Ep. 45 - Bringing Plant-Based Meat to India: The Good Dot Revolution

Oftentimes when Westerners think of India, we tend to think of it as a land of vegetarians. It's true that India has given the world some pretty awesome vegetarian food, and it's also true that per person meat consumption is low in India relative to America. But the hard truth remains: the majority of Indians are not vegetarian and their per capita meat consumption has been skyrocketing in recent decades.

So what can be done to satisfy the palates of the hundreds of millions of Indians who want to eat more meat? Well, just like in America, part of the solution is almost certainly going to be giving consumers the experience of meat that they want, but without having to raise so many animals. And that's exactly what Good Dot is doing.

Four years ago, this company didn't exist. Today, Good Dot has nearly 200 employees and is producing a wide variety of plant-based meats for the Indian consumer. The company's even now opened up its own chain of all-plant-based fast food kiosks, too. And as you'll hear, unlike the plant-based start-ups in the US, Good Dot is already competing on cost with the animal products they're seeking to displace.

In this interview, we hear from the company's CEO, Abhishek Sinha, a man who by his own description was an animal-loving government bureaucrat who decided he wanted to do more for animals with his career. And as a result, he claims he's happier and more fulfilled today than he's ever been before.

You already know there's a plant-based meat revolution happening in the US, Europe, and China. Now get ready to hear about how it's unfolding on the Asian subcontinent too.

Discussed in this episode:

• Hodo Foods, which made tofu cool again
• Global Food Partners, a firm helping food businesses implement farm animal welfare standards