Explore every episode of the podcast Scaling Nerds | Startup Marketing, Fundraising and Sales
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| 16. Market Sizing for Pitch Decks: Why TAM SAM SOM Is Costing You the Meeting – with Otto Pohl | 29 Jul 2026 | 00:56:14 | |
Most investors skip your market sizing slide. Not because the number is too small, but because a $5 billion figure pulled off Statista tells them nothing about how you get your first customer. And when you claim 1% of a huge market, you quietly undercut the entire deck you just spent ten slides building. So what does a market slide that actually sells the business look like? Otto Pohl helps deep tech founders tell better company stories, with a focus on university spinouts. Former journalist, serial entrepreneur, head of communications for startups, and he has taught entrepreneurial communications at USC. In this episode he and Marina take apart the TAM SAM SOM habit and rebuild the market slide from the bottom up. You will hear why the same blood-analysis technology needs three completely different market pitches depending on whether you are talking to a medtech VC or to SoftBank, how a data center cooling startup found its one number by anchoring on PUE instead of the total market, why conquering Belgium can be a more convincing first move than claiming the world, and what changes in your market narrative between pre-seed and Series A. Plus the reason academic founders keep showing up to the beach in a tuxedo. LINKS Could use a strategic advisor on your communications and founder branding? Work with Marina at https://www.scalingnerds.com/ Marina Schmidt (host) on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ Otto Pohl (guest) on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ottopohl Otto Pohl's website & biweekly newsletter: https://www.ottopohl.com/ Otto's consulting, Core Communications: https://www.ottopohl.com/services CHAPTERS 00:00 - What the market sizing slide is actually for 14:27 - Bottom-up market sizing: the numbers investors believe 41:02 - Picking your wedge: why a small first market wins 49:34 - Academic vs business communication: the tuxedo at the beach 54:15 - How market sizing changes from pre-seed to Series A ABOUT THIS EPISODE A practical guide to market sizing for startup pitch decks, built for deep tech and university spinout founders. Otto Pohl and Marina Schmidt cover TAM SAM SOM and its limits, bottom-up market sizing, how the market slide connects to your go-to-market strategy, choosing a beachhead market, and how investor expectations shift from pre-seed to Series A. Scaling Nerds is a startup podcast on communications, storytelling and PR for VC-backed founders raising their next round. KEYWORDS market sizing, tam sam som, pitch deck, market slide, bottom-up market sizing, go-to-market strategy, beachhead market, investor pitch, deep tech startup, university spinout, fundraising, startup marketing, startup storytelling, founder branding, startup podcast | |||
| 15. How AI is changing the media landscape & PR with former media journalist Steven Perlberg from Merantix Capital | 22 Apr 2026 | 00:48:35 | |
The Future of Media, AI & Founder Visibility Guest: Steven PerlbergLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sperlberg/ · Merantix Capital: https://www.merantix-capital.comHead of Communications at Merantix Capital — Berlin-based VC investing in early-stage AI. Former reporter at WSJ, BuzzFeed News, and Business Insider covering media, tech, and politics. Happy to connect with journalists exploring life after reporting. Host: Marina SchmidtLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ · Website: https://www.scalingnerds.comCommunications advisor helping science and tech founders get seen, heard, and backed — on stages, podcasts, and in the press. The media landscape is shifting fast — and as a founder, understanding that shift is no longer optional. Steven Perlberg, Head of Communications at Merantix Capital and former tech journalist at the Wall Street Journal, BuzzFeed News, and Business Insider, joins Marina to unpack what AI, fragmentation, and the death of the "mushy middle" mean for how founders should think about visibility, PR, and media strategy. Warning: this one gets philosophical. US vs. European tech media — The fundamental difference is size and reach. US outlets skew toward covering Silicon Valley companies, making it harder for European seed-stage startups to break through without a strong narrative hook, major fundraising news, or a US expansion angle. Steven's rule: define your goal first, then pick the outlets that match it. Why founders should pitch journalists directly — When Steven was a reporter, a direct email from a founder saying "I cover your space, want to grab coffee?" always got a yes. Today's version of the five-reporter shortlist might include a Substack writer or LinkedIn creator. Build those relationships personally, not through agencies. The AI slop problem — Faceless, generic AI content is flooding every channel. The counter-move: a growing premium on human faces and authentic voices. OpenAI's acquisition of tech news show TBPN for reportedly hundreds of millions signals exactly this. LLMs as the new search — If your audience is getting their news via AI tools instead of clicking TechCrunch, the tier of the outlet matters less than it used to. What matters is that your company and point of view exist across enough credible sources to be surfaced by LLMs. GEO is becoming as important as SEO. Opinions as the new gold — As information becomes a commodity, what becomes scarce and valuable is judgment, taste, and a distinctive point of view. Founders who show up consistently with a genuine perspective are positioned to become trusted, parasocial key opinion leaders in their space. The 10-80-10 rule for AI-assisted content — 10% you → 80% AI → 10% you again to edit, humanize, and make it sound like yourself. Prompt it to use your actual language from transcripts and speeches. Don't let it default to "momentum" and bullet points.
