Green, spiky and with a strong, sweet smell, the bulky jackfruit has morphed from a backyard nuisance in India's south coast into the meat-substitute darling of vegans and vegetarians in the West.
"There are a lot of enquiries from abroad... At the international level, the interest in jackfruit has grown manifold," Varghese Tharakkan tells AFP from his orchard in Kerala's Thrissur district. James Joseph quit his job as a director at Microsoft after spotting Western interest in jackfruit"gaining momentum as a vegan alternative to meat".The COVID-19 crisis, Joseph says, has created two spikes in consumer interest.
Concerns about health and the environment -- a 2019 UN report suggested adopting more of a plant-based diet could help mitigate climate change -- mean consumers are turning to brands such as Impossible and Beyond Meat for plant-based replications of chicken, beef, and pork. Joseph worked with Sydney University's Glycemic Index Research Service to establish any health benefits.
Tharakkan has not looked back since he switched from growing rubber to jackfruit on his land, and has a variety that he can cultivate year-round.