What the Tofurkey is Going On with Fake Meat?
What the Tofurkey is Going On with Fake Meat?  
Podcast: Outside/In
Published On: Thu Feb 17 2022
Description: Move over, beef: there’s a new burger in town. Plant-based meats are sizzling hot right now; in 2020 alone, the alternative meat industry saw a record $3.1 billion in investment, with 112 new plant-based brands launching in supermarkets. These juicy, savory, chewy fake burgers are a far cry from the dry, weird-tasting veggie patties of the past. In this episode, Gastropod co-hosts Nicole Twilley and Cynthia Graber visit the Impossible Foods labs to swig some of the animal-free molecule that makes their meatless meat bleed, try fungal food start-up Meati's prototype "chicken" cutlet, and speak to the scientists and historians who compare these new fake meats to their predecessors—and to real meat! Can a plant-based sausage roll be considered kosher or halal? Are plant-based meats actually better for you and for the environment? And how might a mysterious protein-powerhouse fungus named Rosita help feed the world?This episode was reported and produced by our friends at Gastropod.Featuring Aymann Ismail, Celeste Holz-Schietinger, Malte Rödl, Tyler Huggins, and Raychel Santo.SUPPORTOutside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In. Subscribe to our free newsletter.Follow Outside/In on Instagram and TwitterJoin our private podcast discussion group on Facebook LINKSRead Aymann Ismail’s piece on the debates surrounding plant-based pig substitutes in Muslim communities here. Celeste Holz-Schietinger, the VP of Product Innovation at Impossible Foods, featured in Fast Company as one of the most creative people in business in 2020. Malte Rödl is a researcher in environmental communications at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. His PhD thesis is titled “Categorising Meat Alternatives: how dominant meat culture is reproduced and challenged through the making and eating of meat alternatives.”Tyler Huggin’s company, Meati, which he started after “auditioning” thousands of fungus species and finally a protein powerhouse he and his team nicknamed “Rosita.”Raychel Santo studies how plant-based meats measure up against animal meats in terms of both nutritional and environmental impacts. Read the full paper she and her colleagues wrote here.CREDITSGastropod co-hosts: Nicola Twilley and Cynthia Graber Produced by Sonja Cho SwansonOutside/In team: Justine Paradis, Taylor Quimby, Felix Poon, and Jessica HuntExecutive producer: Rebecca LavoieTheme: Breakmaster CylinderAdditional music by Ludwigs Steirische Gaudi and Jackson F. Smith