Joey Thurman:
Welcome to Talking Plant Protein. I'm Joey Thurman.

Nicole Astra:
And I'm Nicole Astra. Multiple sources are already reporting plant-based sales are down in 2022. What do you think about that?

Joey Thurman:
It surprises me a little bit. Plant-based was so big in 2019 and 2020, we saw this huge boom, but with sales skyrocketing, I guess, at some point maybe they'll drop down a little bit. 2021 saw fast food chains like McDonald's, KFC, Taco Bell, and many others jump on the plant-based bandwagon trend. However, the pandemic brought manufacturing and distribution challenges in 2020, which we could still see and be feeling the effects of, and 2021 experienced a significant drought.

Nicole Astra:
Yeah, we did report on the drought that customers, consumers were going to feel it in their wallets eventually. We talked to Roquette. They are the largest producer of pea proteins. Their Executive Vice President, Jeremy Burks, had this to say in response to and preparation for a drought.

Jeremy Burks:
What's important to know is this is a short-term issue, and we've been really investing for the long term here. We take the short term, of course, very seriously, but our investments are more for the long term. We've worked on our own growing programs, we have our own agronomists, we have our own farm. We're looking at techniques, we're looking at making sure that the supply of pea for manufacture of pea protein is there, it's enough for today, and for the years to come.

Jeremy Burks:
The good news is we've been here working with farmers for quite some time on preparing for the startup of our plant in Portage La Prairie here in Manitoba, and what that's allowed us to do is to make sure that we've secured the material that we need to fulfill our production. That's very important that we have that. The other thing that we are doing is, because we've made investments in plants close to the grain locations, we've shortened supply chains, and that has also had the effect of mitigating some of the big cost increases that are inevitable.

Joey Thurman:
I believe plant-based products are definitely here to stay, and they remain very popular, but price point is definitely an issue.

Nicole Astra:
Yeah. But then again, are you willing to pay a higher price for something healthier that might have less environmental impact?

Joey Thurman:
Yes and yes.

Nicole Astra:
Yes you did-

Joey Thurman:
I double checked there.

Nicole Astra:
That's right. There's a lot to consider. Larissa Zimberoff, author of Technically Food: Inside Silicon Valley's Mission to Change What We Eat, said in her newsletter that the recent market dip might not be measuring the right thing. Larissa suggests, "The scrutiny of the plant-based industry is wrongly focused on sales. Instead, we should be looking at the bottom line environmentally. Outside of getting us to pivot away from thinking about food only in capitalistic terms, let's get more players in this space, more healthy and delicious options. We need cheap red meat to be a thing of the past and this will open the door for new twists on plant proteins."

Joey Thurman:
And she's right. Countless startups are entering the space and established brands continue to release new products.

Nicole Astra:
Yeah. And if investor interest has any indication, then plant-based definitely has a future, high-profile investors continue to take note of this industry. Singapore-based Next Gen Foods, proving to be the most successful series A for a plant-based meat company as their incredibly versatile alternative chicken TiNDLE has recently raised $130 million, adding sir Paul McCartney to their impressive list of investors.

Joey Thurman:
Sir Paul McCartney, how about that? If you're looking for investors, we have some great news. The world's leading plant-based, cell-ag investment marketplace, Vevolution announced a partnership with vegan investors. A network of accredited investors, founder, Alicia Robb said, "Vegan Investors is excited to join Vevolution and utilize its technology for screening and due diligence, as well as collaborate with the broader community of other aligned investors and impact companies."

Nicole Astra:
Vevolution was an early contributor for TPP. Their managing director, Erik Amundson, had this to say about how easy it is for startups to get in there.

Erik Amundson:
It's relatively simple, you should be able to sign up in less than 10 minutes as a startup. So, you'll add your basic information. You can just link yourself to LinkedIn and create an account really easily, then you can add your organization. You're able to add your other team members under your organizational profile on Vevolution. And then if you're ready to upload your investment round, it's pretty simple what we ask for. So, we're asking just who you are, what kind of business you're running, and you can select from many different categories. We have more than just all protein, we have material companies, and beauty companies, and snack companies, and I think that separates us as well that go back to your previous questions.

Erik Amundson:
We're not just an all protein community, we definitely have categories of essentially anything that's plant-based or cell-based. So, from there you'll add your... How much you're looking to raise, your valuation cap if you have a cap, your revenue that you've had in the last year, and your pitch deck. So, it's pretty light, pretty easy, and most of our startups don't have any trouble at all signing up to the platform.

