Earth Day Reflections: On Minding Our Food Choices and Making an Impact
“All people have the right to an environment capable of sustaining life and promoting happiness.”
With these words, the Santa Barbara Declaration of Environmental Rights helped plant the seeds of the world’s first Earth Day. The date, January 28, 1970, was chosen to coincide with the one year anniversary of a massive oil spill off the California coast. Just months later, what started with a small but committed group of activists—from students to senators—blossomed into a global call to action. A recognition that the way we treat our planet has an impact on our lives and the lives of our children and grandchildren.
51 years on, we have succeeded in elevating environmentalism in the public consciousness and pushing it to the center of public policy. As a result, on the whole, our water is cleaner. Our air is fresher. Our communities are less polluted. But one challenge few foresaw in 1970 has become the defining issue of our time: climate change.
Obviously, climate change is a complex problem that will require solutions on multiple fronts, from how we transport people and goods to how we make cement and steel. But one area I am particularly focused on is agriculture and the food we choose to put on our plates.
We may not immediately think about food choices as being on the front lines in the fight against climate change. But, consider this: our global food system is responsible for over 25% of Earth’s total greenhouse gas emissions, with farmed livestock accounting for the majority of that share. The roughly 13.7 billion metric tons of CO2 required to produce our food annually are equivalent to annual exhaust emissions from every car, train, ship, and plane in the world.
While some might find this daunting, I find it encouraging. Why? Because it points to an opportunity. Changing our diet to include more plant-based foods is a meaningful step every one of us can take to do better by our planet. In fact, many scientists say reducing consumption of animal proteins is the single most impactful thing any one person can do to help protect Planet Earth. That’s right, simple mealtime choices can be more impactful than forgoing air travel for a year or driving an electric vehicle. Our individual steps can add up to significant collective progress.
On the eve of Earth Day 2021, I am celebrating the power of plant-based protein to help change our world for the better, and this post will tell you why. I urge you to join the movement. Let us lead the change we wish to see.
But first, let us answer three questions: What is meat? Do people even want an alternative? And if so, how do we provide it?
What Is Meat?
From an innovation standpoint, plant-based proteins answer a provocative question: what if we could create something consumers view as “meat” without involving animals?
An article in The Economist got me thinking about this, pointing out that the concept of “meat” is first and foremost a sensory experience. Meat as we know it is created when proteins, fats and sugars interact after cooking to create a particular bite, texture, and umami flavor. Recreating this experience without the carbon-intensive process of feeding and slaughtering animals could be a huge win for eaters and the planet.
Do People Want an Alternative?
Let’s say we could recreate the “meat” experience. Would people even be interested? The answer seems to be: very.
As a lifelong vegetarian, I am accustomed to browsing a limited assortment in a single section of the grocery store to find plant-based products. However, a couple of years ago I started to notice a change, where in almost every category I was seeing plant-based product disruption – from milk, to cheese, to meat, to sauces. At the same time, I could now sample plant-based burgers and meatballs at previously unlikely locales like Burger King, KFC, and even Ikea.
My retail brain celebrates this eruption of innovation. It is incredible to think grocery sales of plant-based alternatives to conventional meat, dairy, eggs and seafood reached $5 billion in 2019, an 11.4% increase from the year before. On U.S. restaurant menus, plant-based options have grown 328% since 2018, and 20 major chains added meatless options in 2019. (Globally, countries in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region are seeing similar trends).
The consumer advocate in me is equally encouraged, because I think this innovation reflects a true cultural change. In North America, the number of vegans, vegetarians, and flexitarians is steadily growing.
It is this last group that I think are driving the biggest change. Currently, around 44% of Americans identify as “flexitarians” who are looking to reduce their overall meat consumption and add more plant-based foods to their diets. This is even higher among younger Millennial and Gen Z consumers who are coming of age in terms of their purchasing power.
