An interview with Clément Scellier and Bastien Rabastens, founders of JIMINI’S, one of Forward Fooding’s top 500 Food Tech startups.

Clément Scellier and Bastien Rabastens, founders of JIMINI’S

It’s time to put a face to the name…

We asked our FoodTech 500 top-runners to give us a bit of insight into how they started out as a company and their thoughts on the role of technology in Food innovation. Meet Clément and Bastien, the power-duo behind JIMINI’S, introducing insects into Europeans’ plates taking advantage of their nutritional and environmental benefits. Let’s see what the founders had to say.

So tell us a little bit more about you! Where did the idea for your FoodTech company come from?

Clément and Bastien: While we were watching a famous French reality show where candidates have to eat insects alive, we got curious! We decided to taste insects and started to look at where to buy some. When we finally tasted them, we were positively surprised and liked them. We discovered that French people have a very negative image of insects. At the same time, in 2013, the FAO and other organizations said that insects were the protein of the future. In fact, in 2050 because of a global increase in protein consumption and a lack of space and energy to produce ‘traditional’ proteins we will need other sources of protein. We noticed that European populations were not ready to consume insects. That is why we decided to take up the challenge and integrate insects to the European diet.

How is tech central to your business?

Clément and Bastien: Insects are bred in specialized European modern farms. Then, we developed the internal expertise to transform it into delicious products. As this is a brand new ingredient, we implement techniques and innovative production methods.

Why do you think it’s important to see the food industry embrace tech?

Clément and Bastien: The food industry has to take on the biggest challenges our world will face in the following years. Resources are scarce, the population is growing, and we’ll have to implement new ways of producing food. The new possibilities tech offers represent an opportunity we have to embrace.Whether it’s new ingredients, new techniques, new ways of consuming; the food industry knows its more interesting years!

Want to know more? Check out JIMINI’S’ full profile here.

Congratulations again to JIMINI’S for ranking 1st in the “Next-Gen Food & Drinks” category of the Foodtech 500 list.

To find out who else made it into the FoodTech 500; the top Food Tech companies in the world, click here.

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