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| 13. ⭐ Investor Updates: A Complete Founder Guide to Unlocking Support and Capital | 16 Mar 2026 | 00:43:54 | |
Make your investor updates the highest-leverage tool to unlock intros, hires, and your next round. In this episode, you get a full, practical breakdown of how to write investor updates that actually work. We cover how to keep them fast and simple, what to include (and what to leave out), how to structure wins, losses, and asks, and how to turn a simple email into a system that builds trust, momentum, and fundraising advantage over time.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ Could use some help with your comms? Scaling Nerds helps science and tech founders master the communication skills behind fundraising, hiring, and growth—so you can scale faster without relying on luck. Keywords Investor updates, startup investor communication, founder communication strategy, fundraising strategy, startup fundraising tips, venture capital communication, investor relations startups, startup growth strategy, founder updates, startup metrics reporting, pre-seed startup advice, seed stage fundraising, Series A preparation, startup storytelling, founder transparency, startup email strategy, investor engagement, startup accountability, startup communication systems, scaling a startup, deep tech founders, startup leadership communication
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| 12. ⭐ Quick Tip: The Voice Technique to Signal Authority and Create Trust with Marina Schmidt | 11 Mar 2026 | 00:16:07 | |
Your voice communicates leadership long before your words do. In this solo episode of Scaling Nerds, Marina Schmidt explores a subtle but powerful communication skill most founders never think about: vocal placement. Links Connect with the host: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ marina@wearekinetik.com Could use some help with your comms? Work with Marina via https://www.wearekinetik.com/ Why do some people instantly sound trustworthy, calm, and authoritative — while others unintentionally sound nervous, strained, or less confident than they actually are? The answer often lies in where the voice is coming from in the body. Drawing from vocal training, podcasting experience, and hundreds of founder conversations, Marina explains how founders can use their voice more intentionally when pitching investors, speaking on stage, or leading teams. You will learn how different vocal placements — from head voice to chest voice to belly voice — affect how others perceive your confidence, credibility, and presence. Most importantly, Marina shares simple exercises you can use before an important presentation or pitch to ground your voice and project calm authority. If you are a technical founder who wants to sound as credible as the work you are building, this episode will help you become more aware of the leadership signal hidden in your voice. In This Episode
Your voice shapes first impressions. Authority is often a physical phenomenon. Projection is not about volume. Warmth can be heard. Before an important pitch or presentation:
This activates the diaphragm and helps move your voice into a more grounded register. Key TakeawaysPractical Exercise From This EpisodeWho This Episode Is For | |||
| 11. Win Your Next Startup Pitch with this 3-Minute Pitch Formula - David Beckett from Best3Minutes | 25 Feb 2026 | 00:48:00 | |
Imagine you are about to perform a three-minute startup pitch. You stand on stage, the countdown timer ticking. Precious seconds go by, and as you start talking about your business, you explain who you are. You mention the team — beep, beep — the time is up. What. Already. Well, that has happened to a lot of founders. I can guarantee you, nailing a three-minute stage pitch is not easy, and it’s not something that most of us can just wing. Some of the best practices for preparing a long presentation actually do not apply to a three-minute stage pitch and can even be harmful. Why? Because the margin of error is so thin. In this episode, you’ll find out how many words and sentences you can actually fit into a three-minute pitch, what the four elements are that you absolutely have to include, and how you can end your pitch on a powerful note. The interesting thing is, it’s easier to turn a three-minute pitch into a five-minute or eight-minute pitch than the other way around. It’s better to start with a short version and then add to it, whereas cutting content is really, really tough. So whatever you take away from today, this is the essence of your pitch. Our lovely guest today is David Beckett. David is an international pitch coach who has trained over 2,900 startups and scaleups to win over 490 million in investment. David is also the creator of the Pitch Canvas and author of the books Pitch to Win and Blue Moon Pitch. It was really a blast to talk to him, and I hope you’ll enjoy the conversation as much as I did. Scaling Nerds helps science and tech founders master the essential communication skills of startup growth so you can fundraise easier, attract customers, and scale faster. I’m your host, Marina Schmidt, a communications advisor for founders specialized in AgriFood, biotech, and materials — or put differently, I scale nerds. Links Connect with David Beckett https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidbeckettpresentationcoach/ Best3Minutes The Pitch Canvas https://best3minutes.com/the-pitch-canvas/ Connect with the host: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ marina@wearekinetik.com Could use some help with your comms? Check out https://www.wearekinetik.com/ #StartupPitchTraining | |||
| 10. Live Pitch Fix: Wood as Strong as Steel (Series A Pitch) - Strong By Form CEO Andres Mitnik | 18 Feb 2026 | 00:58:20 | |
