Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
It’s a kind of MAJIK
There’s a blue-food craze taking over Instagram.
LOVE it or hate it, Instagram is a great platform for food. From things like cloud eggs and avocado toast, rainbow lattes and croissant hybrids, the platform has shown how creative people are with their food.
But it also allows those who are interested in food beyond the trends, to find out more about it. Which brings me to Blue Majik.
Since late last year the food bloggers, critics and wellness coaches have been sharing pictures of blue-hued foods.
I ignored it because I thought it was another variation of the rainbow food fad.
Turns out it’s Blue Majik – and it’s no fad, says Michelle Legge of Super Latte, the distributors of Blue Majik in South Africa.
Blue Majik is a super powder, one of the trends of this year and is extracted from superfood, Spirulina.
“Blue Majik is an ultranutrient-dense extract of Spirulina. Spirulina is a microalgae that grows naturally in the wild in fresh water lakes, but is typically green or blue-green. Blue Majik gets its blue hue from C-phycocyanin, a type of storage protein rich in amino acids – a combination not seen in standard Spirulina powder,” Legge says.
The colour has endeared the super powder to foodies and health fans.
“The appeal is a culmination of two trends: one being a radical new approach to how we understand and consume food – from banting to the rise of veganism and so on, and the second being all about food as a creative medium that anyone can get involved in. The movement might be small, but it’s increasingly spreading from blogger-land to the mainstream.
“One need only look at how people are dressing up their smoothie bowls and overnight oats at home, using various superfood powders to add colour and Instagram appeal while also boosting the nutrient quality of their meals. It might be easy to poke fun at ‘crazy blue lattes’, but when people are taking pleasure in exploring new foods while focussing on their health – that’s a beautiful thing.”
Speaking of health, the powder does contain nutrients, like other super powders that are
investigates
popular – turmeric, matcha and beetroot powders.
“Spirulina is well researched and widely regarded as a superfood because of the concentration and variety of nutrients it packs in, gram for gram.
“While studies are thinner on the ground for the recentto-market Blue Majik, the blue powder takes regular Spirulina a step further, offering the added benefit of C-phycocyanin which has been shown to ease inflammation.
“In addition to a full house of nutrients including calcium, iron, protein, phytonutrients, vitamin E, zinc, copper, manganese, iron, selenium, and gamma-linolenic acid, Blue Majik is also a source of vitamin B12, with 1g offering 115% of the recommended daily intake. That alone has vegans rejoicing.”
Blue Majik is used on various foods, like smoothies, lattes and health shakes and in food bowls.
“Superfood lattes in restaurants have taken off in South Africa. I’d say more so than in many European countries and we’re definitely ahead of the US. It will always be about taste first, so as long as consumers enjoy their brightly coloured lattes for the flavour first, we’ll see more inventive coffee alternatives hitting the menus of our independent and mainstream eateries,” says Legge.
Expect to see more of bluetinged food at your favourite markets, health stores and coffee shops.