Meghana Narayan and Shauravi Malik are co-founders of a young health food company: ‘Slurrp Farm,’ which is making a business of healthy eating, especially for children. Here’s their take on food, health, and a host of related issues…
They are both mothers of very young children and have experienced the trials and tribulations of feeding them. They are passionate about raising awareness about healthy eating for children.
When they had their own children, they said that, they felt an acute need for food options where they could just read the ingredients on the back of the label and trust them to not be junk food.
And so ‘Slurrp Farm’ (www.slurrpfarm.com) was born from the kitchen of two mothers who love to cook. “Our mission is to provide healthy snack and meal time options for young children and their parents and we ensure our recipes are high on nutrition, made from whole grain flour, millets, good fats like butter, real fruit and vegetables. Our aim is to revive traditional superfoods such as the vast variety of millets available in India.”
Before they started Slurrp Farm together, Meghana used to lead the public health practise at McKin sey India. She has an MBA from Harvard Business School, was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University and has an Engineering degree in Computer Science from Bangalore University. Meghana swam competitively for India for many years, including at the Asian Games and she sincerely hopes that better nutrition for India’s children will result in more Olympic gold medals!
Shauravi used to work for Sir Richard Branson’s Group Holding entity at the Virgin Group in London, and in the Consumer, Healthcare and Retail Investment Banking team, as well as the Leveraged Finance and Restructuring Advisory team at JP Morgan in London. She has studied Economics at Cambridge University and at St Stephen’s College in Delhi University. Her most memorable years were the 14 that she spent at her school, Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, which followed a no junk food philosophy way back in the good old 1980s!
CC, in conversation with the ‘healthy’ entrepreneurs, on food, health, and a host of related issues...
Our mission is to provide healthy snack and meal time options for young children and their parents and we ensure our recipes are high on nutrition, made from whole grain flour, millets, good fats like butter, real fruit and vegetables. Our aim is to revive traditional superfoods’’
Meghana: I believe fitness is an integral part of our lives, and aim for strong…not skinny
Shauravi: I try and make fitness more fun by involving my three-year old son in our daily exercise routine.
Meghana: No pain no gain – You have to work hard to achieve your fitness goals. And it’s not simply about just working out – you need to eat right as well.
Shauravi: Just keep moving. Be active and do something every day that makes you sweat.
Meghana: I really enjoy swimming with my daughter in the summers and I also do yoga regularly with my fitness mentor and ensure I eat clean.
Shauravi: I try and work out as often as I can. Between a start-up, a young child and work travel I do find it hard to do it as often as I would like. Also, I ensure I eat mainly home-made food.
Meghana: Definitely cooking!
Shauravi: Dancing with my girlfriends and watching films.
Meghana: Eat clean as far as possible
Shauravi: Eat seasonal and local. Set a weekly meal plan which will ensure you pick up all the right items when you go grocery shopping.
Meghana: It’s not fun if you’re not sweating
Shauravi: Have a routine and stick to it. Make it a nonnegotiable priority.
Meghana and Shauravi: Eat wholegrains, good fat, preservative-free food, natural sugars and ensure you get the critical micro-nutrients.
Meghana: I swim regularly in the summers and do yoga four times a week in the morning
Shauravi: My husband and I are both into High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) – I manage to do it twice a week but it’s a bit of a struggle with all the work-pressure and travel.
Meghana and Shauravi: Our husbands, though, beat us hollow!
Meghana and Shauravi: Always eat your greens and stop asking why healthy is so expensive and start asking why junk food is so cheap.
by Sharmila Chand
