Is there a market for mock meats in India?

Contrary to what is imagined, Indians do love their meat, so we investigate why so many plant-based protein brands are in the marketplace

It’s a hot and sticky afternoon but Magazine Street Kitchen’s demo area is crowded with a bunch of journalists and food bloggers. The event is a cooking demonstration for Hello Tempayy, a plant-based protein plant that is now making inroads into western India after launching in south India — Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mysuru and Chennai — last year. At the demo, Siddharth Ramasubramanian, the CEO and his chef Deepak BM whip up a few dishes like spaghetti Tempayy bolognese, Tempayy kebab, Chettinad Tempayy curry and even dessert bon bons using tempeh that were topped with caramel . At a tasting later, the menu is quite surprisingly like the dishes that they are meant to impersonate. Tempeh, an Indonesian fermented soybean product that is popular in Indonesia. Each packet of the protein has between 36 and 38 grams of protein.

Is there a market for mock meats in a country like India? Contrary to popular belief, a 2021 study by the Pew Research Centre only 39 per cent Indian adults describe themselves as “vegetarian.” So what’s the fuss about, then? The number of brands seems to keep rising, with new entrants launching quarterly. Not to mention celebrities like Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma; Genelia and Ritesh Deshmukh putting their might behind brands like Blue Tribe and Imagine Meats respectively. Both sets of celebrities have voiced their concern about the environment as the reason for launching these brands. But it also has to make business sense at the end of the day.

Meaty textures

In March this year, at the Uppercrust Food & Wine Show in Mumbai, some of the biggest booths were taken by brands like Shaka Harry and The Field Grill, as they showcased cooking demos and handed out samples to everyone from housewives to college students. Both companies have joined a growing number of brands working to change consumers' diets and relationships with protein, as the fulcrum around which a meal is developed. But it’s not all protein, as companies like Eat with Better are betting heavily on jackfruit, which is low in protein but has a texture similar to shredded chicken to entice people to change how they plan their meals, and ultimately, eat. These substitutes – made from soy, vegetables, pulses and more — are increasingly changing how urban Indians plan their meals.

In the last few years plant-based meat and its substitutes has seen staggering adoption, starting in the developed world, before making its way to India. According to a report by Grand View Research, North America accounts for over 38.6 percent of the US$5 billion market, while expanded production capacity in Europe is expected to grow the market there too.

If it sometimes seems like the ongoing pandemic might have been a giant pause, there has definitely been movement in this particular sector, with meat substitutes taking over freezers in Foodhall and beyond. Nicole Rocque, Senior Innovation Specialist at the Good Food Institute, a global non-profit that is working to create a sustainable protein system says, “While I don’t think Covid necessarily has had a huge impact in terms of the way we consume protein, I think people became more conscious of the impact of our current protein supply systems and the impact it has on the environment, the impact and the potential for causing pandemic-related zoonotic diseases.” Rocque feels that people have also become more conscious of trying to reduce their conventional meat consumption.

If Rocque’s assessment is correct, then companies like Imagine Meats, Wakao Foods and Hello Tempayy are now doing the hard work of educating consumers about how to cook with these alternatives – which range from fermented products to meat-like alternatives.

Back to the beginning

Indians are no stranger to alternatives to meat, with Nutrela soya being a familiar presence on supermarket shelves. Sold as chunks or granules, it’s got a dedicated following and that is what these new companies are aiming for.

While Nutrela is priced at under ₹60 for 200 gms, Hello Tempayy benchmarked their prices to paneer. As a result prices start at ₹145 for 200 gms, an increase of 20-25 per cent over the more well-known protein source. Meanwhile boxed jackfruit prices start at ₹225 at Eat With Better, and climb depending on flavours and uses (the Wakao Foods jackfruit burger patty is priced at ₹400). For meat-substitute — the packaged products start from ₹295 and can climb to ₹1100 for 300gms of imported Beyond Meat mince.

Both Ramasubramanian and Sairaj Dhond, who founded Wakao Foods, are entrepreneurs in search of products to meet changing culinary demands. Ramasubramanian explains, “We were never a product company looking for a market. We understood and first identified what the gap in the market was, and where the opportunity was, and where we would be of best use, before we identified a product.” In his case, it was tempeh, which also passed other filters, which he enumerates as — being vegetarian, being high in protein, being cookable and lastly, its affordability. It’s a smart bet, given that a 2021 USDA report expects the country’s meat-substitute market to reach $47.57 million dollars by 2026.

The report adds, “Traditionally, Indian consumers are cautious about the benefits of processed food products; however, urban consumers are increasingly open to the idea of consuming processed plant products as a rich source of protein.” This hesitation is one of the reasons that Hello Tempayy works with a natural, fermented product. The fermentation process takes 36 hours and the company is sourcing most of its soybeans from Madhya Pradesh.

Global currents

That’s not to say that plant-based meats are finding it difficult to make headway in the market. Imagine Meats, a company that is promoted by Riteish and Genelia Deshmukh is working with Archer Daniels Midland in a sourcing and technology partnership. Beyond Meat meanwhile is being imported by Tiffany Foods, a subsidiary of Allana Group. Local FMCG major ITC has also launched two products — nuggets and burger patties to start with — under their Incredible brand. In addition, brands like Blue Tribe, Ahimsa and Shaka Harry are introducing Indianised offerings including kebabs, stuffed parathas and samosas.

On the flip side, Wakao Food’s Dhond hopes to take his packaged jackfruit offering global. Karan Bajaj, co-founder of Eat With Better which also works with packaged jackfruit explains that their focus on jackfruit has been dictated by investor preferences following a round of fund-raising. Across the board, investors are bullish on plant-based meat and substitutes, with investments of US$5.1 billion dollars made into companies, infrastructure and in the form of subsidies from local governments. As a result, there’s optimism within the sector.

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