A podcast, a recipe book and YouTube timecodes split in half, here's how Swiggy Instamart is trying to make cooking a shared, more equal experience

• Armed with a cookbook that splits in half, a ‘made-for-earpods,’ Spotify recipe podcast for couples, and timecodes to split YouTube recipes -- Swiggy Instamart is simplifying kitchen equality like never before.
• The campaign is conceptualised and executed by Dentsu Webchutney.

Swiggy Instamart with Dentsu Webchutney launched #TheBetterHalfCookbook in February and disrupted a nearly two-thousand-year-old way of cooking with a unique idea to make kitchens equal: cooking together.

The Better Half cookbook gave partners an equal responsibility to split the recipe and cook the meal. Each partner has to follow only their side of the instructions to see their meal come together, together.


So far, the cookbooks were available for customers in only Bengaluru and Gurugram, cities where Swiggy Instamart, the grocery delivery service, is currently operational.

While #TheBetterHalfCookbook was just the start to making cooking more equal, and faster, Swiggy gave the internet a taste, an eye, and an ear for equality.

They have now introduced the most innovative way to use a podcast to promote kitchen equality, giving the world an all-new way to listen to recipes. Called “The Better Half Earpodcast”- this unique format (nicknamed ‘.we’ files to promote sharing) enables two homechefs to listen to their side of the instruction by splitting their earpods. Each earpod plays only one side of the instructions to cook the recipe with your better half in just half the time.

Gurbaksh Singh and GD Prasad, Chief Innovation Officer & VP- Account Management, Dentsu Webchutney said: “The idea of splitting the recipe goes across mediums. We’re proud to be the first brand worldwide to innovate using earpods- through the ‘The Better Half Earpodcast’. We hacked how a single audio file can disperse sound across two speakers simultaneously- giving a seamless real-time cooking experience for two people together, through a single file on Spotify.”

YouTube recipes, now made progressive
Instamart isn’t paying food influencers the big bucks to promote this new way of recipe writing, instead, they’re busy fixing every food influencer’s old recipes! Like the user that comments the ‘lyrics’ to a song, Instamart is also leaving a comment on the most trending recipes video across YouTube- rewriting the recipe for ‘two people to cook it together’. Including those of Nisha Madhuika, Ranveer Brar, Kunal Kapur, and Pooja Dhingra among others, proving that any recipe can be better half’d if you’re ready to cook with your better half. From baked sev puri, jute leaf fritters, Korean street sandwich to honey garlic shrimp.

Shikha Gupta, Creative Director, Swiggy, impresses on us that the comments aren’t a paid partnership. “It’s possible for you to be a fan of a brand, even if it’s not possible to be a customer right now. Even though Instamart isn’t operational outside Bengaluru and Gurgaon, the idea of ‘cooking together’ deserves to be practised across India, and the world. Introducing audiences outside our core markets to these recipes is a selfless act, with long term bets: one we’re very proud of.”

“There are multiple ways of using influencers. You don’t just need them to promote your idea. Sometimes, if your idea is worth it- you could use it to promote their content too. By simply leaving a comment, we’re being less intrusive- and giving users the option to cook their favorite recipes (that they’re already watching)- in a progressive way. Like dishes have a meat/vegetarian/vegan version… our aim is for every recipe on the internet to have a ‘Better Half’ version. And we’re getting there… one book, one podcast & one comment at a time,” says PG Aditiya, NCD, Dentsu Webchutney.

A genius way of leveraging food influencers and their clout, this move is big on platform insight, zero on budget. Are we now seeing the newest trend in recipes & food writing? Only time will tell.