Okay, this was a really, really great episode. Today I'm helping another founder with a life pitch fix, and you are really in for a treat because on the one hand, Strong by Form, the company of today, is absolutely fascinating. And on the other hand, we are also going to be covering so many helpful concepts that will help you improve your pitch and your communication, all while working on a really interesting case study. So to start off, I will just pitch you Strong by Form how I pitch it to friends or random people, right? If you think of a healthy tree, imagine a healthy tree with long branches. It is really fascinating how resilient trees can be, right? Surviving wind and storm. How is that possible? It is actually partially due to the way the fibers of the wood align. Now Strong by Form saw an opportunity here and decided to analyze this and learn from the natural fiber structure of trees to create wood that is as strong as steel or concrete. Now their super wood can be used as the cover, the external layer of cars. Imagine a Mercedes or a BMW just covered with a layer of wood on the outside. Super resilient, but it could also cover skyscrapers or replace the concrete slabs used within skyscrapers. Andreas Mitnick, the founder and CEO of Strong by Form, is, in my humble opinion, sitting on a gold mine of storytelling that can sometimes be pretty hard to grasp as the founder, right? Because there is a German saying: you don’t see the forest due to too many trees. Well, that is exactly what is going on in this episode. You get to witness the process of rediscovering the forest, the big picture, as we, layer by layer, reshape the pitch of Strong by Form from the ground up. You will find that Andre’s excitement and energy truly build throughout the episode. So I would say it really is worth listening until the end. Links Connect with Andres Mitnik https://www.linkedin.com/in/andres-mitnik/ Check out Strong By Form Connect with the host: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ marina@wearekinetik.com Could use some help with your comms? Check out https://www.wearekinetik.com/ Podcast Keywords Scaling Nerds, startup communications, founder communication, science and tech founders, deep tech startups, VC-backed growth, startup fundraising, investor decks, startup storytelling, founder branding, startup marketing, venture capital, thought leadership, media strategy, technical founders, startup growth Episode keywords startup pitch example, Series A pitch example, pitch deck feedback, live pitch coaching, how to pitch investors, startup storytelling example, deep tech pitch, climate tech startup pitch, materials startup, sustainable materials innovation, biomimicry startup, wood stronger than steel, founder pitch training, investor presentation tips, pitch deck strategy, startup communication skills, VC pitch preparation, real startup case study, Andres Mitnik interview, Strong by Form pitch. | |||
| 9. Choose VCs That Won't Go Bust - Hard Truths from an LP with Ariel Barack from Ordway Selections | 10 Feb 2026 | 00:50:01 | |
Early-stage founders spend years learning how to fundraise from venture capitalists. But very few ever look beyond the VC sitting across the table. Just like founders need to fundraise from VCs, VCs need to fundraise from limited partners. Who are the guys who give VCs the molah-molah? What are the hidden incentives? And how those dynamics quietly shape fundraising, timing, and pressure. “Everyone thinks they’re pitching one person. They’re not.” Ariel Barack is a Senior Partner and the Chief Executive of Ordway Selections, a private investment office investing primarily in food and agriculture, health, blockchains, and digital assets. As Einstein said, “You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.” Well, today we will look at the rules of the game, so you can play better than anyone else. This was a very interesting conversation, and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did. Links Connect with Ariel Barack https://www.linkedin.com/in/arielbarack/ Mentioned: Anterra Capital Connect with the host: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ marina@wearekinetik.com Could use some help with your comms? Check out https://www.wearekinetik.com/ | |||
| 8. Close Corporate Deals Faster Without Getting Ghosted: Pilots are NOT the Answer with Ben Kimura-Gross from Catalyne | 03 Feb 2026 | 00:53:21 | |
Find out how to solve the top 3 issues you may face in corporate sales: .1 not understanding the process, 2. the sale taking way too long, 3. getting ghosted or declined and not knowing why. An absolute must-watch episode for any founder currently hustling for big client deals. Links Connect with Ben Kimura-Gross: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-k-g/ Check out Catalyne https://www.thecatalyne.com/https://www.thecatalyne.com/ Connect with the host: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ marina@wearekinetik.com Could use some help with your comms? Check out https://www.wearekinetik.com/ Episode Keywords corporate sales strategy, B2B startup sales, enterprise sales for startups, how to close corporate deals, selling to large companies, startup pilots vs paid contracts, why pilots fail, avoiding getting ghosted in sales, long sales cycle solutions, procurement process explained, selling into corporates, founder led sales, startup business development, enterprise deal negotiation, corporate innovation programs, startup partnership strategy, revenue strategy for startups, Ben Kimura Gross interview, Catalyne startup sales, closing big clients fast. Podcast Keywords Scaling Nerds, startup communications, founder communication, science and tech founders, deep tech startups, VC-backed growth, startup fundraising, investor decks, startup storytelling, founder branding, startup marketing, venture capital, thought leadership, media strategy, technical founders, startup growth. | |||
| 7. ⭐ Skip Panels, Do This Instead: Founder Thought Leadership 101 with Sarah Rall from Cherry Ventures | 28 Jan 2026 | 00:32:40 | |
Thought leadership. It's a big topic. You may know of Infarm, the vertical farming company that raised $600 Million before going bust after the Ukraine war drove up energy prices and made their business collapse. Regarding their operations can say all you want, the CEO of Infarm was an exceptional fundraiser. But how did he do it? One of my close friends worked for infarm and thats how I found out that they actually hired a full-time employee in charge of supporting the founders with thought leadership. Raising funds requires investors trusting the team, especially the founders. To me, thought leadership is about scaling yourself. Instead of only relying on one-on-one introductions you create ways for people to get to know you and what you are up to. But well... how? Lets explore this in the second half of this conversation with Sarah Rall, Director of Communications at Cherry Ventures. Links Connect with Sarah Rall: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahrall/ Check out Cherry Ventures Connect with the host: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ marina@wearekinetik.com Could use some help with your comms? Check out https://www.wearekinetik.com/ Episode Keywords founder thought leadership, startup personal branding, VC backed founders, how to build credibility as a founder, investor trust building, startup media strategy, LinkedIn strategy for founders, founder visibility strategy, raising venture capital, startup reputation management, executive positioning, venture capital communications, Cherry Ventures, Sarah Rall interview, scaling founder influence, startup storytelling strategy, PR for startups, founder brand building, startup communications podcast Podcast Keywords Scaling Nerds, startup communications, founder communication, science and tech founders, deep tech startups, VC-backed growth, startup fundraising, investor decks, startup storytelling, founder branding, startup marketing, venture capital, thought leadership, media strategy, technical founders, startup growth. | |||
