Feeding 10 Billion
29 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 2 years ago - ★★★★★ - 8 ratingsBy 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 that is rethinking the future of protein. Companies like Memphis Meats, Impossible Foods, Beyond Meat and JUST Egg had a blockbuster year making meat, eggs, and other animal-sourced foods from plants, or cells, or other ingredients that are delicious and nutritious for us, and vastly better for the planet. The Covid-19 pandemic has only made the importance of protein diversification evident. If you want to be part of the future of food and work on solutions to some of the biggest problems of our time, join the Good Food Institute’s Varun Deshpande and Ramya Ramamurthy on Season 2 of Feeding 10 Billion
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Episodes
Kate Krueger on Cultivating a Better Protein Supply
December 14, 2021 03:05 - 41 minutes - 38 MBCultivated meat brings to mind different associations for everyone, but one thing is clear: it isn’t science fiction anymore. It’s here, it’s now. At the close of 2020, after a year ravaged by one of the worst zoonotic disease outbreaks we’ve ever seen, Singapore became the first country in the world to approve the commercial sale of cultivated chicken bites. But we still have a long way to go when it comes to increasing investment in R&D and driving down the cost of producing cultivated mea...
Bernhard Kowatsch on Transformative Food Innovation
December 14, 2021 02:35 - 40 minutes - 36.8 MBWhen we think of the future of food, transformative technology, or game-changing innovations, we assume that advancements will arise out of traditional tech hubs in the Global North. This isn’t necessarily true. The Global South holds tremendous potential and competitions like the XPRIZE Feed the Next Billion — discussed in the previous episode — are proving exactly that. With multiple semi-finalists from APAC and South Asia, it’s clear that innovative solutions can come from anyone, anywher...
Lisa Sweet on Future-Proofing Food Systems
December 14, 2021 02:05 - 47 minutes - 43.5 MBWe have a long way to go when it comes to fixing our food systems. That’s why challenges like the XPRIZE Feed the Next Billion competition exist. With a $15 million prize — and the chance to safeguard planetary health — on the table, the competition’s innovative solutions are aimed at meeting the growing global demand for protein in a just, sustainable way. And this episode’s guest, Lisa Sweet, is a driving force behind the challenge, paving the way for the future of food. In conversation ...
Riteish and Genelia Deshmukh on Re-Imagine-ing Our Relationship with Meat
December 14, 2021 01:35 - 19 minutes - 17.8 MBYou know them from all your favorite Bollywood movies, but Riteish and Genelia Deshmukh’s latest venture is part of a different world altogether: the smart protein ecosystem. Over the last few years, the Bollywood-superstars-slash-entrepreneurs have been working with GFI India to cook up something big. Their startup — Imagine Meats — is set to change the way we eat. They, along with the host of Indian smart protein companies that have been cropping up recently, are bringing alternatives to a...
Indra Nooyi on Smart Protein’s Breakout Moment
December 14, 2021 01:05 - 27 minutes - 25.5 MBIndra Nooyi needs no introduction. But what does she think about smart protein? If you’re following along, you know that by investing in plant-based, fermentation-derived, and cultivated alternatives to animal-sourced meat, eggs, seafood, and dairy products — what we call smart protein — we stand a chance to vastly transform the future of food for the better. And Indra agrees with us. In this first episode of Season 2.5, The Good Food Institute’s Varun Deshpande sits down with Indra Nooyi ...
Smart Protein’s Breakout Year?
December 14, 2021 00:35 - 23 minutes - 21.2 MBAlongside transitioning our energy supply, transitioning to smart protein and away from animal-derived agriculture is the most important thing we can do to preserve our link with our heritage, and safeguard our future - put differently, to have our meat and our planet too. In the face of climate change brought on by excessive land, water, and energy use, a world scrambling for food security, and global health crises like antibiotic resistance and future pandemics, can we build back better? W...
S02 E10: Plagues, Pestilence, Smart Protein: Our Resilient Food Future
August 25, 2020 00:35 - 51 minutes - 47.2 MBIn 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...
S02 E09: Building the Bio Revolution
August 18, 2020 00:35 - 41 minutes - 38.4 MBWe tend to focus on the fact that in the year 2050 we will have to feed 10 billion human beings on this planet but we won’t be the only species we have to worry about. We are currently witnessing an unprecedented loss of biodiversity as climate change makes this planet inhospitable for all species. We need to find a way to feed not just ourselves but also ensure other species thrive on Earth without being too extractive from nature. It is clear that biotech is going to be key to this transfo...
S02 E08: Conquering the Valley of Death
August 11, 2020 00:35 - 47 minutes - 43.3 MBWhat 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 mic...
