant to have fresh food delivered vs calling you guys? > At the end of the day, the taste just isn't comparable. Microwaveable chana masala from Haldiram's, let's say, comes out looking/smelling/tasting not at all like a homemade dish. Ours is made completely from scratch and you as a customer can feel that difference. This is subjective. Like I said, if you call up a decent Indian restaurant (HSB / Anjappar / Raj / etc.), you can get a similar experience. > MTR/Haldiram's are 'last-resort' type meals, and we aim to be a meal that you actually crave + is good for you :) Sorry, but I am still not convinced why your product is worth $24 and based on what you answer, seems like there isn't much difference between ordering from a decent Indian restaurant and you guys? I appreciate taking the time to explain your points so far.

mitraraman 8y ago
Appreciate the responses! - The microwaveable complete meals are definitely more similar to our products, but those are once again shelf-stable and lack in taste and nutrition. We will be doing a live comparison of our Chana Masala vs. the MTR Chana Masala to show how different it is in amount of product, look, smell, taste and nutrition. - The oil that they include is definitely a type of preservative, and they use packaging engineering called retort packaging. This is very similar to vacuum sealing where you are drying up the product to remove the nutritional value. I think we could agree that there's a pretty big difference between MTR paneer masala and a homemade paneer masala. I would say that our products are similar if not the same as if you made it from scratch. - We are e-commerce delivery, not on-demand. The difference between ordering from us vs. an Indian restaurant would be price-point (most dishes start at $7-10). - Taste is definitely subjective!
- toopsss 8y ago
  - The oil that they include is definitely a type of preservative You seem really hung up on the preservatives thing and I was giving the benefit of the doubt, but now it is just disingenuous. If oil of all things in a competitors product as a preservative then I think the tremendous amount of salt in your product qualifies as well.
  - mitraraman 8y ago
    Don't mean to sound hung up on the preservatives, just stating a fact of their processes and what sets us apart. Added preservatives of any kind alter the food and taste at the benefit of having a longer shelf-life. The sodium content from our products comes from the spices in the recipes themselves. Indian spices especially have a large amount of salt (which makes them so flavorful and spicy!), but we do not add any additional salt for preservation. We are also currently working on low-sodium options!
    - GordonS 8y ago
      > The sodium content from our products comes from the spices in the recipes themselves This is nonsense - chillies, ginger and spices (e.g. black pepper, cloves, cinnamon, cassia, mace, cumin, coriander) barely contain any sodium. In the quantities such ingredients will be present in each meal, the sodium content is completely negligible. > Indian spices especially have a large amount of salt (which makes them so flavorful and spicy!) OK, this is just flat out lies - the only 'spice' that contains a large amount of salt is... salt! I now have zero faith that you have any idea about the very product you are marketing.
  - jmull 8y ago
    I’m not sure that’s fair. I think it makes sense to distinguish between oil (or salt or any ingredient) added for the purpose of flavor, nutrition, or authenticity vs the purpose of preservation. Both affect the flavor but one makes the food better and the other only ensures it lasts longer (assuming success).
vram22 8y ago
>They use a combination of food engineering and package engineering to preserve the food without using preservatives. I don't know specifically about Haldiram's or MTR (I might have tried out MTR Indian food ready-to-eat packs), but some others that I used to buy and eat sometimes (I forget the name, it may have been from an ITC group company - the Indian food and tobacco giant), mention on the package that they use DRDO-licensed technology. DRDO is an Indian defence-oriented R&D organization of the Indian government. The technology was originally developed for soldiers on the field. So likely made in such a way as to last long, and could account for its not tasting that good, and not as good as the same item, but freshly made (obviously).
ajacksified 8y ago
> seems like there isn't much difference between ordering from a decent Indian restaurant and you guys I know it seems absurd on HN, but there are people who live in areas without decent Indian restaurants.
- baddox 8y ago
  Coming from small-town Missouri and having traveled very little even within the US, I had literally never heard of any specific Indian dish (authentic or not) until I moved to San Francisco. I had no idea what naan or chicken tikka masala were until my company in SF ordered some.
  - moate 8y ago
    So before you moved to SF, you never ate any of these products. Most people don't start eating new cuisines from a product like this, they start at restaurants (under the assumption that these cooks have experience cooking the food and will likely make a good product) or after having a meal prepared for them by another person. That's not to say you wouldn't see this product at a store and go "oh, I've heard of Indian food and always been interested!" but that's not the common buyer behavior. People tend to pick convenience foods based on established food preferences/familiarizes.
  - astura 8y ago
    You should probably know that chicken tikka masala is British, not Indian then. :)
    - baddox 8y ago
      Yes, I did learn that. I threw in “authentic or not” to avoid attempting to define what is “actually” Indian food.
    - sumedh 8y ago
      > You should probably know that chicken tikka masala is British, not Indian then. You have to be careful posting such comments, you might start a war :)

