Smoothies

Among some of the most-made recipes on Instagram is the creamy, luscious Smoothie, cementing its status as a favourite beverage the world over. With so many people making the beverage at home, the global smoothie market still reached almost $15 billion in 2021, attesting to its popularity.

Smoothies are at once filling, easy to make, and customisable enough to suit different tastes. All one needs is a few ingredients and a blender, and this healthy snack is ready. For instance, make a fruit smoothie using bananas or berries. To up the healthy quotient, add protein powder or rolled oats. And if you’re looking for something high in fibre, try a green smoothie by blending up spinach, kale, and other leafy greens. For a bit of indulgence, go the chocolate and ice cream route. Plan your Smoothie according to your dietary needs and time of day.

A variant of this crowd-pleaser has been around since ancient times, with South American, Eastern, and Mediterranean civilisations creating a beverage by crushing fruit into a pulp and adding it to a juice. The Indian predecessor of the smoothie is Lassi, made with dahi, spices, and often fruits like mango.

But the Smoothie, as we understand it today, consumed in glasses and breakfast bowls, comes from the mid-1900s US. In the 1920s, Julius Freed, who had a sensitive stomach, stumbled upon the revelation that while consuming oranges would upset his stomach, having an orange juice, which was bubbly and less acidic, was easier on the digestive system. He went on to found Orange Julius, a popular beverage company the world over.

The real push to Smoothies came with the invention of the blender in 1937 by Fred Waring. As more blenders popped up on the market, Americans started blending their food into beverages and experimenting with ingredients. Coupled with the health craze of the '60s and '70s, especially with the hippie subculture turning toward vegetarianism and veganism, these healthy, blended beverages became unstoppable.

(Fun fact: the word "smoothie" also means a person with a smooth, easygoing demeanour.)