S02 E07: Tackling Malnutrition with Smart Protein: A Glimpse of the Future
August 04, 2020 00:35 - 53 minutes - 49.2 MBSmart 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 challen...
S02 E06: Building a Food Innovation Ecosystem
July 28, 2020 04:22 - 54 minutes - 49.7 MBThe 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 the...
S02 E05: Beyond the Burger - Decoding what Consumers Want
July 21, 2020 00:35 - 52 minutes - 48 MBUnderstanding 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)...
S02 E04: Paving the Way for Plant-Based Dairy in India
July 14, 2020 00:35 - 37 minutes - 34.8 MBIn 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 bra...
S02 E03: Connecting the Dots for Catalytic Capital
July 07, 2020 00:35 - 50 minutes - 46.1 MBAgriculture 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 ...
S02 E02: Big Ideas, Big Investments
June 30, 2020 00:35 - 51 minutes - 46.9 MBLast 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 s...
S02 E01: Building the Foundation of Alternative Protein
June 23, 2020 00:35 - 1 minute - 1.62 MBSeason 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 ...
Season 2: Announcement
June 17, 2020 00:35 - 1 minute - 1.65 MBBy 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...
Ep. 10: No Food to Good Food
November 19, 2019 00:30 - 46 minutes - 42.4 MBIn 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,...
Ep. 09: Fishing for a Fix
November 12, 2019 00:30 - 35 minutes - 32.3 MBIt’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...
Ep. 9: Fishing for a Fix
November 12, 2019 00:30 - 38 minutes - 17.8 MBIt’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...
Ep. 08: Dispatch from the Frontier of Food
November 05, 2019 00:30 - 54 minutes - 50.1 MBThrough this season of Feeding 10 Billion, two names that have cropped up in nearly every episode are the pioneers of plant-based meats: Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods. Beyond Meat had the biggest IPO in North America in the last two decades this year. Impossible Foods was first served in Michelin starred restaurants in 2016 and is now making waves at chains like Burger King thanks to its plant-based beef burger being served as the Impossible Whopper - leading to BK’s best quarter in the l...
Ep. 07: Dining in the Age of Data Mining
October 29, 2019 00:30 - 39 minutes - 36.6 MBFood 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 ...
Ep. 06: A Brief History Our Future
October 22, 2019 00:30 - 1 hour - 57.8 MBThe 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...
Ep. 05: Serving up the Future
October 15, 2019 00:30 - 44 minutes - 40.7 MBIf 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...
Ep. 04: The Business of Food
October 08, 2019 00:30 - 50 minutes - 46.1 MBFeeding 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 ...
Ep. 03: The Power of Plant-Protein
October 01, 2019 00:30 - 1 hour - 62.8 MBThe world agrees we need to eat less meat and eat more plants if we want to save the planet from disastrous climate crises. But that’s easier said than done. In fact, our meat consumption is only set to rise. It was the highest in the U.S. this past year at 100 kilos per capita and by 2030, continents like Africa and Asia Pacific will see tremendous growth in the appetite for protein. But it doesn’t have to come from animal sources. Companies like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods as well as ...
Ep. 02: Cultivating our Meat
September 24, 2019 00:30 - 44 minutes - 41 MBIt may sound like science fiction, but it’s coming to your plate in the near future! Cultivating our meat using just a small sample of animal cells is now a reality. Companies like Memphis Meats and scientists like Dr. Mark Post have pioneered this technology to develop products spanning the gamut of chicken, fish, pork, and other meats. Closer to home, companies like Shiok Meats are also cultivating seafood from cells. The future looks bright, but challenges remain. While in India we can le...
Ep. 01: Inside the Revolution
September 17, 2019 00:30 - 38 minutes - 35.3 MBIt is time for a major food revolution. The way we source animal protein has remained the same for thousands of years. We grow crops to feed to animals and rear those animals to eat their meat. But this system is broken - in terms of resource use and greenhouse gas emissions. Add to that antibiotic resistance and zoonotic diseases and it’s clear that protein is no longer healthy for humans or this planet. But, as companies like Beyond Meat, Memphis Meats, and Impossible Foods are showing, a ...
Ep. 00: Introducing The Feeding 10 Billion Podcast
September 09, 2019 11:18 - 1 minute - 1.19 MBBy the year 2050, we will have 10 billion people on our planet. If we want to feed all 10 billion in a sustainable, healthy and just way, it’s time to re-imagine our food systems. Making food that’s better for the planet and for us, has to come without negative consequences like climate change, excessive land and water use, zoonotic diseases and antibiotic resistance. Thankfully, the next food revolution is here, and it involves rethinking the future of protein. Companies like Impossible Foo...