# Alternative protein: it’s what’s for dinner

- Show: [Catalyst](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst)
- Published: 2022-04-14
- Length: 50m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst/2022-04-14-alternative-protein-its-whats-for-dinner

## Summary

Dr. Liz Specht, VP of Science and Technology at the Good Food Institute, explains the three pillars of alternative protein: plant-based, microbial fermentation, and cultivated meat. She details how companies like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat use fermentation to produce heme and high-moisture extrusion for texture, while noting that plant-based products currently cost 2-4x more than conventional meat due to scale disparities. Specht highlights a critical bottleneck in fermentation infrastructure, specifically a global shortage of large-scale bioreactors, and discusses how precision fermentation and cultivated meat aim to replicate the sensory experience of animal tissue more faithfully than plant-based options alone.

## Chapters

- [4:51](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst/2022-04-14-alternative-protein-its-whats-for-dinner#t=291) Introduction: Dr. Liz Specht and the Alternative Protein Landscape
- [12:28](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst/2022-04-14-alternative-protein-its-whats-for-dinner#t=748) Plant-Based Technology: Impossible, Beyond, and Texturization
- [14:53](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst/2022-04-14-alternative-protein-its-whats-for-dinner#t=893) Limitations of Plant-Based: Crop Selection and Cost Barriers
- [25:04](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst/2022-04-14-alternative-protein-its-whats-for-dinner#t=1504) Microbial Fermentation: Biomass, Precision, and Bioreactor Bottlenecks
- [35:04](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst/2022-04-14-alternative-protein-its-whats-for-dinner#t=2104) Cultivated Meat: Cell Culture, Whole Cuts, and Market Strategy
- [45:49](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst/2022-04-14-alternative-protein-its-whats-for-dinner#t=2749) Future Outlook: Public Funding, Regulation, and Consumer Recommendations

## Topics

- [Materials & manufacturing processes](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/materials-and-processes)
- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)
- [Pricing, margins & unit economics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pricing-and-unit-economics)
- [Validation & product-market fit](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/validation-and-product-market-fit)
- [Policy, trade & tariffs](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/policy-trade-and-tariffs)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- Good Food Institute (company)
- Impossible Foods (company)
- Beyond Meat (company)
- JBS (company)
- Mycotechnology (company)
- Nature's Fynd (company)
- Geloura (company)
- CE Delft (other)
- heme protein (other)
- bioreactors (other)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Live Episode! Beyond Meat: Ethan Brown](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2017-02-16-live-episode-beyond-meat-ethan-brown) (How I Built This)
- [3D Printed Fish And Meat, An In-depth Look Into The Future Of Food Tech | Hard Tech #2](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hard-tech-podcast/2023-05-19-3d-printed-fish-and-meat-an-in-depth-look-into-the-future-of-food-tech-hard-tech) (Hard Tech Podcast)
- [Impossible Foods: Pat Brown](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2020-05-11-impossible-foods-pat-brown) (How I Built This)
- [When your dinner is printed with Eshchar Ben-Shitrit of Redefine Meat](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-09-28-when-your-dinner-is-printed-with-eshchar-ben-shitrit-of-redefine-meat) (How I Built This)
- [Reimagining seafood production with Aryé Elfenbein and Justin Kolbeck of Wildtype (2022)](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-06-29-reimagining-seafood-production-with-arye-elfenbein-and-justin-kolbeck-of-wildtyp) (How I Built This)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst/2022-04-14-alternative-protein-its-whats-for-dinner. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to Catalyst.