Greenest: India’s First ‘Hyper-Realistic’ Plant-Based Shami Kebabs Launch In Delhi

Indian plant-based startup Upstablish Food Technologies has just launched the country’s first line of “hyper-realistic” plant-based meats under its brand Greenest. The range consists of high-protein plant-based alternatives to kebabs and is now available in Delhi. Looking ahead, the company will be launching its new line in more cities and has set its sights on expanding its offerings to include more plant-based products tailored to get “smart protein on India’s plates”.

Announced on Saturday (November 14), Upstablish has launched its new Greenest brand of plant-based meat alternatives. Founded in 2017 by Gaurav Sharma, Kannan Krishnamoorthy and Dinesh Jain, the startup is one of India’s emerging group of alternative protein food techs on a mission to address the protein and nutritional needs of India amid rising challenges from climate change to zoonotic diseases.

The company’s new Greenest line of vegan Shami Kebabs have just launched in the Delhi NCR region, available through the brand’s direct-to-consumer website, coming in five varieties of flavours including salt and pepper, moroccan spices, zesty tandoori, puraani dilli and peri peri. Made primarily from soy protein, split roasted chickpeas and natural flavourings, Greenest says that the new products are the first homegrown plant-based alternatives that are deliver on mouthfeel and brings a “hyper-realistic” taste of real meat, but without the environmental or ethical concerns of its animal counterparts. 

We are on a serious mission, a mission to get smarter protein on India’s plates.

Gaurav Sharma, Co-Founder & CEO of Upstablish

Greenest also boasts a clean label, amid the rising consumer appeal of healthy meat alternatives, containing no preservatives, artificial flavourings, GMOs, cholesterol or trans fats, while still providing a high protein content with more than 10-grams per serving. 

“We are on a serious mission, a mission to get smarter protein on India’s plates,” said co-founder and CEO Gaurav Sharma. “Humans are truly at a junction where the world’s food chain can be re-examined and re-engineered to completely exclude animals from it.” 

“We are keeping our ears to the ground and are working on products which people tell us that they need. [Until] now, we seem to be doing a good job at it as our consumers tell us the Kebabs taste surprisingly similar to meat,” Sharma added.

In the future, Sharma told Green Queen that the company plans to launch Greenest in more major cities across India over the next few months, as well as expand its range of plant-based meat alternative products that are tailored to Indian cuisine and local tastes and is able to replicate the qualities of real meat without animals. 

The incredible, delectable culinary diversity across the South Asian subcontinent is fertile ground for plant-based meat innovation, and the Greenest shami kebabs are a great example.

Varun Deshpande, Managing Director of GFI India

“At Greenest, we understand what goes into making a consumer’s meat experience great and then we work our way up to recreate that experience without getting the animal into the picture. We understand the finer nuances about texture, fibres, chew, juiciness, fat, meaty [and] umami notes and flavours.”

Speaking about the opportunities that lie ahead in the massive Indian market for alternative proteins, Varun Despande, the managing director of nonprofit Good Food Institute India (GFI India), said: “India remains a promising yet nascent frontier market for the category. The incredible, delectable culinary diversity across the South Asian subcontinent is fertile ground for plant-based meat innovation, and the Greenest shami kebabs are a great example.” 

“We’re looking forward to consumers, producers, and planetary health benefiting from more plant-based entrepreneurship emerging from India.”

All images courtesy of Greenest / Upstablish.