| 6. Prevent a Media Crisis: DON'T do this Post Series A with Sarah Rall from Cherry Ventures | 20 Jan 2026 | 00:30:41 | |
At pre-seed and seed stage, many scientific and technical startups don’t have a comms specialist on board. So pitch decks are puzzled together in endless iterations, website copy is written off the cuff, and the founders just riff in interviews. In this episode you will hear from Sarah Rall, Vice President of Communications and Brand at Cherry Ventures. Based in London, Sarah has faced journalists digging for dirt and media crises, been through the communications journey of a startup all the way to IPO, and supports startups across their portfolio. Cherry’s 2022 fund is 320M large, with 50% of their fund reserved for supporting their founders on their growth journey. In this episode, you will find out what comms pitfalls to avoid on your startup growth journey, including an essential tool for aligning your growing Links Connect with Sarah Rall: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahrall/ Check out Cherry Ventures Connect with the host: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ marina@wearekinetik.com Could use some help with your comms? Check out https://www.wearekinetik.com/ Episode Keywords startup media crisis, post Series A strategy, startup PR mistakes, crisis communications for startups, media training for founders, scaling startup communications, reputation risk management, handling journalist scrutiny, startup brand alignment, investor relations strategy, communications after fundraising, startup IPO communications, venture capital portfolio support, Cherry Ventures portfolio, Sarah Rall insights, startup narrative alignment, proactive PR strategy, technical founder media skills, high growth startup branding, startup communications leadership Podcast Keywords Scaling Nerds, startup communications, founder communication, science and tech founders, deep tech startups, VC-backed growth, startup fundraising, investor decks, startup storytelling, founder branding, startup marketing, venture capital, thought leadership, media strategy, technical founders, startup growth. | |||
| 5. Live Pitch-Fix: Finding the Right Narrative for Critical Minerals Startup Magmatic | 03 Dec 2025 | 00:42:15 | |
How can you adapt your pitch on the fly to a potential customer, to an investor, or to a generalist audience? Today you can listen in on a live consulting session where I help a founder crack this question. In this episode, I'm consulting Oliver Siegel, the co-founder and CEO of the deep tech startup Magmatic Bio. Magmatic designs synthetic proteins that separate critical metals from each other. Connect with the host: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ marina@r2g.media Need help communicating your tech? Check out Magmatic Connect with Oliver https://www.linkedin.com/in/siegel-oliver/https://www.linkedin.com/in/siegel-oliver/ Episode Keywords live pitch feedback, startup pitch coaching session, adapting your pitch to investors, customer vs investor pitch, critical minerals startup, deep tech fundraising pitch, cleantech startup narrative, mining innovation startup, synthetic biology startup, separating rare earth metals, protein engineering startup, Magmatic Bio, Oliver Siegel interview, technical startup storytelling, investor ready pitch, pitch deck refinement, science startup communication, B2B deep tech sales pitch, startup narrative strategy, real founder consulting session Podcast Keywords Scaling Nerds, startup communications, founder communication, science and tech founders, deep tech startups, VC-backed growth, startup fundraising, investor decks, startup storytelling, founder branding, startup marketing, venture capital, thought leadership, media strategy, technical founders, startup growth. | |||
| 4. How to Sell Something People Don't Understand (yet) with Nina Mannheimer from Klim | 26 Nov 2025 | 00:35:01 | |
If your startup needs to speak to very different audiences — investors, corporates, consumers — this episode lays out why that skill matters more than most founders think. How you explain your work changes depending on who’s in front of you, and that can decide whether people actually understand what you do. If you’re selling cookies, fine. If you’re building a complex solution to a complex problem, communication becomes core to the product. In this episode, you’ll hear from Nina Mannheim, previously the co-founder and CPO of Klim. Klim started back in 2019 in Berlin, when “regenerative agriculture” was still a barely known term. The team had to figure out how to make a complicated topic land with groups who had completely different levels of context and completely different interests. Not easy — but they still managed to raise a 22M Series A in 2024. What Klim learned applies far beyond agriculture. 00:00 Why stakeholder communication matters Links Connect with Steve Molino: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ninamannheimer/ Check out Klim Connect with the host: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ marina@r2g.media Episode Keywords selling complex products, explaining deep tech to investors, how to communicate innovation, startup stakeholder communication, tailoring your pitch to different audiences, B2B and B2C messaging strategy, climate tech startup communication, regenerative agriculture startup, how to raise Series A, investor communication tips, simplifying complex technology, founder messaging strategy, startup storytelling for technical products, credibility building for early stage startups, Nina Mannheimer interview, Klim startup Berlin, climate agtech funding, communicating with farmers and corporates, startup brand positioning, science driven startup marketing Podcast Keywords Scaling Nerds, startup communications, founder communication, science and tech founders, deep tech startups, VC-backed growth, startup fundraising, investor decks, startup storytelling, founder branding, startup marketing, venture capital, thought leadership, media strategy, technical founders, startup growth. | |||
