S5 Ep18: Creating a World Where Alternative Proteins Are No Longer Alternatives with Bruce Friedrich
“We’ve seen a lot of progress in the last few years. We are on a significant upward trajectory that will continue. But plugging into these endeavors is how we can make a difference.” — Bruce Friedrich
Since the turn of the 21st Century, global meat consumption has increased significantly around the world. This growing demand is unsustainable and highly detrimental to our climate, our health, and our security.
The good news is that we already have the solution right before us— alternative proteins. With alternative proteins, we lessen the cost of production while also reducing carbon emissions from agriculture. And not only are they solving global environmental issues, but they are also ethical for the animals and healthy for humans.
The challenge is enormous, but not impossible. Many companies have begun working at the intersection of innovation, food, and sustainability. But we, too, have a significant role to play.
In this episode, we hear how the Good Food Institute is revolutionizing the field of biotechnology and food innovation from their CEO and Founder, Bruce Friedrich himself.
Listen in as Justine and Bruce share how much the agricultural sector is contributing to climate change, how much food is wasted unnecessarily, and how we— as students, individual consumers, founders, and leaders— can help create a world where alternative proteins are no longer alternatives, but choices for everyone.
Connect with Bruce:
Bruce Friedrich serves as GFI’s chief thought leader and relationship-builder, working in close partnership with GFI’s global teams and food system stakeholders around the world.
Areas of expertise: alternative proteins generally, GFI’s global programs and strategy, bicycling in heavy traffic.
Bruce oversees GFI’s global strategy, working with and across all of GFI’s international teams (Asia Pacific, Brazil, Europe, India, Israel, and United States) to ensure that GFI is maximally effective at implementing programs that deliver mission-focused results. Bruce is a TED Fellow, Y Combinator alum, 2021 “American Food Hero” (EatingWell Magazine), and popular speaker on food innovation. He has penned op-eds for the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, Wired, and many other publications. He has represented GFI on the TED Radio Hour, New Yorker Radio Hour, Ezra Klein Show, Making Sense (Sam Harris), ReCode Decode, and other programs and podcasts. Bruce’s 2019 TED talk has been viewed two million times and translated into dozens of languages. He graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown Law and also holds degrees from Johns Hopkins University and the London School of Economics.
Connect with Good Food Institute:
Episode Highlights:
01:16 The Good Food Institute Mission
05:01 How Much Food is Wasted
13:12 Solution: Alternative Proteins
16:51 50% Alternative Meat by 2050
18:33 What Can You Do?
Tweets:
The world's growing appetite for meat is pushing us towards a planetary protein catastrophe. Learn how each of us can contribute to a world where alternative proteins are no longer alternatives with @jreichman and @goodfoodinst Founder, @BruceGFriedrich. #podcast #entrepreneurship #socialgood #inspiration #impactmatters #NextGenChef #EssentialIngredients #GoodFoodInstitute #agriculture #climatechange #renewableenergy #eatlessmeat #cultivatedmeat #altproteins #biotech
Inspirational Quotes:
01:18 "The Good Food Institute mission is to create a world where alternative proteins are no longer alternatives." -Bruce Friedrich
09:18 "It's isolating doing it by yourself. Let's bring people together." -Justine Reichman
13:21 "Alternative proteins are the one food and agriculture solution to the massive climate change." -Bruce Friedrich
18:10 "We've seen a lot of progress in the last few years. We are on a significant upward trajectory that will continue. But plugging into these endeavors is how we can make a difference." -Bruce Friedrich
Transcriptions:
Justine Reichman: Welcome to Essential Ingredients. I'm your host, Justine Reichman. And with me today is Bruce Friedrich. He is the Founder and CEO of The Good Food Institute.
Welcome, Bruce.
Bruce Friedrich: Thanks, Justine, I'm delighted to be here.
Justine Reichman: I'm delighted to have you here. I'm so pleased to get to meet you, the man behind Good Food Institute, I'm super excited to learn more.
Bruce Friedrich: That's extremely kind of you. I'm really delighted and honored to have been invited to share this time with you.
