Food is local. Food is cultural.
This is an absolutely vital tenet in any space which looks to change the eating/ drinking habits.
Difference between Novel and Disruptive :
In the case of India, following have been Novel products :
Tea ( promoted by Britishers)
Maggi (Nestle)
Cola Drink (Campa Cola, Thumsup)
Pizza ( Pizza Hut, Dominos)
Burgers (McDonalds)
Above are examples of novel products which need a hard and a massive initial push. The products need to be inherently good in terms of meeting the taste criteria of consumers.
One important aspect of the above category is that there is no process of unlearning involved. Because of the uniqueness of the product and no past reference products/ habits, the challenge at hand in building the space is relatively less than the disruptive products covered below
Whether itβs India or any other country, plant based meat has a dual challenge at hand. It belongs to the disruptive category and is not an easy space to build because of the universal and historical nature of consumption of meat.
BUT the end result of any successful disruption will be a market extremely massive!
Globally the market of meat is an astonishing annual turnover of $1.3 trillion!
The Indian Meat industry is approx $80 billion annually.
In India, there have been localised plant based alternative solutions which have been largely niche.
Chakki (Gluten), Kathal (Jackfruit) etc have been used since centuries as meat replacement.
More recently Soy nuggets (βΉ2000 crore) & Soy chaap have been consumed as meat replacement by meat eaters and a novel high protein source by vegetarians
India is the largest producer, importer and consumer of lentils in the world. But India is one of the most protein deficient countries of the world. An IMRB survey has found out that 73 % of Urban Rich in India are protein deficient. Another pan- India survey found that 80 % Indians are protein deficient.
What are we missing here?
Protein content in Lentils vary from 13g per 100g in chana dal to 26g/100g in Masoor dal.
Whatβs interesting to note that these figures are for raw dals. Once cooked a 100g dry dal hydrates to almost 300g cooked dal. So once respectable protein content, after cooking comes down to 1/3rd, ie 4g-8g in cooked Chana and Masoor dal.
When we compare this with 13g of protein in 2 boiled eggs and 27g protein in 100g cooked chicken breasts, we understand where the protein deficiency is stemming from
Plant based meats have a much higher protein density with almost 22-25g protein/100g, zero cholesterol and high dietary fiber (meat has zero dietary fiber)
There is also a case for a much lower environmental impact of plant based meat compared to animal meat.
Then there is a strong case for a more humane treatment of animals.
But are the above factors of health , environment & animal welfare going to be the key determinant in convincing consumers?
No.
More on my next postβ¦
