After Meat w/ Karthik Sekar

Karthik Sekar, PhD wants to see the world move beyond an unsustainable, inefficient animal-based food system. He joins us on the podcast this week for a conversation about his recent book, After Meat, which details why animals are an outdated “production technology,” as the agricultural industry calls them. We discuss why plant- and microbial-based foods are far superior to their animal counterparts in terms of taste, nutrition, and affordability. Karthik, a data scientist focused on innovating the future of food, also explores the argument for why governments worldwide should invest in replacing animal agriculture with a viable alternative. Plus, he explains why he’s not necessarily choosing to champion cultivated meat.

Karthik Sekar has a doctorate in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern University. His research career has spanned many topics related to the future of food, such as bioreactors, quantitative biology, biochemical engineering, and metabolism. He currently works as a senior data scientist in the alternative food space in Berkeley, California, and has written a non-fiction science/technology book, After Meat, to explain why animals are awful technologically, and why humanity will move on and do better.

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