Justine Reichman: Thank you. Well, I'm excited because I know that you guys are doing such great work. I only know a small piece of it. I've come into contact with a few people that have come out of the Good Food Institute. And what they're doing is amazing. So I can only imagine what you guys are doing to provide that space for them, that resource. That community is really amazing. I can't wait to share that with the community. So before we get any further, can you just share and talk a little bit about The Good Food Institute, for those that are unfamiliar with it?
"The Good Food Institute mission is to create a world where alternative proteins are no longer alternatives." -Bruce Friedrich
Bruce Friedrich: Yeah, absolutely. So the GFI mission is to create a world where alternative proteins are no longer alternative. And we do that by I guess the plurality of GFS team members who are probably scientists are global battlecry is that governments should be funding open access alternative protein research and development, and should be incentivizing private sector activity. So basically, pattern on what has worked for renewable energy and electric vehicles. Government should be doing that. And then we do a lot to help across the corporate/industry sector, from sort of even pre startup helping people figure out what companies to start all the way up to working with the really big guys that Tyson's, the cartels, the ATMs, the JDS is so sort of three legs of the stool one is science and probably the plurality of GFI team members or scientists. We are a science based organization, a lot of policy and lobbying, a lot of industry work. And we do that in six areas of the world. So GFI is a consortium of organizations, we have GFI us just about 75, maybe a little north of that full time team members. And then we have probably 80 People across GFI affiliate organizations in India, Israel, Brazil, Asia Pacific, out of Singapore and Europe, out of both Brussels and London.
Justine Reichman: Wow, that's amazing. So what inspired you to start GFI?
Bruce Friedrich: GFI is found in the question is, how do we feed close to 10 million people without burning the planet to a crest. And we were looking at the climate, biodiversity and global health impacts of industrial animal agriculture. So animal agriculture is responsible for about a fifth of global direct climate emissions, uses something like 80%, of agricultural land that is used globally, consumes about 70% of medically relevant antibiotics that are produced by the pharmaceutical industry. And these are huge problems for global biodiversity, a huge contributor to climate change, a contributor to antibiotic resistance. And then you look at the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation saying we're going to have to produce 70 to 100% more meat by 2050. For 50 years, the global health and animal communities, and the environmental community have been begging people to eat less meat. And yet, even in developed economies, per capita meat consumption is as high as it's ever been. So that's the reality that we were faced with. And it occurred to us that need is made up of lipids, aminos, minerals and water. Everything that exists in meat also exists in plants. So we can bio mimic the entire meat experience using plants. And because it's so much more efficient, we should be able to get to a place where the products taste the same or better, and cost the same or less, and we can simply win in the marketplace. For people who want to eat actual meat, we can use tissue engineering. We can use the same in tissue engineering that is used in therapeutics. We can grow the cells directly rather than funneling crops to their animals, which is extraordinarily inefficient. We can grow the cells directly, create and cultivate them. So that's kind of the brainstorm, and that's also the focus.
Justine Reichman: So when you were coming up with this, was there a team of you in a room with a group of people. Where did this originate?
Bruce Friedrich: It originated from people like Ethan Brown, the founder of Beyond Meat. Pat Brown, the founder of Impossible Foods. A buddy of mine for, gosh, more than 20 years who was on the founding board of Impossible Foods and is still there. It's all run by another buddy of mine, Josh Detrick, who I've known for a really long time, and just chatting with people about the inefficiency of growing crops to feed them to animals so that we can eat animals. So the most efficient animal at turning crops into meat is the chicken, it takes nine calories that to a chicken to get one calorie back out in the form of chicken meat. For feedlot beef, it's 40 calories in to get one calorie back out. So I imagine all of your listeners are concerned about food waste, and we should be concerned about food waste, that we're wasting 40% of the food that is created globally is wasted. The physiology of the chicken means 800% food waste. So you have to grow nine times as many crops, use nine times as much water, nine times as much fertilizer as well as pesticides and herbicides to get one calorie from a chicken than you would get if you ate those crops directly. The problem is the vast majority of people are not going to eat those crops directly. But what we can do is figure out how to turn those crops into something that is indistinguishable from the vantage point of the mediator.