| 3. Pitching Specialised VCs: Cutting-Edge Tech Doesn’t Sell Itself, with Steve Molino From Synthesis Capital | 19 Nov 2025 | 00:36:50 | |
When you are working on a technical or scientific innovation, pitching a specialized VC firm may seem like the light at the end of the tunnel. Finally, someone who will get it. Or… will they? Today’s guest, Steve Molino, is Principal at Synthesis Capital based in New Jersey. And today’s episode asks: How can founders with complex tech craft pitch decks that help them get there, past the initial interest? Ironically, having cutting-edge technology may make it harder, not easier. Steve Molino works across food tech and biotech. Previously, he led investment activity at Clear Current Capital as Partner and Head of Investments. He focused on early-stage investments and now covers Series A, B, or later. You are listening to Scaling Nerds, the podcast covering all things communications for science and tech founders. Links Connect with Steve Molino: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenmolino/ Check out Synthesis Connect with me: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ marina@r2g.media Resources Mentioned: Granola AI Slidebean Slidesgo Canva Episode Keywords pitching specialised VCs, deep tech investor pitch, biotech startup fundraising, food tech venture capital, Series A pitch strategy, Series B fundraising tips, how to pitch technical innovation, startup pitch deck for complex tech, science startup storytelling, specialised venture capital firms, Synthesis Capital, Steve Molino interview, early stage biotech funding, food tech investors, cutting edge technology pitch, venture capital due diligence, investor mindset deep tech, startup deck mistakes, pitching niche investors, scaling science startups Podcast Keywords Scaling Nerds, startup communications, founder communication, science and tech founders, deep tech startups, VC-backed growth, startup fundraising, investor decks, startup storytelling, founder branding, startup marketing, venture capital, thought leadership, media strategy, technical founders, startup growth. | |||
| 2. ⭐ How to Announce Your Fundraise Without a Headache - A PR Crash Course With Elisheva Marcus from Earlybird VC | 12 Nov 2025 | 00:33:54 | |
A crisp crash course on announcing your fundraise correctly, including:
The guest you’ll hear from today, Elisheva Marcus, and I met at the Deep Tech Momentum conference in Berlin and connected over nerding out about comms. Elisheva Marcus has an MSc in Biomedical Communication and brings expertise from the San Jose Mercury News, Ada Health, Bayer, and more. Since 2020, she has been the VP of Communications at Earlybird Venture Capital, supporting portfolio founders as a sparring partner. By the way, Earlybird Venture Capital was founded in 1997 and is among the most experienced venture investors in Europe, covering all development and growth stages from pre-seed to growth in industries like fintech, health tech, and deep tech. --- Links Connect with Elli: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elisheva-marcus/ Check out Earlybird: https://earlybird.com/ Connect with me: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ Structure of a Strong Press Release or Announcement
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| The Narrative War: How Founders Shape the Public Narrative for Better or Worse | 29 Oct 2025 | 00:14:51 | |
Climate activism failed to inspire hope, can founders fill the void? Discover why the next cultural revolution won’t be led by politicians, but by startup leaders. Episode Summary In this solo episode, Marina Schmidt dissects how startup founders have become some of the most powerful public communicators of our time—and why that power matters. She explores the rise of founder evangelism, the cultural shift from corporate branding to personal leadership, and the urgent need for integrity-driven voices in an era of polarization and information overload. Drawing on her decade of experience across media, startups, and communications, Marina outlines six theses that map the transformation of founders from company builders to narrative shapers—people who influence culture, policy, and public trust. She argues that after the failure of fear-based climate activism, the responsibility to offer hope, direction, and credible optimism now falls to founders who are building tangible solutions for a better future.
The role of founders is no longer limited to business leadership. In an age where voices travel faster than institutions, founders shape how society sees the future. They can deepen divides—or illuminate the path forward. The question is not whether to speak, but what kind of lighthouse you want to be. Key Words founder branding, founder influence, startup communication, leadership storytelling, public narrative, media influence, hope-based communication, climate activism, decentralization of media, founder evangelism, science communication, tech founders, responsible leadership, thought leadership, narrative framing, communication strategy, startup culture, future builders, social impact founders, trust and influence | |||
| -- Red to Green is now Scaling Nerds -- The Communications Podcast for Science and Tech Founders | 29 Oct 2025 | 00:01:40 | |
The food tech and biotech podcast Red to Green is becoming Scaling Nerds: the communications podcast for science & tech founders. New episodes every two weeks! Please share with friends, colleagues and whoever might be interested. Connect with Marina Schmidt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ Need help with comms as a startup founder? Check out https://www.wearekinetik.com/ | |||
| 8.1. What is Micro Fermentation? New Cheeses Made with Koji Protein - Formo CEO Raffael Wohlgensinger | 12 Sep 2024 | 00:49:59 | |
Find out all the details about micro fermentation. Discover how Formo is using this process to churn out Koji protein-based cheese alternatives that are hitting over 2000 stores in the DACH region. The episode breaks down the differences between micro and precision fermentation and why micro fermentation's quicker market route is so exciting. Learn about the sustainability perks and the cool science behind cheese without cows. Whether you're into biotech, sustainable food, or just love cheese, this deep dive offers a taste of the future. LINKS / Mentions The Bright Green Partners overview on different types of fermentation https://brightgreenpartners.com/precision-fermentation/ Formo - https://formo.bio/https://formo.bio/ Raffa - https://www.linkedin.com/in/raffael-wohlgensinger/ Connect with Marina - https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ Check out R2G Media - https://www.r2g.media/ Turtle Tree - https://www.turtletree.com/ Flora Ventures - https://www.floravc.com/ Foodlabs - https://www.foodlabs.com/ 00:00 Introduction to Micro Fermentation 04:11 Product Launches 05:32 Deep Dive Micro Fermentation 17:31 Product Development and Consumer Testing 20:56 PF vs. MF in detail 27:24 Benefits of Koji 29:23 Regulatory Landscape 31:47 Fundraising Perks 34:44 Sustainability Impact 42:50 Partnering with Traditional Dairy Manufacturers 46:06 Go to market 47:08 Future Innovations | |||
