Weee!, an online grocer with a focus on Asian and Hispanic communities, announced today that it has raised a $315 million Series D round of funding. The round was led by existing investor DST Global, with participation from new investors including funds managed by Blackstone, Arena Holdings, and Tiger Global. Weee! has raised more than $415 million in funding in total.

With approximately 65 percent of the global population estimated to be lactose intolerant, it makes sense that the plant-based cheese market is expected to be valued at $4.42 billion by 2027. Plant-based cheeses are commonly made from ingredients like cashews, almonds, coconut, and soy, and a not-so-common ingredient showing up in alternative cheese is potatoes.

Vertical farming company Oishii has raised $50 million in Series A funding, according to a press release sent to The Spoon today. The round was led by SPARX Group’s Mirai Creation Fund II, with participation from Sony Innovation Fund, PKSHA Technology, Social Starts, and several angel investors. It brings Oishii’s total funding to date to $55 million.

We had the big earthquake of eastern Japan in March 11th, 2011.We can't forget it.So I talked about it.

The Spoon are pleased as punch to announce the return of ArticulATE, food robotics and automation summit. The virtual event will be held via Hopin on May 18th (get your tickets now!).

San Diego, CA-based vegan cookie company Maya’s Cookies has launched a limited-edition cookie to celebrate International Women’s Month. Created in collaboration with vegan fast-casual chain By CHLOE, the Raspberry Double Chip Cookie is a brown sugar cookie studded with semi-sweet chocolate chips, chunks of white chocolate, and raspberries. A portion of the proceeds goes to benefit nonprofit kitchen incubator La Cocina, which works to solve problems of equity in business ownership for women, immigrants, and people of color.

I introduced a trend of vegan recipes.

Asian e-grocer Umamicart launched on Monday in the New York metro area and Mid-Atlantic region with next-day delivery, according to a press release emailed to Grocery Dive.

Shake Shack announced this week it is testing the use of biodegradable straws and cutlery at six of its 310 locations, according to Nation’s Restaurant News. Those items are now available at units in West Hollywood and Long Beach in California, Madison Square Park and West Village in NYC, and in Miami, Florida.

Israeli startup Aleph Farms and Brazilian meat and food company BRF S.A. announced today that they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to bring cultured meat to Brazil.