So the brainstorm here is similar to the brainstorm of renewable energy and electric vehicles. We're not going to convince people on mass, we're not going to convince the world to consume less energy. We have not done that energy consumption just goes up, and up, and up. We're not going to convince people to buy fewer cars or drive less on mass. I ride my bike, that's my primary mode of transportation. Individual action is noble and important, but their real dividends come with renewable energy and electric vehicles where you're not changing people who want to drive, and you're not changing people who want to consume energy. Same thing here. Globally, we will produce 70 to 100% more meat by 2050. But we can make that meat from plants and cultivate it from cells in the same way that we're going to consume more energy and drive more. But we can make that energy renewable, and we can make the cars electric with the exact same concepts.
Justine Reichman: I think it's brilliant. I mean, I think it's so smart. In the same breath, I also think it's so ambitious. I mean, the thinking is ambitious and very forward thinking. And I think it's so smart. So I'm right there, I'm with you on it. I wish I understood it like I figured it out myself. I'm curious, on an individual level, we have businesses that are innovative. And listening to this, will be inspired by this and want to figure out their own businesses. And then we have end consumers that are listening because they want to make more informed choices, which you also talk to because it allows us to make more informed choices as a consumer going to the store. But I'm wondering, as a business, what do you think is a need out there? As we're looking at all these things, what isn't being touched right now? Or what do you think is new and next for people to look at to build?
"It's isolating doing it by yourself. Let's bring people together." -Justine Reichman
Bruce Friedrich: Well, we have a ton of ideas. These industries are extraordinarily nascent. One thing I would suggest that people do is sign up for some of our newsletters. You go to gfi.org/newsletters. We have both a biweekly newsletter that sort of covers the waterfront of alternative proteins. And we have a monthly newsletter for investors. We also have something called the GFI ideas community. So we have a monthly business of operating webinar and a monthly science about protein webinar. And then we do kind of consistent deep technical dives over time. So for somebody who's interested in starting a company and alternative proteins, if you join the GFI ideas community, which is just gfi.org/community, you can find co-founders. That happens a lot. You can dive into some of our ideas for whitespaces. We have a lot of ideas for whitespaces. I keep tossing out gfi.org URLs, so I think I'll probably stop.
Justine Reichman: All good. We like that because NextGen Purpose and Essential Ingredients is trying to connect people. It's isolating being a founder, it's isolating doing it by yourself. Let's bring people together here.
Bruce Friedrich: GFI gfi.org/community is our--
Justine Reichman: For those that are watching the video, we'll put it in the show notes. But continue saying it for those that are listening to the podcast.
Bruce Friedrich: And then gfi.org-asap, which is our advancing solutions and alternative proteins is where it's not exactly hive mind because it's fairly well curated. But it's ideas for areas that require a lot more activity, both open access activity as well as ideas for startups across the spectrum of alternative proteins. Most either b2b ideas that consumer packaged goods area and alternative proteins are pretty well spoken for. But there are lots of opportunities, like right now, the number of companies that are sort of all doing kind of the entire aspect of whatever field they're in and their CPG companies, it's extraordinarily inefficient. We do a lot of work to figure out what are the most important business to business areas where startups could help all of the companies in plant based meat or all of the companies and cultivated meat. And then once somebody actually starts a company, we have founders roundtables. We have a monthly b2b focused webinar that is exclusively for CEOs and CTOs, and cultivated meat companies, and just lots and lots of stuff focused on building the ecosystem.
Justine Reichman: That's great. What a great community, what a great resource in such a new space. So I think that there's so much learning going on. And to be able to have those resources there for people to share, it's a gift for people.
Bruce Friedrich: It's a gift. That's very kind of interesting, thank you.