| (Old/R2G) 7. SEASON FINAL - BOOK TALKS - What Food Futurist are you? 🔮 Part II of Meals to Come | 25 Nov 2023 | 00:19:36 | |
- An old episode from the Red to Green Podcast on Food Tech & Bio Tech. Listen if you are interested in the future of food, but this isn’t Scaling Nerds. Red to Green was a podcast that investigated how to transition the food industry from harmful to healthy, from polluting to sustainable, from Red to Green. Each season had a different topic
Let’s finish discussing our book “Meals to Come- The History of the Future of Food.” You will hear about - how modern solutions of cornucopias, Malthusian, and egalitarians look like - why it can be useful to add an ecological perspective - a tapestry of some of my favorite quotes from the book discussing how belief systems and rhetoric have shaped the future of food predictions. Super, super interesting. And after about 10 minutes of that, we will get into the summary of the entire season. I am joined by my cohost if Frank Alexander Kuehne, the Chief of the Advisory Board of the herb and spice producer RAPS and the Managing director of the Adalbert Raps Foundation, funding research on sustainable food science. More on that later Here is a quick reminder from last episode describing the three types of food futurists - cornucopias, Malthusians and Egalitarians. 1. Cornocopians believe "innovation will fix anything" and throw tech at any problem. We need to go better, faster, and stronger with new approaches. Main theme -> Innovate (biotech in food, cell ag, novel fertilizers, etc.) 2. Modern Malthusians believe we need to reduce our consumption, respect the earth's limits and find ways to reduce, reuse and recycle. Main theme -> Save (AI to reduce food waste, CSR) 3. Egalitarians believe we would have enough if we would share it better. Environmental issues are a reflection of social inequality. Local is beautiful. Main theme -> Share (Local markets, local food production, foreign development) 4. Ecologists (a category I added) believe we must live in line with nature again. Get off the chemical, agricultural treadmill and think in ecosystems. Main theme -> Restore (agroforests, regenerative agriculture) Ultimately, the solution is not an either-or but an "and." It helps to be aware of one "default" view and recognize which other perspectives may be good to develop. Get funding for your food science research: https://en.raps-stiftung.de/foerderbereiche/lebensmittelforschung Seeds of Science https://www.amazon.com/Seeds-Science-Why-Wrong-GMOs/dp/1472946987 Connect with the host, Marina https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ Connect with the host, Frank https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankkuehne/ Please rate the podcast on Spotify and iTunes! <3 DISCLAIMER - The podcast and article represent the personal opinions and interpretations of the participants). The statements may be exaggerated for entertainment and/or comedic purposes. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information presented per the cited sources. However, the participants do not guarantee the completeness or timeliness of the information. Readers are encouraged to verify the information presented and conduct their own research independently. The participants acknowledge that mentioned parties may have the right to an alternative interpretation of matters discussed. | |||
| (Old/R2G) 7.10. Three Archetypes of the Future of Food - The History of the Future of Food | 17 Jul 2023 | 00:35:29 | |
- An old episode from the Red to Green Podcast on Food Tech & Bio Tech. Listen if you are interested in the future of food, but this isn’t Scaling Nerds. Red to Green was a podcast that investigated how to transition the food industry from harmful to healthy, from polluting to sustainable, from Red to Green. Each season had a different topic
The worry and the question “will we run out of food?” is as old as humanity itself. And every couple of decades, this question seems to reappear in intense debates. For example, it did in the 1920s, late 1940s, 1960 and 1970s, and 1990s. These worries are usually fired up by 4 main reasons(T) sudden inflation in food prices; (z) environmental stresses, such as urban congestion, bad harvests, or a degradation of agricultural resources(3) scary demographics, such as an unexpectedly high spike in population growth; (4) cultural anxieties about sexuality, working-class unrest or a spike of immigrants And just as our worries about the future of food have been around for a while so have been the ideas for solutions. Did you know that already over 100 years ago scientists and entrepreneurs believed burgers made from algae would be a thing? Looking into history can be humbling. And today we are looking into my favorite topic - the history of the future of food. Today’s book is called “Meals to come - the history of the future of food.” It’s 400 pages thick and was published in 2006 but aye, it’s history. The author Warren James Belasco was For more than thirty years, Dr. Belasco taught, researched, at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, USA writing about food history and food culture. He is my favorite food historian, so I am clearly biased here. But dare I say - you are in for a treat. I am chatting about this book with my wonderful co-host Frank Alexander Kuene. Frank is the Managing director of the Adalbert Raps foundation, offering grants for food science research focused on sustainability. He is also the Chief of Advisory Board at the German herb and spice company RAPS Gmbh. Get funding for your food science research: https://en.raps-stiftung.de/foerderbereiche/lebensmittelforschung Seeds of Science https://www.amazon.com/Seeds-Science-Why-Wrong-GMOs/dp/1472946987 Connect with the host, Marina https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ Connect with the host, Frank https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankkuehne/ Please rate the podcast on Spotify and iTunes! <3 DISCLAIMER - The podcast and article represent the personal opinions and interpretations of the participants). The statements may be exaggerated for entertainment and/or comedic purposes. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information presented per the cited sources. However, the participants do not guarantee the completeness or timeliness of the information. Readers are encouraged to verify the information presented and conduct their own research independently. The participants acknowledge that mentioned parties may have the right to an alternative interpretation of matters discussed. | |||
