Monica was born into the seafood industry, and for years has been running her family business, Van Cleve’s Seafood, from the Eastern Shore of Virginia. But as you’ll hear in this conversation, a series of events led her to start experimenting with plant-based seafood recipes. And while it’s no longer major news for conventional meat companies to develop plant-based lines since so many are admirably already now doing that, Monica announces in this episode something far more inspirational.

Brian Spears is the founder and CEO of New Age Meats, making meat from animal cells instead of animal slaughter. Previously, he spent eight years as co-founder of Sixclear, creating software and products to automate the research labs and production environments of customers such as NASA, Cisco Systems, Sandia National Labs, and GE Healthcare.

In this episode, we talk with Adam Grogan, an executive at Maple Leaf’s plant protein division Greenleaf Foods. We’re also joined by the company’s Chief of R&D, Jitendra Sagili, a meat industry veteran who’s in charge of a team of 90 food scientists, many of whom are working to innovate the best new alt-proteins for the meat-eating consumer.

In this episode we discuss Irina’s journey from corporate Goliath to start-up David, just what makes Change Foods different from other precision fermentation start-ups, and what Irina thinks are examples of great—and not-so-great—marketing in the plant-based space.

In this episode we talk about Kristie’s transition from the world of charities to the work of building a company aimed at helping animals. We also discuss how Rebellyous Foods intends to bend the cost curve of plant-based meat and what they’re doing with the $12 million they’ve raised from venture capitalists so far.

Chris Bryson served as the founder and CEO of Unata, an enterprise software provider (acquired by Instacart in 2018) that powers the eCommerce & digital experiences for major grocery chains. Recognized as the 52nd Fastest Growing North American Tech Company (PROFIT 500 2016), Canada's #2 best small business workplace (Great Place to Work 2017), and one of Canada's Top 20 Most Innovative Companies (CIX Awards 2016).

Meat from a cow who’s eaten an entirely grass-based diet is typically called “grass-fed meat.” So when you’re making plant-based meat with wood as your feedstock, is it called “wood-fed meat”? No matter what you call it, Arbiom has raised about $30 million to produce it.

This is a special episode, because the guest holds many interesting titles for our purposes: Toni Okamoto is the founder of Plant Based on a Budget, a successful author, the creator and former co-host of this podcast, and...she happens also to be my wife. And Toni has a new book coming out! This is her third cookbook, entitled The Friendly Vegan Cookbook, which is coauthored with Toni's business partner and friend Michelle Cehn.

When this podcast was first launched in 2018, the very first guest was Whole Foods Market CEO and co-founder John Mackey. In that episode, we talked about his book Conscious Capitalism. Well, John has a new book out now, Conscious Leadership, and to commemorate our 50th episode, he rejoins the podcast for a second conversation and rest assured, John does not disappoint.

But what if it were possible to make meat alternatives with a different species than one of those three? In fact, a species so different it’s not even a plant at all. That’s exactly what Kimberlie Le of Prime Roots is doing.

In this interview, we hear from Good Dot CEO Abhishek Sinha, a man who by his own description was an animal-loving government bureaucrat who decided he wanted to do more for animals with his career. And as a result, he claims he’s happier and more fulfilled today than he’s ever been before. You already know there’s a plant-based meat revolution happening in the US, Europe, and China. Now get ready to hear about how it’s unfolding on the Asian subcontinent too.

As you’ll hear in this interview with company founder Roger Lienhard and CEO Kees Kruythoff (former CEO of Unilever North America), they intend to use their extensive food industry experience and massive capital to revolutionize the chicken industry. And it will all begin with a new, all-natural plant-based chicken that contains only four to six ingredients and, they say, will be cheaper than chicken within three years.

Today, everyone knows what plant-based meat is and chances are they’ve at least tried it. In many ways, those people have Seth Tibbott to thank. Seth, who in 1980 founded Turtle Island Foods (maker of the iconic Tofurky brand) and served as its CEO for more than three decades, is now releasing his autobiography: In Search of the Wild Tofurky: How a Business Misfit Pioneered Plant-Based Foods Before They Were Cool.

You already know about plant-based meat. You’re also familiar with meat grown from animal cells, often called cultivated meat or clean meat. But have you ever heard of making protein—and therefore the building blocks of meat—straight out of thin air?

In many ways, Ryan Bethencourt is an OG of the biotech alt-protein scene. As a cofounder of biotech accelerator Indiebio, he was part of the team that wrote the first-ever investor checks to now well-known names in the field, including Memphis Meats, Clara Foods, and Geltor. In addition to Ryan’s pioneering work to incubate and fund companies seeking to create more sustainable protein sources, he’s now the cofounder of his own startup, Wild Earth.

Clara Foods has since raised $50 million in venture capital, and the company is about to commercialize its first products. It’s an inspirational tale, and one that proves you need not be a superhuman to do something truly super for the world.

You’ve likely heard the Biblical story in which a small amount of fish were multiplied to feed thousands. Well, in 2020, Lou Cooperhouse is literally multiplying the fish—or at least their cells—in the hopes of again feeding the masses, and saving our planet at the same time. Lou’s company, BlueNalu, has raised millions of dollars to culture fish cells into real fish meat that looks and performs just like conventional fish, but without the mercury, microplastics, nor oceanic exploitation.

Plastic is amazing at doing so many things—except going away. As the planet increasingly swims in humanity’s plastic garbage (nearly none of which gets recycled and virtually all of which will last for centuries), Lori Goff is betting that biotech will be part of the solution to creating functional plastic alternatives that are so biodegradable you can eat them.

What if you could make coffee out of agricultural byproducts, like watermelon seeds and sunflower seed husks? Think it wouldn’t taste as good? Well, according to a Seattle-based startup called Atomo, they’ve not only recreated the exact taste of coffee, but they go on to claim that in blind taste tests of their brew vs. Starbucks, 7 out of 10 people preferred the taste of their so-called molecular coffee.

What do you get when you combine a Google leader, a dairy industry executive, and an engineer? Apparently, if you’re in Singapore, you get a new startup producing real cow’s milk– without the cow: TurtleTree Labs.