Justine Reichman: You've seen a bunch of companies go through there, some succeed, some fail. I mean, it's the nature of it. As a founder, we fail and we succeed, and we finally succeed. And that's just it. But I'd love to hear a couple of stories. If you can share of companies that have come through that you've seen that are really innovative, whether they've worked or failed, whatever you can share, I'd love to hear a couple of those. Some of the great innovations you've seen or things that have come through.
Bruce Friedrich: Yeah. There are kind of an overwhelming number of companies that have come along, and it feels a little odd to sort of select one and not select another.
Justine Reichman: No, I understand. Not to play favorites. It was maybe more to share something that has come through and maybe share the journey so that people can get a sense of what it's like to come there, connect and understand these things, what it's like to be part of the community.
Bruce Friedrich: Yeah. One of the more interesting stories is somebody who was at McKinsey. He went to McKinsey specifically with the goal of getting McKinsey super excited about alternative proteins and the team at McKinsey that now leads on alternative proteins. A, they are super enthusiastic, and they credit him. But then B, it was interesting to me that he really at McKinsey, had the opportunity to dive into plant based and cultivated meat and figure out what he thought the sort of gaps were. And he ended up leaving McKinsey and starting a company called Ark Biotech. And Ark Biotech is focused on designing bio reactors, which is definitely one of the sort of two critical technology elements that are most underserved in alternative proteins, which I think is kind of fun, inspiring and exciting,leaving a very cushy job as a McKinsey consultant.
Justine Reichman: Insurance.
"Alternative proteins are the one food and agriculture solution to the massive climate change." -Bruce Friedrich
Bruce Friedrich: The choppy waters of starting a company. I mean, the number one thing that really is necessary, and GFI is global battlecry is that alternative proteins are the one food and agriculture solution to the massive climate change contribution that comes from food and agriculture that analogize this to renewable energy and electric vehicles. So everything else, there are lots of things that are worth working on. Climate change mitigation is definitely an all hands on deck situation. But the idea of renewable energy is, let's erase the green premium. Let's make renewable energy that competes on price with fossil fuels, and we can simply shift. Again, we're not trying to convince people to consume less energy. We're shifting to something that doesn't have the same adverse climate impact. Same thing is true of electric vehicles. We're not telling people that you can't drive. We're changing the nature of driving and replacing combustion engines with electric vehicles. Here too, that's what we're doing with plant based and cultivated meat. It's not that you can't eat meat, let's make meat in a different and better way.
So this is a phone even though it doesn't have a cord. And this is a camera even though it doesn't have analogue film. 25 years ago, to have a phone, you would have needed a cord. 25 years ago, to have a camera, 99% of it would not have been digital, it would have required analogue film. That's a pretty brief period of time to radically transform what it means to talk on the phone. We're on a Zoom call that didn't exist significantly less than 25 years ago. So the GFI's endeavor is to divorce animals from the need for live animals with all of the positive benefits that come from that, and the government should be funding it. Governments are putting billions and billions of dollars into renewable energy infrastructure and incentivizing the private sector as well as R&D. Governments are doing the same thing for electric vehicles for the exact same reason. Governments should be putting billions of dollars into funding research centers all over the world focused on alternative proteins, and also to incentivizing the private sector to make life for our biotech, and other plant based and cultivated meat companies, and parts of the plant based and cultivated meat ecosystem to ensure that those companies are successful.
Justine Reichman: Do you think that's gonna happen?
Bruce Friedrich: I do think that's going to happen. I think the case is so incredibly ironclad. But what we need from people who are listening or viewing, we need to mobilize the NGO community. So we need to mobilize the political community, we also need to mobilize the NGO community. So the really big green groups, the big green foundations, the global health groups, they need a policy focus that includes alternative proteins as a part of what they're supporting and what they're working on. And then we need to be petitioning in the US, NSF and USDA, predominantly, but other agencies as well. And around the world, we need to be convincing governments to fund this sort of work and to incentivize private sector activity. I am super optimistic that up until a couple of years ago, the amount of funding in the last decade was zero. And now, we've seen something like $200 million just in the last couple of years going into this. So from 0 to $200 million is definitely moving in the right direction.
