One man's journey to revolutionise how we perceive the jackfruit

James Joseph left his job with Microsoft and, today, he believes that the humble fruit may be key to managing - or even reversing - diabetes

by

Janice Rodrigues

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Published: Thu 15 Nov 2018, 11:00 PM

Last updated: Fri 16 Nov 2018, 1:00 AM

James Joseph's CV speaks for itself. Having grown up in Kerala, India, he always aspired to be a 'professional without borders'. It's this dream that took him to the UK where he did a Master's degree in Engineering Business Management. He returned to India to work for Ford, but was then recruited to i2 Technologies and moved to the US in 1999 before switching careers and joining Microsoft. This, in turn, led him to become its director of executive engagement in India.

"In 2009, I convinced Microsoft to allow me to manage my role by working from my village in Kerala, thus completing my journey to be a professional without borders," he says proudly.
Of course, his journey didn't end there.

One day, while having dinner at the Taj hotel in Mumbai, James noticed some guests enjoying mushrooms instead of crabs in the vegetarian version of the chef's signature dish, and that led him to question the chef. Why mushrooms? Why not jackfruit, known for years as vegetarian 'meat'? The answer, it turned out, what was that the jackfruit had a reputation of being 'poor man's food' in India and that five star restaurants would not work with it.

"Having the unripe fruit as a meal was considered a practice that families who could not afford rice," he explains. "Moreover, it is a mess to peel the fruit and generally takes a long time to take out the edible portions. Chefs did not want to do it - although they would happily clean a slimy lobster!"

As a marketer - and an ardent fan of the jackfruit himself - James took it upon himself to change that perception as a hobby. He did this through the launch of Jackfruit365 - a movement to make the seasonal fruit available year-round by supplying it in freeze-dried form. Giving chefs access to peeled and freeze-dried jackfruit made it significantly easier to work with. He then proceeded to challenge the chefs to make dishes with the fruit. "Within a year, we had chefs in India making everything from vegetarian galouti kebab to lasagna to panna cotta," he says.

As the media coverage of his work got more intensive, several jackfruit lovers started telling James about their personal experiences. One of them was diabetic patient Thomas Brahmanavelli who - after eating jackfruit curry instead of rice - took his usual insulin shot and collapsed. Apparently, it was because his blood sugar level had dropped to far below normal. It was this incident that got James interested in researching the fruit further.
A glycemic study of the unripe green jackfruit at Sydney University Glycemic Index Research Services gave him the answer he required. While the glycemic load of a cup of rice is about 29, and two rotis is about 27, that of the unripe jackfruit is only 17. This means that Thomas' blood sugar increased only half as much, and he required less medication, which is what led to the collapse.

"In addition to this, a cup of green jackfruit has 40 per cent less carbs, 40 per cent less calories and four times more fibre - making it a high-satiety food, when compared to rice or roti," explains James. "Both low carb and low calories diets are clinically proven to reverse diabetes in multiple studies - and that's where the humble jackfruit comes in."

According to James, it is integral for a healthy plate to have 50 per cent vegetables and fruits, 25 per cent protein and only 25 per cent carbohydrate from grains - which is where the typical Indian diet goes wrong.
"The Indian plate is more than 70 per cent carbohydrates from grains while green vegetables and fruits are almost negligible," he says. "We must look for every opportunity to replace grains with greens - for the whole family, not just diabetic patients. Eating more carbs than greens is the fastest route to lifestyle diseases for children."

"That being said, the diabetes benefit is only seen from the mature unripe green jackfruit - not the sweet ripe one or the tender one now popular as vegan meat. Moreover, it needs to be eaten as an alternative to rice or wheat," adds James, who also cautions against the practice without instructions from a medical professional.
In 2014, a meeting with India's former President the late APJ Abdul Kalam got James to take things to a new level. "He had found out about my work and when he heard about the benefits jackfruit could have on diabetes, he told me I had to find a way to look beyond Kerala. He said it would be too difficult to change eating habits - so I had to find a way to add the green jackfruit to what people actually liked to eat."

After months of experimenting, James and his team managed to create an all-purpose 'jackfruit flour' which had the taste, texture and flavour of a regular grain flour. For this, they had to create a machine that could continuously process jackfruits, and converting them into a flour without increasing the sugar value.
Today, James proudly presents the Green Jackfruit Flour which can be used to replace a third of rice or wheat flour in just about any dish - from rotis to pizzas - without changing its taste or texture. What it does do is reduce the calories and carbs in the same quantity of food.

"The green revolution in India, as well as subsidies, made rice and wheat cheaper at the expense of the greens we used to have to keep us full," says James. "We need to now look back at what our grandparents used to eat... and make those healthy alternatives just as convenient."
janice@khaleejtimes.com