| (Old/R2G) 7.9. When a Scientist Whistleblows Pesticides - The Monsanto Papers | 17 Jul 2023 | 00:35:35 | |
- An old episode from the Red to Green Podcast on Food Tech & Bio Tech. Listen if you are interested in the future of food, but this isn’t Scaling Nerds. Red to Green was a podcast that investigated how to transition the food industry from harmful to healthy, from polluting to sustainable, from Red to Green. Each season had a different topic
In May 2019, the husband and wife Alva and Alberta Pilliod won a federal court case against Monsanto. Both of them had developed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. This cancer causes white blood cells called lymphocytes to grow abnormally throughout the body. The farmers worked decades with the herbicide, which Monsanto claimed is safe to use. In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) categorized the active ingredient in Roundup, glyphosate, as a “probable carcinogen.” And this was the basis for the judge's decision to decide in favour of the couple. Bayer AG had to pay a fine of $2 billion because it had acquired Monsanto, the manufacturer of Roundup. One year after the merger, BAYER's share price was still cut in half. The pharmaceutical giant had signed up for an ever-increasing burden of legal battles. In 2019, 18.000 lawsuits were pending in the US. Most of them due to cancer cases potentially linked to Roundup. For numerous decades, Monsanto marketed their herbicide as safe to use for farmers and individuals. Most regulatory bodies categorize glyphosate as safe, including - Health Canada Why does the International Agency for Research on Cancer come to a different conclusion than all the other agencies? Possibly because they only consider “publicly available and pertinent studies, by independent experts, free from vested interests.” But apparently, the amount of independent studies on glyphosate-based pesticides is rather limited. How can the world's most-used pesticide have so few independent studies? Is this really a coincidence? Get funding for your food science research: https://en.raps-stiftung.de/foerderbereiche/lebensmittelforschung Seeds of Science https://www.amazon.com/Seeds-Science-Why-Wrong-GMOs/dp/1472946987 Connect with the host, Marina https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ Connect with the host, Frank https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankkuehne/ Please rate the podcast on Spotify and iTunes! <3 DISCLAIMER - The podcast and article represent the personal opinions and interpretations of the participants). The statements may be exaggerated for entertainment and/or comedic purposes. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information presented per the cited sources. However, the participants do not guarantee the completeness or timeliness of the information. Readers are encouraged to verify the information presented and conduct their own research independently. The participants acknowledge that Bayer Crop Science and/or other parties mentioned have the right to an alternative interpretation of matters discussed. | |||
| (Old/R2G) 7.7. GMO-Activists ✊ The Biggest Marketing Mistake - Seeds of Science | 21 Jun 2023 | 00:25:23 | |
- An old episode from the Red to Green Podcast on Food Tech & Bio Tech. Listen if you are interested in the future of food, but this isn’t Scaling Nerds. Red to Green was a podcast that investigated how to transition the food industry from harmful to healthy, from polluting to sustainable, from Red to Green. Each season had a different topic
In early 2012 scientists at Rothamsted Research in England started an airfield trial of genetically modified wheat ( the first in the UK for many years ). THe research was publicly funded by a plant science centre based in the south of England. The genetically engineered wheat was sown behind a high fence and protected by 24-hour security. You will find out why all this security was needed in a second. The aim of the research was to test and check whether an added gene would repel aphids. The small sucking insects are commonly called greenflies and blackflies. The wheat would exude a pheromone that repels them. A pheromone is a chemical produced by an organism that influences other individuals of the same species. We also have pheromones, which are pretty useful for dating. The theory was that if wheat could exude these unattractive pheromones, the insects would stop attacking it. And this way, we could save lots of pesticides. Actually, this is a great approach. The stakes were high because a group of anti - GMO protesters had vowed to destroy the test site before the experiment could offer any results. In response, the scientists released a passionate YouTube video appeal. They talked to the media and pleaded that their effort was >actually< to reduce pesticide use. One of the scientists, Toby Bruce, addressed the camera directly; he said: We have developed this new variety of wheat which doesn’t require treatment with an insecticide, and it uses a natural aphid repellent which already widely occurs in nature and is produced by more than 400 different plant species. We have engineered this into the wheat genome so that the wheat can do the same thing and defend itself. Are you really against this? Because it could have a lot of environmental benefits. Or is it simply you distrust it because it’s a GMO? Another Rothamsted scientist in the video was Janet Martin, who asked quite reasonably: ‘ You seem to think, even before we’ve had a chance to test the trial, that our GM wheat variety is bad. But how can you know this? ’ She paused and uttered a weary, unscripted sigh before continuing. ‘ It’s clearly not through scientific investigation because we’ve not even had a chance to do any tests yet. Get funding for your food science research: https://en.raps-stiftung.de/foerderbereiche/lebensmittelforschung Seeds of Science https://www.amazon.com/Seeds-Science-Why-Wrong-GMOs/dp/1472946987 Connect with the host, Marina https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ Connect with the host, Frank https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankkuehne/ Please rate the podcast on Spotify and iTunes! <3 DISCLAIMER - The podcast and article represent the personal opinions and interpretations of the participants). The statements may be exaggerated for entertainment and/or comedic purposes. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information presented per the cited sources. However, the participants do not guarantee the completeness or timeliness of the information. Readers are encouraged to verify the information presented and conduct their own research independently. The participants acknowledge that Bayer Crop Science and/or other parties mentioned have the right to an alternative interpretation of matters discussed. | |||