Flexitarianism is driven by two factors. First, a growing awareness that plant-based diets are associated with better heart health, better digestion, and even thought to reduce inflammation. And, second, the burgeoning understanding that greenhouse gas emissions from plant-based foods are dramatically lower than those created by animal meats. Ultimately, Flexitarianism is an expression of the mainstream ethos of “conscious consumption,” whereby people genuinely want to make choices that are better for their health, for animals, and for the planet.
How Do We Provide Alternatives?
So, if we know what makes meat “meat,” and we know people are looking for alternatives, how do we meet (see what I did there?) the demand.
Thus far, innovators have tackled the challenge in two unique ways. The first involves an elegant manufacturing solution that breaks down plants and re-assembles them to create the nutrition profile, texture and sensory experience of conventional meat.
While working with the Beyond Meat team on the recently formed PLANeT partnership, I learned that their burger is made by putting ingredients like pea protein, coconut oil, canola oil, and water through a heating and cooling system that CEO Ethan Brown compares to "cow’s stomachs and muscular system." A cow takes plants and makes muscles that we eat; his lab takes plants and knits them together to look like those muscles. His team (comprised of scientists, engineers, researchers, technicians and chefs) is constantly tweaking the use of ingredients like beetroot to give the patty a reddish hue or “bleed” when bitten and bits of coconut oil and cocoa butter that produce a marbling similar to the fat in a beef burger.
Further afield, the so-called “3rd generation” of plant-based meat and dairy alternatives are being created in labs where scientists are learning to grow meat, milk, and cheeses from cells and yeast – a different path to the same end goal of cutting out the animal entirely. This type of cellular agriculture is being explored as a nascent field of science with new discoveries emerging every day.
Some analysts predict that by 2024, over one-third of all meat consumed worldwide will be cell-based, and if the current pace of innovation and VC funding continues, I will not be surprised to see that come to fruition.
Dozens of firms are experimenting with new ways to create plant or cell-based meat; here are a few that have been on my radar recently:
At New Culture, a New Zealand-based company that recently relocated to Silicon Valley, the team is working to create plant-based cheese by using biotechnology to grow the main ingredient: milk.
Israeli meat producer Aleph Farms recently announced they have created the world's first slaughter-free ribeye steak through cell cultivation and 3D bio-printing.
Berkeley-based start-up Eat Just won approval to sell cultured chicken nuggets in Singapore under the Good Meat brand. Their process starts with a single cell of chicken that is fed nutrients like those found in soy and corn, before being left to mature in a large-scale steel vessel.
Ripple Ice Cream, also based in California, is developing dairy-free milk that is high in protein, low in sugar, and tastes like real milk.
An Ohio company called Good Catch seafood is selling frozen plant-based seafood like New England-style crab cakes, Thai-style fish cakes and fish burgers.
I cheer the many innovators around the world who are currently trying to solve this critical problem. Experts working on the forefront of plant-based meat innovation have an open runway, with the opportunity to continually modify and improve their offerings in the years ahead. There are new techniques, new protein sources, and new technologies to be explored, all of which can give increasingly conscious consumers more choices, help reduce pressure on the planet, and encourage healthier lifestyles – without taking “meat” off the menu.
An Idea Whose Time Has Come
When thinking about the journey we’ve taken to reach this point, I’m reminded of a quote from the French author Victor Hugo. “There is one thing more powerful than kings and armies.” Hugo wrote. “The idea whose time has come.”
The more I have learned about the urgent need for food system transformation, the more I am convinced the time for plant-based proteins has come.
Industry data shows that 80% of consumers are aware of plant-based proteins, while only about 10% have tried them. I think this points to the exciting growth ahead. I will relish the opportunity for my industry to inspire new trials of plant-based foods and support consumers’ growing desire to eat more of them.
On a personal level, I take heart that each of us can advance our collective progress by simply increasing the amount of plant-based proteins on our plates. My younger vegetarian self marvels to think about how choices have exploded over the past 20 years. I look forward to the next decade of innovation and growth – one that I believe will move us closer to the vision of those early Earth Day activists in Santa Barbara and usher in a healthier, more sustainable future for us all.