Meet the brand that is reimagining the mighty jackfruit: ‘Eat With Better’

A plant-based food brand offering a variety of jackfruit-based recipes

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India]: Eat with Better, a plant-based foods brand formed by Karan Bajaj and Keertida Phadke with the goal of changing people’s perceptions of the mighty jackfruit. Headquartered in Mumbai, the company was launched in 2020 with the base ingredient of plain shredded raw jackfruit for your imagination.

Over the last few years, the humble jackfruit has found its way onto restaurant menus replacing everything from pulled pork in tacos, to mutton in biryanis.
Plant-based foods brand ‘Eat With Better’ brings this meat alternative to dinner tables across the country with their range of ready-to-cook mixes offering home cooks the chance to whip up restaurant-quality dishes at home using tender jackfruit without the fuss of elaborate preparations.

Create everything from a simple sabzi or “meatballs” to old family recipes and weekend experiments with ‘Eat With Better’ Jackfruit Original which offers the base ingredient of plain shredded raw jackfruit for your imagination with the base of unseasoned tender jackfruit shreds that has a neutral taste and takes up whatever flavourings you cook it with. For those that need more than inspiration, Better’s three flavours Chettinad, Tawa Fry and Vindaloo represent regions that have a long tradition of cooking with faux meat. Each box includes both jackfruit and a spice paste that brings together a hearty meal in five minutes.

Speaking on the occasion Mr. Karan Bajaj, Co-founder Eat With Better, said, “While most superfoods are notoriously expensive, carbon-intensive, unsustainable fads, jackfruit grows abundantly in India which is its largest global producer”.

He further said, “Jackfruit is a drought-resistant crop that keeps the microclimate cool, and grows without any chemical fertilizers, making it naturally organic”.

Karan and Keertida, who became friends over their shared interest in jackfruit, offer a selection of plant-based snacks to jackfruit lovers. Their long game is to make this underutilised local superfood a household ingredient.

Speaking on the occasion Ms. Keertida Phadke,a plant-based chef trained in New York and Co-founder, Eat With Better, said “Cooking with raw jackfruit is by no means new — it’s the labour-intensive nature of cutting, cleaning and cooking with this hardy ingredient that has prevented it from becoming more popular, despite its fantastic texture and tremendous health benefits. Using jackfruit as a meat alternative means choosing a minimally processed wholefoods product without artificial preservatives, colours, flavours or soy, wheat and protein isolates”.

“We want people to have better options. Better Jackfruit may be vegan but its focus on flavour means it’s intended for absolutely everybody who eats”, she further added.

By sourcing from small landholder farmers in coastal Maharashtra, Eat With Better enables a sustainable supply chain that doesn’t recklessly tax the earth’s resources. It’s also a healthy ingredient that’s versatile in several stages of ripeness. Raw jackfruit is low in both calories and carbs, has no fats or sugars, and is even recommended to diabetics. Despite these proven benefits, an estimated 70% of the jackfruit produced in India goes to waste every year, due to scattered demand and lack of processing facilities, while paradoxically beginning to trend in the Global North for its naturally meaty texture.
With more people cooking at home than ever and looking to eat more plant-based cuisine, Eat With Better offers healthier, cruelty-free and climate-friendly foods that don’t compromise on taste.

Eat With Better Jackfruit is now available pan-India through their website https://eatwithbetter.com/or via Amazon. More flavour variations are in the pipeline.