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40. The Future of Meat (with Varun Deshpande, Ramya Ramamurthy and Shailesh Rai)
Can plant-based substitutes work?
Speakers
Varun Deshpande and Ramya Ramamurthy of the Good Food Institute discuss the future of meat and the viability of plant-based substitutes with researcher and journalist Shailesh Rai.
Varun and Ramya talk to Shailesh about the recent success of the Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods brands in the US, about what makes true meat substitutes work, why they are necessary, and how they can contribute to sustainable food consumption across the world. They dive into the technology, the trends, the culture and conflicts around food, and demystify up and coming food technologies that could fundamentally change what we eat.
Varun Deshpande is the Managing Director, and Ramya Ramamurthy is Communications Specialist, at the Good Food Institute India. They also host the Feeding 10 Billion Podcast, on the IVM Podcasts Network. Shailesh Rai is an independent researcher and journalist based in Bangalore.
Speakers
Varun Deshpande
As the son of a cancer surgeon from Mumbai, Varun has been deeply immersed in healthcare and technology from a very young age. He spent several formative years studying Chemical and Biomedical Engineering at technology hub Carnegie Mellon University. He then went on to work on implementing digital health in India and the United States, helping vulnerable populations through care coordination, and a systems approach to healthcare. While in the United States, Varun learned about Effective Altruism, a philosophy which seeks to investigate and target the world’s most pressing problems. He came to understand the tremendous impact of industrial animal agriculture on the world, and the imperative need to transition away from it using markets and technology. In dedicating his work to the future of protein and combining his duty to human and planetary health, Varun aims to help build a more healthy, sustainable, and just global food system, starting right here in India.
Ramya Ramamurthy
Ramya is a media professional with 15 years of work experience spanning across the gamut – from print media to broadcast television news, from documentary filmmaking to digital media. She has worked with established media brands like CNBC TV-18 and on films for channels like National Geographic Channel and Star World. She is also a published author – her first book Rebuild – How Brands In India Overcame Crisis and Emerged Stronger, Better, Wiser, commissioned by Hachette Publishers, has been in bookstores and online since April 2018. Her mission, simply put, is to make GFI the first word that comes to your mind when it comes to all things plant-based, cell-based meat eggs and dairy.
