By the year 2050, we will have 10 billion people on our planet. Linking this rise to the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of feeding the entire population in a sustainable manner is what got Varun Deshpande and Ramya Ramamurthy of the US-based Good Food Institute’s (GFI) India chapter started on creating their new podcast, Feeding 10 Billion . “Our food system is broken. The greenhouse gases emitted by industrial animal agriculture are more than the emissions by all forms of transportation combined. However, demand for meat continues to rise, and telling people what they should eat or guilting them into giving up meat doesn’t work,” says Ramamurthy, adding that the way forward is to offer people protein made in a better way.
- Kavita Rajwade, co-founder of IVM Podcasts, says the initial podcast evoked curiosity among listeners since it offered an in-depth glimpse into what the future of food may look like. “It isn’t limited to how food has been produced and consumed, but also covers the business of feeding 10 billion and the technological advances taking place.” Rajwade adds how she is staying away from recipe shows in their food category, as “podcasting lends itself very well to the deeper conversations around technology and food”.
Making meat
The first episode of the IVM podcast — ‘Inside the Revolution’ — that dropped on September 17, focussed on how, with meat made from plants or cultivated from cells, we could finally shift away from animal rearing as a platform. The second episode out this week delved further into cultivating cell-based meats and featured companies such as Memphis Meats and Singapore-based Shiok Meats.
The duo believes that making food that’s better for the planet has to come without negative consequences. “Many studies have repeatedly shown that eating a plant-based diet or reducing our meat intake is good for the environment in the long run, but they haven’t made any dent in the amount of meat we eat. The next food revolution is here and it involves rethinking the future of protein,” says Deshpande.
Varun Deshpande (left) and Ramya Ramamurthy
In depth
But why a podcast? He explains how the science and the business of these concepts is nascent, yet so intensive, that it “requires a deep dive to fully understand them”. Deshpande says the obvious format for this was the podcast as it allowed for in-depth conversations. “It’s a great way to outline our theory of change. A lot of the people we work with in this field are spread across the world and we are trying to ensure their work is captured in this podcast, but also want to shine a light on the innovation that is taking place in India right now,” he says adding it took them three months to research, record and broadcast the series.
Going forward, listeners can look forward to episodes on sustainable seafood, how evolving consumer trends will dictate what we eat in 2050, the future of the food service sector, etc. “We’ve recorded an episode on the history of our food with anthropologist and historian Kurush Dalal. Our podcasts feature experts such as Omnivore’s Mark Kahn, historian and anthropologist Kurush Dalal, Food Matters India’s Gauri Devidayal, among others,” adds Ramamurthy.
Feeding 10 Billion is available on on IVM Podcasts and leading streaming platforms
Published - October 04, 2019 03:16 pm IST
