Food Truths

Today's guest is CEO and Co-founder of Prefer, Jake Berber. Jake and his Singapore-based team are working to bring the cost of coffee down by producing authentic coffee that is bean-free. They do this by producing the flavors and aromas of coffee through a state of the art fermentation process, no coffee plant needed.

Why go around the coffee plant altogether? Well, the cost of coffee has exploded, climate change is adding difficulty to producing it, and there is a huge demand for foods that have coffee flavor. So, Jake and his team have developed a new way to produce it. And what makes this so interesting is Jake's view on how to build a food company in such a competitive environment - cleverly building consumer trust on price and quality and not on technology value.

Many neat lessons for any folks building food products using new technologies.

You can learn more about Prefer here [https://www.prefer.coffee/] and Jake here [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakeberber/]

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Today's guest is Professor Charlotte Biltekoff, author, researcher, and lecturer at UC Davis. Dr. Biltekoff focuses on how good food became 'real' in the beginning of the 21st century and how the food industry has responded to increasingly negative public views of processed foods. She has turned her sights on ultra processed foods (UPFs) and the confusion on what they are and are not.

Most important, she unpacks the history of how we got this point, with a large discussion about food science, food scientism, and naturalism. We end up having a discussion about the nature of knowledge and nutrition and how our cultural backgrounds really frame how we think about UPFs and food's goodness overall.

As a scientist and policy maker, I learned so much from Charlotte, and I think you will too.

You can learn more about Charlotte and her work here [https://www.charlottebiltekoff.com/] and you can find links to her book, Real Food, Real Facts, here [https://www.ucpress.edu/books/real-food-real-facts/epub-pdf] and Eating Right in America, here [https://www.amazon.com/Eating-Right-America-Cultural-Politics/dp/0822355590].

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The food industry is changing faster than ever. New regulations, shifting political climate, and generational shifts in consumer attitudes. What do food leaders do about it?

We will discuss and answer your questions in this informative panel! Join food scientist and podcast host of Food Truths podcast Eric Schulze as he discusses the state of the food innovation landscape with Amy Taylor (Zevia), Sanah Baig (Executive Director | Plant Based Foods Institute), Dana McCauley, (CEO, Canadian Food Innovation Network).

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Today's episode is bringing back friend of the pod, Helena Bottemiller Evich, Founder and Editor-in-chief at Food Fix, one the sharpest food policy sources to exist. We're also joined by her colleague and policy wonk, Theodore Ross, Editor-in-chief of The Food and Environment Reporting Network. Helena and Theodore together have been monitoring RFK's MAHA movement, and we come back to check in on where MAHA is going, if anywhere.

Turns out there may be a hint of policy thesis somewhere in there, and we try to tease it out. Also, we attempt to define the paradox that seems to be brewing in HHS that will eventually come to head. You can learn more about MAHA, food policy, and our guests on Helena and Theodore's very own pod, Forked. [https://thefern.org/podcasts/forked]

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Today's guest marks the beginning of a limited series here on Food Truths where we will dive into the reality, frustrations, and misinformation surrounding ultra-processed foods. There's a lot of conflicting information, and we are going to speak to a variety of experts to understand what an UPF is and is not.

The answers may really surprise you. Today, we kick things off with WISECode's Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Richard Black, award-winning nutrition scientist and Tufts University Professor. He tells the story of how the term UPF came to be, what they got right, wrong, and how he and his team have developed a new, more intuitive way to think about UPFs when you are at the grocery store.

You can learn more about Richard here [https://www.linkedin.com/in/rblackwisecodeai/] and more about WISECode and the free datatsets and UPF app here [https://wisecode.ai/].

Tune in for more in-depth conversations about UPFs and the importance of knowing what is and what is not ultraprocessed in your diet in the coming weeks.

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Today's guest is Dr. Steven Lang, Vice President of Science and Technology for cultured chocolate company, California Cultured. Steve and his team are designing your favorite chocolate products and making them directly from cocoa cells rather than growing the entire tree.

Yes, designing and making real cocoa powder directly from the plant cells of the cocoa tree, virtually no tree needed. Steve has worked in many different industries, first in making biopharmaceuticals, then making cultivated meat, and now designing cocoa from the cell up.

We talk about what it's like to be a biologist in today's food world and why making drugs makes for better food production. You can learn more about California Cultured here, and about Steve here.

https://www.cacultured.com/   &  https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-lang-b003406/

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Climate journalist Mike Grunwald joins the pod today to walk us through his latest book, We Are Eating the Earth. Mike is an accomplished writer and and thinker about the world we feed today and what a fed world looks like tomorrow. Mike and I discuss the best and worst parts of our current food production system.

There's a lot to love about how we make food (It's safe! It's abundant!), and what is rapidly hurting our future and our children's lives (like how we grow protein) and what what can and should be done to ensure a more verdant future. You can learn more about Mike and his work here [https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/We-Are-Eating-the-Earth/Michael-Grunwald/9781982160074]

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Climate journalist Mike Grunwald joins the pod today to walk us through his latest book, We Are Eating the Earth. Mike is an accomplished writer and and thinker about the world we feed today and what a fed world looks like tomorrow. Mike and I discuss the best and worst parts of our current food production system.

There's a lot to love about how we make food (It's safe! It's abundant!), and what is rapidly hurting our future and our children's lives (like how we grow protein) and what what can and should be done to ensure a more verdant future.

You can learn more about Mike and his work here https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/We-Are-Eating-the-Earth/Michael-Grunwald/9781982160074

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Today's guest is Dr. Sydney Schreppler, Director of Product and R&D at Savor, a startup building edible fats directly from the molecule up. Sydney is a quantum physicist by training, a facet that makes for creative thinking and product design.

We discuss the route she took from physics to foods, and how we can make a lasting impact on the world through our acts and deeds - not just our aspirations. Her inspiration, intellect, and drive make her a fascinating guest and scientist.

If you'd like to learn more about Sydney or Savor check this link https://www.savor.it/

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Today's guest is professor R. Alta Charo, JD, world expert in emerging biotechnologies (and most recently, bringing back extinct species like the Dire Wolf). Science is rapidly changing how we produce food and medicine.

Alta is Warren P. Knowles Professor Emerita of Law and Bioethics at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, former Senior FDA Policy Advisor, a member of the National Academy of Medicine, and has worked with DARPA and Department of Defense. In her free time, she publishes paper after paper. No one has been more at the forefront of the ethical and societal changes more that Professor Charo. She has spent a career working in science policy, and she has is one of the few folks who tends to predict correctly more than not about new foods using science.

In this episode, we discuss what led to her career choices, the unexpected findings in those choices, where food technology is going, and why bringing back the extinct Dire Wolf is a very good thing for food production.

You can reach out to Professor Charo here [https://www.linkedin.com/in/r-alta-charo-6999341b9/]

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