Ep. 136 - Flying Cars or Electric Cars? Isha Datar’s Thoughts on Where Cultivated Meat Tech Stands Today
Isha has been pioneering cellular agriculture since 2009, driven by a passion to see transformative technology create a better world. In 2010, Isha published "Possibilities for an in-vitro meat production system" in Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies; thus began her quest to establish the field of cell ag.
Ep. 135 - Mark Post, A Decade After the First Cultivated Burger
In 2013, Dr. Mark Post shocked the world when he debuted the world’s first-ever burger grown from animal cells. Weighing in as a quarter-pounder, the burger carried a price tag of a mere $330,000—all of which was funded by Google co-founder Sergey Brin. A decade later, what does Mark think about the movement and the industry he helped birth?
Ep. 134 - Are Smaller Cultivators the Answer for Cultivated Meat’s Success? Niya Gupta Thinks So
Niya Gupta is the co-founder and CEO of Fork & Good, a cultivated meat company addressing the high costs of the industry with a novel and patented approach in cell culture that produces meat more efficiently than cows and pigs.
Ep. 133 - Josh Tetrick on the Future of the Cultivated Meat Movement
In this episode, Josh and I have a frank discussion about the cultivated meat sector, how it may be able to scale, what the economics could look like, whether Josh thinks it’s realistic to make a dent in total animal meat demand, and more.
Ep. 132 - Brief thoughts on the alt-meat movement and my role in it
I’m excited to announce in this short new podcast episode that there’s a new, updated, paperback edition of my book Clean Meat that’s coming out on April 9, 2024. Published by Simon and Schuster’s Gallery Books, the new Clean Meat is now available for preorder everywhere books are sold.
Ep. 131 - Incubating Tomorrow’s Alt-Protein Unicorns: The Kitchen
In this conversation, Jonathan and I talk about everything from why Israel is so startup-friendly, to why it has so many vegetarians, to why the alt-meat industry has hit such a rough patch around the world, and how the Hamas massacre on October 7th has affected the Israeli startup community.
Ep. 128 - Making Alt-Meat Research More Intelligent: GreenProtein AI & Noa Weiss
In this episode, I talk with Noa about how she thinks AI can be harnessed to make better-textured alternative meat, why she started GreenProtein AI, and where she plans to go next in her promising career. We even talk about sentience, from insects to machines!
Ep. 127 - Building a Better Chew: Chef GW Chew is Working to Create Better Plant-Based Meat
As you’ll hear in this interview from Chef Chew, unlike most plant-based meat, he doesn’t rely on extrusion of plant protein isolates, but rather uses a layer-ization process he pioneered using whole soybeans to make his brand of alt-meat called Better Chew. As Chef Chew says, “it looks like chicken; it tastes like chicken; but it ain't chicken!”
Ep. 123 - From Food Bank to Making Bank on Food Influencing: Maxime Sigouin and Fit Vegan Coaching
A vegan athlete, Maxime knew the secrets of how to lose fat and gain muscle, and he figured he could create a business to sell that coveted information to others. Today, Maxime has helped more than 1,000 people improve their lives through healthy plant-based eating, all while massively improving his own financial wellbeing at the same time.
Ep. 121 - The Most Successful Plant-Based Meat Entrepreneur Ever? Yves Potvin’s Konscious Foods
In this interview, Yves and I talk about his life, success, struggles along the way, and lessons he’s learned during his multi-decade career seeking to replace animals in the food system with healthier, more humane, and more sustainable options.
Ep. 118 - Turning the Tide for Tuna: Impact Food’s Kelly Pan
Kelly Pan is the Co-Founder & CEO of Impact Food. She is a foodie turned entrepreneur on a mission to build a more sustainable and resilient food system.
Ep. 113 - Hummus as a Force for Good: Joey Bergstein and the Sabra Story
In this interview, we chat with Sabra CEO Joey Bergstein about all things hummus, including why he thinks hummus is such a force for good in the world—including why chickpeas are the OG of regenerative crops—and how Sabra can do even better.
Ep. 112 - The OG of Mycelium Fermentation: The Quorn Story
In this conversation, we hear from Quorn’s CEO Marco Bertacca about where the company’s been and where it’s going, including its plans in the US.
Ep. 109 - (Bio)engineering Better Beef: Josh March and SciFi Foods’ Quest to Cultivate Meat
Joshua March is the co-founder & CEO of SCiFi Foods, on a mission to disrupt the $1.2T meat market by leveraging the power of genetic engineering to make cultivated meat (real meat grown from cells) a commercial reality.
Ep. 108 - The Business of Being an Author and Influencer with Toni Okamoto of Plant-Based on a Budget
Toni Okamoto is the founder of Plant-Based on a Budget, the popular website and social media platform that teaches millions how to save dough by eating veggies. She’s also the author of the Plant-Based on a Budget Cookbook, and the co-host of The Plant-Powered People Podcast.
Ep. 106 - Selling Shovels and Pickaxes to the Cultivated Meat Pioneers
In this interview, we talk with Teryn about what circumstances in her life led her to be running an alt-protein food tech company, what she views as the big hurdles in the space, and why she thinks it’s taking longer for cultivated meat to reach your plate than many had predicted.
Ep. 105 - Fermenting Methane into Meat! The String Bio Story
In this interview, Dr. Subbian and I talk about how she started the company, why she moved it from Silicon Valley to Bangalore, India, where they get the methane to feed their microbes, and much more.
Ep. 103 - Is Sugar by Another Name Just as Sweet? Ali Wing and Oobli Are Fermenting Their Way to a Sweet Protein Future
We’re talking today with Oobli CEO Ali Wing about her company’s efforts to commercialize the world’s first sweet proteins. Yes, you read that right: sweet proteins. In 2022 Oobli closed a $25 million Series B round, bringing the company’s total fundraising to date to $40 million.
Ep. 99 - A Whale of a Tale: Wildtype and the Future of Cultivated Seafood
Founded in 2016, this cultivated fish startup has raised $120 million so far and now has 60 employees who are growing real fish meat without the fish. Today, Wildtype is building serious cultivation capacity to help turn the tide for the oceans, and in this episode, we discuss the company’s origins, the role bird poop played, and what the company’s up to today.
Ep. 97 - Mighty Mycelium: Isabella Iglesias-Musachio and Bosque Foods
In this episode I sit down with Bosque Foods CEO Isabella Iglesias-Musachio and chat about her lifelong passion that started her on this path. We discuss all types of cool things, including what to call the products she’s making, how she intends to upcycle agricultural byproducts as a feedstock for her fungi, her pathway to commercialization, and more.