Veg vs Non-Veg: The Culinary Shift

Restaurant menus used to be simple – a choice between vegetarian and non-vegetarian. Today, they give Starbucks baristas a run for their money with choices that include gluten-free, eggless, Jain, lactose-free, nut-free and the biggest one yet – animal-free or as it’s more popularly known, vegan. There hasn’t been anything in a while that’s stirred as much controversy as plant-based alternatives.

Data reveals that India is one of the countries with the lowest per capita meat consumption in the world, with approximately 4 kg as compared to the global average of approximately 40 kg, suggesting that Indians have always been a largely plant-based consumer (export of meats is an entirely different matter). Then what’s behind the recent spate of plant-based alternative food products that have been taking over supermarket shelves in the last 6 months?

The Good Food Institute, a nonprofit working internationally to accelerate alternative protein innovation, answers it succinctly – it’s an attempt to mitigate the environmental impact of our food system, decrease the risk of zoonotic disease, and ultimately feed more people with fewer resources.

To put it simply, the endeavor is to incentivize non-vegetarians to eat less animal-derived meat by offering plant based food that mimics…