Food process outsourcing

Outsourcing is the mantra in business circles. Surprising thing about this trend is that no management/business guru has predicted this wave.It has just happened....Ho jaata hai.
Outsourcing trend started with medical transcription; graduated to technical books composing.This trend was steady for a long time.
The second wave started with call centres; suddenly our sulekhas and sambamoorthys' became susan and simon. They also learnt new accents;anything to do a makeover to a western backoffice.
The trend is now transforming itself into newer and newer applications. Legal outsourcing is talked about very excitedly in select circles. Outsourcing of interpretation of medical diagnostics has also taken off in a big way.
Outsourcing of personalised tuition started making waves sometime back. Our maths and science teachers were suddenly very much in demand. ie those of them who still have time.I believe most of them are pretty much tied up with coaching classes for entrance tests and board exams.
When I heard about food process outsourcing I was intrigued. What could that be?Powders and pastes of Indian spices has been in the shelves of supermarkets all over the world for quite a while now.Ready to eat foods from ITC and MTR have also made deep foray into the 'foods' market abroad.Then what is this food process outsourcing. It appears that the crucial missing link is the 'indian curry'.The Indian curry paste has acquired a brand name all over the world. It is still seen as a mysterious ingredient which magically transforms an ordinary dish into an extraordinary delicacy.
There are companies which have sprung up which manage to get these curries prepared in great quantities in India with expert chefs; they are then exported to various countries(no not through electronic media!).So what does an Indian family do in say Singapore if they want to savour Indian food without taking all the trouble?They buy this curry paste off the shelf ;have vegetables cooked and add this curry and your indian dish is ready; brings a faint aroma of homefood.
MTRs have packed the entire dish and you need to just microwave it. It is convenient no doubt.ITC has also packaged the entire side dish for chappatis.The garlic/ginger paste fellows have packaged only part of the curry; there is a gap which needs to be filled in and that has proved a hassle.Between these two postions,a good business proposition has been spotted by some enterprising people on this side of the globe.
You might wonder what is the outsourcing here,when the curry paste is prepared here and physically transported.The curry paste is just the medium through which the native knowledge is embedded and transported.
I foresee a very good market for food process outsourcing.The quality of the curry has to be really good; not only that they have to get their logistics and supply chain management in place.after that Indian curry will truly become global.
I predict that it will get so popular, that like the digital divide, the world will be divided into two; ones who has tasted the indian curry and swear by it and those who have'nt.