Justine Reichman: What do you think will push it over the edge? And where do you think we'll get to the next level now to get them to really make that infusion and take that next step?
"We've seen a lot of progress in the last few years. We are on a significant upward trajectory that will continue. But plugging into these endeavors is how we can make a difference." -Bruce Friedrich
Bruce Friedrich: I think we're moving in the right direction. So last November, the UK Foreign commonwealth and development office released a report and they said that with $10.1 billion per year, $4.4 billion going into research and whatever 7.6, is that right? 7.7? 6.7? Yeah, get you to 10.1, going into private sector incentives, we could get more than 50% of meat being alternative proteins by 2050 at a gross value add to the economy of $1.1 trillion climate benefits of $5.5 trillion per year. 9.8 million new jobs, and reduced food costs because you're using significantly fewer inputs, reduced food costs of 10 to 12%. So we need more thought leadership. We need more McKinsey's and Boston Consulting, and Chatham houses, we need more reports like that from the UK foreign commonwealth and development office. But we are seeing governments like Singapore, the Netherlands, Denmark, Israel. I mean, Singapore and Israel are really the global leaders on alternative proteins because they're small, and it's incredibly inefficient. That cycle crops their animals to feed your populations so they would like to stop doing that. But yeah, I think we've seen a lot of progress in the last few years. I think we are on a significant upward trajectory that will continue. So I'm super optimistic. But plugging into these sorts of endeavors is how listeners and viewers can really, I think, make a difference.
Justine Reichman: I think that's so important. And if we can encourage our listeners to do one thing, what would it be?
Bruce Friedrich: If somebody's a university student, I would say go into science and join, start in the protein project chapter. So the GFI university chapter program is called the protein project. We just doubled from 16 to 32 university campuses. So if you are at a university, we need you to go into biotechnology, or tissue engineering, or plant biology and meat science for that matter.
Justine Reichman: But if you're a founder, what would you say to founders?
Bruce Friedrich: I would say join the GFI ideas community. If you're a CTO founder, what is your scientific expertise? If you're a business focused founder, find a CTO, but also dive into the GFI ideas community, spend some time on that gfi.org/asap familiarizing yourself with the white spaces and found a company to fill one of the white spaces.
Justine Reichman: And if you're an end consumer?
Bruce Friedrich: I think end consumers, the Impossible Burger, the Beyond Burger getting politically active. So this is a bipartisan endeavor. We'll be launching a protein innovation caucus. We have three Democrats and three Republicans supporting the caucus. Ted Lieu just got a whole bunch of people to co sign letters about the importance of alternative proteins to global development, and it's a bipartisan letter. So contacting your member of Congress and saying this is critically important. If they're a Republican, probably focus on jobs, focus on US global competition, focus on ways for farmers to sell their crops. If you are a member of Congress, Senator or Representative as a Democrat, you can focus on climate mitigation and global health. gfi.org is kind of the Wikipedia of alternative proteins. So it's both how to get involved from wherever you are in your stage of life or profession. And then also, what are the strongest arguments? So something like our Global Competitiveness Report that we put together with the breakthrough institute is just incredibly powerful in a bipartisan way. If you go to gfi.org/climate, you'll find that the sort of our climate briefing paper that we put together with climate advisors and climate works foundation, so just overwhelming amounts of resources and ways to get involved.
Justine Reichman: Awesome for us. Thank you so much for joining me today. This has been a wealth of knowledge, a huge amount of information. I'm gonna go online and see what I can find out. I'm overwhelmed. I can't wait to do more, getting more involved and find out more so I can make more informed choices myself.
Bruce Friedrich: That's incredibly kind of you Justine. I'm really excited and enthused by everything that you're doing with the community and growing out all of your endeavors. It's really, really fun. I'm honored to have to spend a little bit of time with you.
Justine Reichman: That's very kind of you to say, and I'm excited because I hope that we can continue this conversation as we expand, and we continue to grow, and continue to have you be part of NextGen Purpose and be part of the community. Thank you for joining us. I want to thank our guests for joining us, and we look forward to continuing these conversations.
