Australian food brand Forbidden Foods has released a savoury rice- and coconut-based breakfast meal. As Aussies look for ways to quell their sugar intake, Forbidden Foods is helping change people's attitudes towards breakfast by reimagining what’s suitable for the first meal of the day. We explore the insights behind the innovation, and understand how Brekkie Rice is giving Aussies a healthier start to their day.
Brekky Rice by Forbidden Foods is a breakfast food made of black rice and coconut pudding. The meal, which retails for $3.99 a pouch, is dairy-free, gluten-free, 98% fat-free, and has no artificial flavours, colours, or preservatives. Unlike the typical sugary breakfast fare on offer in Australia, Brekky Rice is a savoury option that Forbidden Foods' co-founder Jarrod Milani believes will appeal to Australia's underserved health conscious. "Any type of retail breakfast options currently available mostly contain dairy and high levels of sugar," Milani says, "and is not something health conscious people would turn to, let alone for a breakfast option."
The move to introduce Brekkie Rice to the Australian breakfast foods market comes at a time when the country is actively trying to shake its sugar habit. It’s found that 44% of people in Australia now avoid sugar as an ingredient, while 56% of these individuals believe it’s negatively impacting their health. As people look to food brands to help them make better choices, this is largely coming about in the form of sugar alternatives. “My position on sugar is that it's most definitely harmful for metabolic health and for all health,” says Kieron Rooney, a metabolic biochemistry researcher at the University of Sydney on the negative impact sugar is having on Aussies’ wellbeing. While the sugar industry has previously disputed the data and evidence, shifting the blame of poor public health to fat, people are finally waking up to the dangers of the additive, with almost a quarter of Aussies limiting their intake.
As a more globalised foodie culture changes people's perspectives on what's 'normal' to eat for breakfast, and taking advantage of this increased open-mindedness to encourage people to try less ordinary (and in this case, savoury) breakfast foods, Forbidden Foods is thinking outside the box by pushing Aussies to question why breakfast needs to be a sweet meal at all.
Mira Kopolovic is a behavioural analyst at Canvas8, which specialises in behavioural insights and consumer research. She has a master’s degree in creative industries, which focused on artist-brand collaborations, and spends her spare time poring over dystopian literature.