by neya 8y ago

mitraraman 8y ago

Appreciate the responses! - The microwaveable complete meals are definitely more similar to our products, but those are once again shelf-stable and lack in taste and nutrition. We will be doing a live comparison of our Chana Masala vs. the MTR Chana Masala to show how different it is in amount of product, look, smell, taste and nutrition. - The oil that they include is definitely a type of preservative, and they use packaging engineering called retort packaging. This is very similar to vacuum sealing where you are drying up the product to remove the nutritional value. I think we could agree that there's a pretty big difference between MTR paneer masala and a homemade paneer masala. I would say that our products are similar if not the same as if you made it from scratch. - We are e-commerce delivery, not on-demand. The difference between ordering from us vs. an Indian restaurant would be price-point (most dishes start at $7-10). - Taste is definitely subjective!

toopsss 8y ago
- The oil that they include is definitely a type of preservative You seem really hung up on the preservatives thing and I was giving the benefit of the doubt, but now it is just disingenuous. If oil of all things in a competitors product as a preservative then I think the tremendous amount of salt in your product qualifies as well.
- mitraraman 8y ago
  Don't mean to sound hung up on the preservatives, just stating a fact of their processes and what sets us apart. Added preservatives of any kind alter the food and taste at the benefit of having a longer shelf-life. The sodium content from our products comes from the spices in the recipes themselves. Indian spices especially have a large amount of salt (which makes them so flavorful and spicy!), but we do not add any additional salt for preservation. We are also currently working on low-sodium options!
  - GordonS 8y ago
    > The sodium content from our products comes from the spices in the recipes themselves This is nonsense - chillies, ginger and spices (e.g. black pepper, cloves, cinnamon, cassia, mace, cumin, coriander) barely contain any sodium. In the quantities such ingredients will be present in each meal, the sodium content is completely negligible. > Indian spices especially have a large amount of salt (which makes them so flavorful and spicy!) OK, this is just flat out lies - the only 'spice' that contains a large amount of salt is... salt! I now have zero faith that you have any idea about the very product you are marketing.
- jmull 8y ago
  I’m not sure that’s fair. I think it makes sense to distinguish between oil (or salt or any ingredient) added for the purpose of flavor, nutrition, or authenticity vs the purpose of preservation. Both affect the flavor but one makes the food better and the other only ensures it lasts longer (assuming success).

vram22 8y ago

>They use a combination of food engineering and package engineering to preserve the food without using preservatives. I don't know specifically about Haldiram's or MTR (I might have tried out MTR Indian food ready-to-eat packs), but some others that I used to buy and eat sometimes (I forget the name, it may have been from an ITC group company - the Indian food and tobacco giant), mention on the package that they use DRDO-licensed technology. DRDO is an Indian defence-oriented R&D organization of the Indian government. The technology was originally developed for soldiers on the field. So likely made in such a way as to last long, and could account for its not tasting that good, and not as good as the same item, but freshly made (obviously).

ajacksified 8y ago

> seems like there isn't much difference between ordering from a decent Indian restaurant and you guys I know it seems absurd on HN, but there are people who live in areas without decent Indian restaurants.

baddox 8y ago
Coming from small-town Missouri and having traveled very little even within the US, I had literally never heard of any specific Indian dish (authentic or not) until I moved to San Francisco. I had no idea what naan or chicken tikka masala were until my company in SF ordered some.
- moate 8y ago
  So before you moved to SF, you never ate any of these products. Most people don't start eating new cuisines from a product like this, they start at restaurants (under the assumption that these cooks have experience cooking the food and will likely make a good product) or after having a meal prepared for them by another person. That's not to say you wouldn't see this product at a store and go "oh, I've heard of Indian food and always been interested!" but that's not the common buyer behavior. People tend to pick convenience foods based on established food preferences/familiarizes.
- astura 8y ago
  You should probably know that chicken tikka masala is British, not Indian then. :)
  - baddox 8y ago
    Yes, I did learn that. I threw in “authentic or not” to avoid attempting to define what is “actually” Indian food.
  - sumedh 8y ago
    > You should probably know that chicken tikka masala is British, not Indian then. You have to be careful posting such comments, you might start a war :)