DESCRIPTION

What is meat? Just a few years ago, most people would consider this a simple question. With technological advancements in lab-grown clean meat and plant-based protein alternatives, this has become a complex and urgent debate. Proteins derived from sources other than slaughtered animals could have an unprecedented impact on the world’s food supply. Regulatory boundaries are currently being drawn both here in the United States and abroad. Join our panel of experts in the emerging space of clean and plant-based meat in a panel discussion about this game-changing industry. This event will include an immersive tasting experience to accompany the discussion. The panel will include Liz Specht of the Good Food Institute, Celeste Holz-Schietinger of Impossible Foods and Joseph D. Puglisi of Beyond Meat with others to be announced. Max Elder of the Institute for the Future will moderate.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Celeste Holz-Schietinger, PhD is Director of Research at Impossible Foods. Since 2012, she has led flavor discovery at Impossible Foods, where she creates plant-based flavor systems and products that satisfy the cravings of the most passionate carnivores. Celeste and team are responsible for pivotal Impossible Foods discoveries, including the identification that meat flavor is generated by a molecule called Heme, which Impossible Foods uses to create delicious plant-based meats. Her inventions in microbial flavor generation were also fundamental in the creation of Kite Hill, a plant-based dairy company.

Liz Specht is a Senior Scientist with The Good Food Institute where she works to identify areas of technological need within plant-based and clean meat innovation, catalyze research to address these needs, and support start-ups and investors who are moving the field forward. Liz has a bachelor’s degree in chemical and biomolecular engineering from Johns Hopkins University, a doctorate in biological sciences from the University of California San Diego, and postdoctoral research experience from the University of Colorado Boulder.

Joseph D. Puglisi, Ph.D., is chairman of the board at Beyond Meat. Dr. Puglisi is also a Professor at Stanford University’s Department of Structural Biology and member of the National Academy of Sciences, and holds a B.A. degree in Chemistry from The Johns Hopkins University and a Ph.D. in Biophysical Chemistry from UC Berkeley.

Max Elder is a food futurist and animal ethicist. At the Institute for the Future, he researches the levers that can catalyze systems-level change and create a more healthy, humane, and sustainable future of food. Max is also a fellow at the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, an international think-tank in Oxford, England that pioneers ethical perspectives on animals. He has been published in numerous media outlets like Quartzand Fast Company as well as peer-reviewed journals and books; his research is taught at universities across the US, including Harvard Law; and he speaks around the world on topics related to food systems and ethics.

ABOUT FOOD IS A CONVERSATION
Organized by KitchenTown, Future Food Institute and the Institute for the Future’s Food Futures Lab, this event is part of a series of public discussions about innovation in the food system featuring entrepreneurs, industry experts, policy advocates, and you. Learn something new, contribute to the conversation, and be a part of a growing community interested in the future of food.