In the final episode of Feeding 10 Billion Season 2, we contend with some of our enduring questions - what will humans eat in a world that is rapidly warming and exposed to the worst effects of climate change? And how do we preserve our links to tradition and the foods we love to eat in this new world? A dystopian future threatening those traditions is already rearing its head in a multitude of ways. Alternating extreme weather cycles like drought caused by water scarcity or floods caused by...

In the year 2050, we tend to focus on the fact that there will be nearly 10 billion human beings on this planet - but we won’t be the only species to worry about. We are currently witnessing an unprecedented loss of biodiversity and species loss as climate change makes this planet inhospitable for them as well. It’s clear that we need a way to feed not just ourselves but also ensure other species thrive on Earth without being too extractive from Nature. What’s also clear is Bio-tech is going...

What seemed like science fiction just a few decades back, is increasingly becoming a reality. Early research pioneered by NASA on how to feed astronauts in long haul missions to planets like Mars brought closed loop systems and fermented ingredients to the spotlight. These systems don’t rely on limited natural resources, and could potentially be key to feeding 10 billion sustainably by 2050. And those fermentation machines? They’re none other than microorganisms like bacteria, yeast, and...

Smart protein, if done right, can be a big win for the planet. By now, hopefully, it is clear that foods that replace animal-sourced meat, eggs, and dairy tend to use fewer resources, do not contribute to rising greenhouse gas emissions, and diminish the risk of zoonotic diseases and antibiotic resistance. But equally exciting is the sector’s potential to tackle issues that we grapple with and mention on Feeding 10 Billion all the time - like malnutrition. India faces the tremendous...

The Beyond Meat IPO in 2019 marked an inflection point not just for the global alternative protein ecosystem but the fledgling Indian innovation ecosystem as well. Calls to offer capital, R&D and entrepreneurial talent started pouring in. But the best things take time, and building something entirely new takes much more. An innovation ecosystem takes patient capital, collaborative partners, supportive incubators, and years of developmental research being translated from the university to...

Understanding what consumers want has been the holy grail for innovators across industries for decades. In the U.S. and other countries, products like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods demonstrated that a huge and viable market exists for burgers made from plants for people who love their meat. In the U.S. consumers love their burgers and eat three a week, but in India could a similar case be made for our biryanis (which we consume at the rate of 1.6 every second as per Swiggy data from 2019)?...

In 2019, Dean Foods, America’s largest dairy producer filed for bankruptcy prompting analogies of the proverbial canary in the coal mine as the 94-year old company’s struggles narrowed down to one undeniable fact: conventional milk sales have declined for the last 4 years in the U.S. Alternatives like plant-based dairy products have meanwhile soared to a $17.4 billion industry, staking claim to 13% of dairy sales by value. During Covid-19, plant-based milk sales have gained further with...

Agriculture forms a significant bulk of the Indian workforce, with over half of our workforce dependent on the sector. Relentless urbanization notwithstanding, low and middle-income countries like India will have to nurture their rural populations’ agricultural contribution in the coming years to feed all of us sustainably. The potential to leverage agricultural output and biodiversity for new, exciting sectors like alternative protein is immense. But without the necessary infrastructure or...

Last year was groundbreaking for plant-based food, and we’re also on the cusp of making secure, sustainable, and cultivated meat a reality. Despite Covid-19, this year’s been no pushover either. The amount of money raised in Q1 2020 ($930 million) was more than what was invested in the smart protein sector in all of 2019 ($824 million). But much of this progress is centred in the U.S. While the Indian and larger Asian market has gained momentum, we still have some catching up to do. On the...

Season 1 of Feeding 10 Billion launched in a banner year for alt-protein. In 2019, Beyond Meat had its record-setting IPO, Impossible Foods raised $300 million in its Series E and overall, more than $800 million was invested globally in companies making meat, eggs, and dairy from plants, cells and fermented ingredients. We witnessed the spark that fuels the food revolution play out in real-time, as we were airing Season 1. On the first episode of Season 2, we are talking to someone, who was...

By the year 2050 we will have 10 billion people on our planet - a sixth of whom will be in India. If we want to feed all 10 billion of us in a sustainable, healthy and just way, we need to reimagine how we source our food. Feeding ourselves cannot come at the cost of global health, worsening greenhouse gas emissions, excessive land, water and resource use, zoonotic diseases, antibiotic resistance, and needless suffering. Last season, we brought you a ringside view of the next food revolution...

In the season finale of our 10 part series Feeding 10 Billion, we focus on one word that has come to dominate our discourse and perfectly captures our theory of change - leapfrog. The themes in our podcast this season have given you an inkling of the range of work happening in the new protein sector - from cultivated and sustainable seafood to plant-based protein enriched foods. We hope it has also underlined the fact that however you approach this - be it through the lens of climate change,...

It’s no secret our oceans are in trouble. Climate change and bad policy continue to contribute to major shifts in one of the most complex ecosystems on the planet. Among the most pressing challenges are ocean acidification (the ocean today is, on average, 25% more acidic than in pre-industrial times), overfishing (a staggering 93% of all fisheries are being fished at or beyond capacity, while demand for seafood continues to rise the world over) and plastic pollution (about half of which is a...

Through this entire season of Feeding 10 Billion, two names that have cropped up in nearly every episode are the two California based companies who are pioneering plant-based meats: Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods. Beyond Meat is a ten year old company that had the biggest IPO in North America in the last two decades this year. Beyond makes meat directly from plants just like Impossible Foods which started retailing in Michelin starred restaurants in 2016 and is now driving more traffic to...

Food makes the world go round - with apologies to Shakespeare! And what makes food so irresistible are ingredients - which can be broken down into the flavour components that build the dish. A simple tempering of spices in our home kitchens inform the flavour bombs of a dish. This process is researched and replicated on an industrial scale by flavour companies across the world, who have to get the recipe exactly right to create the perfect food product. In the alternative protein sector, as...

The famous writer and philosopher George Santayana’s quote says ‘those who cannot remember their past are condemned to repeat it’ but perhaps the more pertinent iteration of that question for our times would be “to know your future, you must know your past”. If you examine some of the biggest technology shifts that occurred in food systems in the holocene era, as the Royal Society, (the UK’s national academy of science) did in 2012, these have typically meant selective breeding of strains of...

If you want to make a fortune in food, forget about reading the future in coffee grounds and follow the big trends in the food service or the HoReCa (Hotels, Restaurants and Café) sector. This sector is traditionally the make or break point for any food innovation and it is often the first point of contact for exciting new products. We don’t just mean cloud eggs, cronuts or Instagram friendly rainbow coloured food but also foods that are tech-forward flavor bombs like plant-based food and in...

Feeding a billion plus Indians is big business - the Indian food and grocery market is the sixth largest in the world. Food processing in the country is worth over $250 billion and contributes 14% of India's GDP through manufacturing. So what does this prophesize for the growth of alternatives to meat, eggs, and dairy? Pegging the sector accurately and charting its expected growth curve is imperative to mapping how new protein can transform the food system in India. To help us do that, this...