Nicole Astra:
So, they might not like that I'm saying it this way, but they really are like a dating site.

Joey Thurman:
You're swiping left or right, or how's that work?

Nicole Astra:
Well, you can align your personal professional goals, with the right startup, with the right investor.

Joey Thurman:
I think that makes sense.

Nicole Astra:
Yeah. I love it.

Joey Thurman:
That's fair. Now, I've got a twist for you. An ingredient you probably would never have thought of for alternative meat, walnuts. I sat down with Keith Seiz and I was surprised to learn how many different ways walnuts are being used. Let's take a look.

Keith Seiz:
People think of walnuts as that holiday nut, something to either crack the big shell, or to put in a pie, but if you think about walnuts as an ingredient that could go in a bunch of different products, the opportunities are limitless. The big reasons that people are focused on right now is obviously healthy eating. So, with it being February, and American Heart Month, it's really great because walnuts are a certified heart-healthy food. So, that's one of the reasons why we should be eating more walnuts. The other big reason is omega-3 fatty acids. We all know the benefits of those. If you look at all the nuts, walnuts are the only nut that is a significant source of omega-3 fatty acids. And it's a plant-based source too, so as the growth of plant-based food comes, there's only limited ways you can get those omega-3s from plant-based sources and walnuts is a great one.

Joey Thurman:
Yeah. I always say walnut's look like a brain and they're also good for your brain, right? That make a lot of sense. Like, "Oh, yeah. Walnuts can help the brain, and those omega-3s," with a host of positive benefits. And walnuts are now being used in a number of different ways. Can you talk about a few of those ways that might be obvious and one that is probably not so obvious?

Keith Seiz:
Yeah. I'll start with the not so obvious one first because it's really the most exciting, I feel, which is as a plant-based ground meat. So, everybody who's listening to this knows the popularity of plant-based foods, and walnuts offer a really unique take on how you can create, really a clean label, and I mean super clean label plant-based ground meat. If you think about a walnut, put it in a food processor, add any other legume in there, whether that's a black bean or a garbanzo bean, and pulse it a couple times, and you get right there a pretty close to a ground beef substitute. It's pretty unbelievable how close that texture is. There's a lot of food service restaurants, mainly on the taco side, that are actually serving plant-based ground meat tacos using walnut meat, and all you have to do is really create that mixture, and then season it with whatever you want, and you've got a really great product.

Keith Seiz:
We also have a couple packet sauces out there right now, one from Canadian-based Como Foods and another one from Hudson Grain here in the United States, that they're making bolognese sauce, so traditional meat sauce. If you're a vegetarian or a vegan, you can't eat bolognese, anymore, sauce. But what they're using is a combination of walnuts, because if you think about it's not too hard, not too soft that texture, and putting it in those packet sauces so you can get it. So, that's really the exciting thing is this use of walnuts and some sort of legume, and then seasoning, and you have a shelf-stable, really a ground meat.

Joey Thurman:
Now, he also told a story about Lizzo cooking with tacos and walnut meat on the TikTok and he said they got a huge boost of interest from that one video.

Nicole Astra:
Oh, I bet they did.

Joey Thurman:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Nicole Astra:
See, it's the power of influence. Okay, I've got an unusual ingredient for you.

Joey Thurman:
What's that?

Nicole Astra:
Volcanic protein.

Joey Thurman:
Really?

Nicole Astra:
I had no idea what that could even mean.

Joey Thurman:
Volcano ash and put it in a protein shake, or?

Nicole Astra:
You would do that.

Joey Thurman:
I would.

Nicole Astra:
In honor of Yellowstone National Park's 150th birthday this March, I thought it was great timing to pull out this bit of news from recent years. Nature's Fynd created a vegan protein in source from volcanic microorganisms found in Yellowstone during a NASA-backed research product, and early investors to these adaptive microbes are Bill Gates and Al Gore.

Joey Thurman:
Really?

Nicole Astra:
Yeah. Nature's Fynd says they are, "Fungi-based foods for optimists," and among their most popular products are meatless breakfast patties and dairy-free cream cheese. That's it for now.

Joey Thurman:
Wow.

Nicole Astra:
I'm Nicole Astra.

Joey Thurman:
I'm Joey Thurman. Fungi-based breakfast foods-

Nicole Astra:
For optimists.

Joey Thurman:
Thanks for stopping by. Talking Plant Protein.

Nicole Astra:
We'll see you next week.