Rethink your wrap (base) during Real Bread Week!
So, while we celebrate “Real Bread Week” we want to look at the very essence that made us at Zinda Foods question the entire “bready” landscape. Bread & wraps, are perhaps part of all our weekly shopping lists. From a food-to-go perspective, it’s almost a habit for us to grab a sandwich or wrap off the shelves. We scoff it down in no time at all, paying little attention to the ingredients, specifically of the carrier (ie the bread or wrap itself).
If it’s in the chiller cabinet we assume it’s fresh. We assume it’s handmade. We assume that because it’s cheap & cheerful it’ll do as a lunchtime snack. It’s become such a habit, that we are in and out of the supermarket without thinking of much at all!
Well at Zinda Foods we have thought about it a lot! And we question those habits now specifically as we celebrate “Real Bread Week”. But rather than questioning manufacturers, we’d like to question you the consumers, ordinary people like ourselves (as we’re all equally guilty of shopping without thinking).
- We’re all aware that tortilla wraps found in the bread section have quite a long shelf life (ie the best before date) sometimes it’s 45-60 days. This is down to the heavy processing and packaging. But, is that normal for a bread based product?
- Those very same tortillas are used by manufacturers to make up the wraps we buy in the food-to-go section. So are the wraps we eat then, really fresh?
- We’re all quite aware of how industrial tortilla wrap production has become. Most fillings that go into them are also commercially produced on an industrial scale. So is the wrap we eat really artisan (handmade)? And how would we define something being artisan?
- We are well aware that most bread/ wrap manufacturers use processing aids, artificial additives, palm oil & its variants, trans fats (hydrogenated oils/ shortening agents) and new age packaging technology to extend shelf-life. While we know & promote full transparency on ingredients used to make up the fillings, does the carrier (the bread or tortilla) not fall into the same remit?
- We all know that preservatives are bad for us & that eating anything heavily processed using artificial additives will have a long term impact on our health. Have you ever flipped over a tortilla pack to glance at its ingredients? Don’t worry we’ve done it for you. Here’s a little comparison.
This sort of questioning got us to turn things on its head at Zinda Foods. We wanted to rejig the entire process and so we started with the base. We were determined to create a wrap base that was preservative and additive free. We also wanted it to be handcrafted (artisan) and wonderfully soft. We also wanted it to contain no trans fats, hydrogenated oils or palm oil and less sodium making it a much healthier lunchtime option.
And most importantly, this wrap base should have excellent moisture migration so should be able to hold fillings well without getting soggy!
A tall order – but we’re proud we did it. And we celebrate this innovation during “Real Bread Week”. Perhaps now’s the time for you to question the very base of your lunchtime sandwiches and wraps. It’s time to “Rethink your wrap”!