Riteish & Genelia Deshmukh’s Plant-Based Startup Imagine Meats Launches In Mumbai Today

10th September, 2021

After working through the pandemic to create the most delicious, guilt-free, plant-based meat products on the market, Riteish and Genelia Deshmukh’s Imagine Meats is launching today in Mumbai. The launch was timed to coincide with Ganesh Chaturthi, so consumers can have their indulgence and remain vegetarian during the Hindu holiday season. 

Imagine Meats was forged from the Deshmukhs’ desire to build a better, kinder planet for their children, and brings together the best of global food science with Indian culinary traditions and flavour. The team worked tirelessly throughout the Covid-19 pandemic to craft the most authentic delicacies to cater to Indian and international palates. Consumers craving the taste and experience of the meat dishes they know and love can find a wide selection on the Imagine Meats website and in Nature’s Basket and Reliance Retail locations around Mumbai. The range includes keemas, kebabs, nuggets, burgers, and biryanis in plant-based chicken and mutton varieties - a diverse selection focused on catering to every craving. 

Genelia Deshmukh said of the launch, “Imagine Meats is our labour of love, allowing people to upgrade their meat and eat without guilt in line with their values. After many months of anticipation, we are delighted to launch in Mumbai and look forward to bringing delicious plant-based meats to every plate!” Riteish Deshmukh said, “As a former carnivore, I know that millions like me are looking for a solution to their meat cravings. We spent years looking for the perfect fix, until we decided to make it ourselves - and we’ve worked for over 2 years to make this a reality. With our wide range of craveable plant-based meats, we want to enable everybody to Imagine Meat.” 

Plant-based meats are a next generation food innovation which are made entirely from plant ingredients such as pea protein and coconut oil, but which perfectly replicate the taste, smell, and sizzle of animal meat. They go far beyond the traditional soya nuggets or mock meats, and therefore offer non-vegetarians a simple switch which is far better for the environment in terms of land, water, and energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, and for public health because it does not increase the risk of zoonotic diseases such as swine flu and avian flu. This is particularly important in countries like India, where meat consumption is expected to rise radically over the next decades with rising incomes. The Government of India’s policy think tank NITI Aayog has identified that many Indian cities will run out of water by 2030 and climate resilience is an existential need for the country.

Globally, the sector is growing extremely rapidly, with several companies scaling to billions of dollars in size and even being listed on stock exchanges. Data from the Good Food Institute India, the leading nonprofit advancing the sector, shows that $3.1B was invested in the smart protein sector globally in 2020, up 3x from the year prior as enthusiasm and demand for sustainable and secure protein supply chains deepened during the Covid-19 pandemic. The launch of Imagine Meats can lay the groundwork of similar success in India. Varun Deshpande, Managing Director at the Good Food Institute India, said, “The clock is ticking on climate change, food and water insecurity, and public health crises like future pandemics. Plant-based meats offer huge promise to provide consumers and producers with a simple switch rather than a sacrifice, and the launch of Imagine Meats is an exciting development towards making this a reality and helping the Indian market for smart protein truly take off.” 

The company will launch their products through additional channels in coming months beyond this exciting launch, and consumers can expect to see even more on the different dishes, and partnerships in the near future.

Contributed by The Good Food Institute India.

Read More: Jennifer Aniston Launches Her Own Vegan Hair Care Line ‘Lolavie’, Shares Behind-The-Scenes Look