Annie Ryu is on a mission: She wants to replace meat with the world’s largest tree-borne fruit: the jackfruit. Given that this 26-year-old was recently named as one of Forbes Magazine’s 2017 30 under 30 Social Entrepreneurs, I am confident she will make great strides in achieving her goal. And, yes, you read it correctly: the jackfruit. It’s the largest tree-borne fruit in the world, with some weighing in at 100lbs or more. By transforming the underutilized resource into a meat substitute, The Jackfruit Company is providing income for Indian farming families and diminishing the carbon footprint associated with meat-consumption. Annie is the visionary leader responsible for bringing this ancient commodity to the world market and I can hardly wait to hear her story, her dreams and her plans for going global with the jackfruit.

 

INSIGHTS

  • The mission of The Jackfruit Company is to transform healthy eating, farmer’s livelihoods, and humanity’s eco-footprint – for the better.
  • Jackfruit is the biggest fruit that grows on trees, on the planet!
  • Jackfruit is native to India and is very abundant – one tree can yield up to 3 tons of jackfruit a year.
  • Annie’s inspiration for starting The Jackfruit Company is phenomenal – listen to this podcast to learn about her “why” – and by the way, she was 20 years old when she started the company!
  • Two of the biggest contributors to global warming are the meat industry and deforestation – jackfruit can be an answer to both of those.
  • What are the steps to bring a product to market in today’s world? What role does the Internet play as a tool for entrepreneurs? Annie shares a few insights into the process of bringing her business to life.
  • There is such a shift in the amount of meat that people are consuming – there is a decrease happening…especially in the USA. 25% of US consumers decreased their meat intake from 2014 to 2015 and meat alternative sales nearly doubled from 2011 to 2015.
  • The Jackfruit Company not only purchases the product from the farmers they are working with, they benefit their lives by using a portion of their profits to gift the farmers each year. Learn what gift the farmers received this past year and how it transforms their lives.
  • A really important question to explore when building sustainable communities – what systems can be put into place, within a community, to prevent illness in the first place (rather than focusing on treating disease)? There are factors involved (like owning a phone) that you might not even consider. Annie explores this question during this podcast and shares her experience building sustainable communities around the world.
  • Annie sees The Jackfruit Company being a driving force in the culture shift that is already happening to a plant based diet.
  • The Jackfruit Company can be found in about 5,000 stores around the United States – give it a try today and continue to do the good thing for the planet.

GET INFORMED!

GET ACTIVE!

  • Purchase your jackfruit products today!
  • Get involved with the Global Village Network mentioned during the podcast
  • Check out this great video all about jackfruit and then watch Annie’s video of how to dissect one here
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