The Pandemic Coffee

The pandemic brought with it many new things from sanitizing hands frequently, maintaining distance to food innovation and trying new recipes at home. Some of those recipes gained huge popularity like the Dalgona Coffee, also known as the Indian Phetun Coffee or Indian Beaten Coffee.

Figure 1: Dalgona Coffee

Thanks to social media, the reason behind the popularity of this Korean style of coffee that every other household in India must have tried. While there are many such trends that we witness every now and then this one was special. Dalgona Coffee trend not only gave a purpose to people when they had absolutely nothing to do but it also relieved a lot of stress and frustration in the way it is made (whipped and beaten) when the pandemic was at its peak and the entire country was under lockdown. This was the time when anxiety took its toll on people and there was some inspiration needed. The ‘Dalgona Coffee’ trend caused quite a storm on all social media handles, with everybody trying their hands at it and uploading their coffee pictures.

Coffee is nothing but a new innovation in times of crises which is made of equal parts instant coffee, sugar and hot water. The three are mixed until foamy and the end result is a lot more aesthetic and fancy than the usual coffee.

Figure 2: Ingredients of Dalgona Coffee.

This is not the only time when a crisis led to a new innovation in the food culture and cooking recipes. The French Revolution popularized potatoes which were commonly an ingredient only fed to animals while The Great Depression brought in mac and cheese. The World Wars with the rationing of essential ingredients and devising unusual recipes such as cakes made with mashed dates instead of sugar. The coronavirus pandemic will be remembered with Dalgona Coffee, Kadha and other such food innovations.

Sources - https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/04/quarantine-coffee-has-historical-precedent/610645/