| (Old/R2G) 7.5. Lobbying Strategies in US vs. Europe - Food Politics part II | 31 May 2023 | 00:29:36 | |
- An old episode from the Red to Green Podcast on Food Tech & Bio Tech. Listen if you are interested in the future of food, but this isn’t Scaling Nerds. Red to Green was a podcast that investigated how to transition the food industry from harmful to healthy, from polluting to sustainable, from Red to Green. Each season had a different topic
So how are the politics of the food system rigged? This is the second part of our book talk on "Food Politics- How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health, " Find out how lobbying is different in the US vus Europe; you will learn about a bunch of concepts like soft and hard balling, the revolving door and commerciogenic malnutrition and Frank also shares an insider story of working or maybe more fitting - not working - with food safety authorities. LINK The book Food Politics by Marion Nestle https://www.foodpolitics.com/ Connect with the host, Marina https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ Connect with the host, Frank https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankkuehne/ Please rate the podcast on Spotify and iTunes! <3 Hashtags Nanotechnology in Food, Food Safety regulation, food safety Europe, EFSA, European food safety, food regulation, food legislation, food security, food additives, food industry, future of food, food innovation, food technology | |||
| (Old/R2G) 7.4. Food Politics - How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health | 24 May 2023 | 00:32:28 | |
- An old episode from the Red to Green Podcast on Food Tech & Bio Tech. Listen if you are interested in the future of food, but this isn’t Scaling Nerds. Red to Green was a podcast that investigated how to transition the food industry from harmful to healthy, from polluting to sustainable, from Red to Green. Each season had a different topic
Why nutrition guidelines have become too much about single nutrients, the struggle of the food pyramid and Frank’s experience with lobbyism. Avoid saturated fat intake, increase your potassium intake, and Avoid transfats. this Eating more fruits and veggies and less animal products and processed food is better for human health AND the environment. This episode discusses the food industry's influence on nutrition guidelines. Inspired by a book by Marion Nestle - American molecular biologist, nutritionist, and public health advocate. LINK Connect with the host, Marina https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ Connect with the host, Frank https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankkuehne/ Please rate the podcast on Spotify and iTunes! <3 Hashtags Nanotechnology in Food, Food Safety regulation, food safety Europe, EFSA, European food safety, food regulation, food legislation, food security, food additives, food industry, future of food, food innovation, food technology Episode analytics | |||
| (Old/R2G) 7.2. Blind Spots of Food Tech 🔍 Distribution and Responsibility - Part II of Stuffed and Starved | 03 May 2023 | 00:33:13 | |
- An old episode from the Red to Green Podcast on Food Tech & Bio Tech. Listen if you are interested in the future of food, but this isn’t Scaling Nerds. Red to Green was a podcast that investigated how to transition the food industry from harmful to healthy, from polluting to sustainable, from Red to Green. Each season had a different topic
This is the second part of our discussion on the book "Stuffed and Starved - the hidden battle for our world's food system." We look at the price development at the supply chain, addressing the lack of transparency and how corporates are incentivized to process foods for higher profit. We discuss corporate and consumer responsibility. And talk about whether malnourishment is an issue of "insufficient food"? The author Raj Patel is a British Indian. Academic journalist and activist. He holds a PhD in development and sociology from Cornell University. In this book, he focuses a lot on the inequality of our food system. The book's main thesis is that more people are overweight than people who are starving. And that's solving the issue is now our food system is not just about increasing yield. It's much more a poverty and distribution issue. I'm joined by my amazing co-host Frank Kuehne. He's the managing partner of the Adalbert-Raps Foundation, which offers grants for scientific research in food technology, but more on that later. Let's jump right in. LINKS Find out more about the book Stuffed and Starved Connect with the host, Marina https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ Connect with the host, Frank https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankkuehne/ Please rate the podcast on Spotify and iTunes! <3 Hashtags: Book Talks, Stuffed and Starved, Rajiv Patel, British Indian, food system, inequality, starving, poverty, distribution, food technology, multinationals, liberalization, market, food supply chain, farmers, producers, manufacturers, retailers, consumer base, buying desks, agricultural products, packed food, processed food, frozen food, retailer chains, sustainability, CO2 emission, NAFTA, North American Free Trade Agreement, US farmers, subsidies, Gimsa, Minsa, industrial corn flour market, structural power, multinational, local market, soy, wheat, Ukraine, local farmer, supply chain, African farmers, European market, African market, scaling up farms, efficiency, industrial large scale agriculture, regenerative agriculture, community supported agriculture, diversified crops, maize producers, subsidized corn, agricultural business, spice company, seasoning company, Olam, Fairtrade. | |||
| (Old/R2G) 7.1. Stuffed and Starved 🍔 Understanding Inequality in our Food System | 26 Apr 2023 | 00:28:56 | |
- An old episode from the Red to Green Podcast on Food Tech & Bio Tech. Listen if you are interested in the future of food, but this isn’t Scaling Nerds. Red to Green was a podcast that investigated how to transition the food industry from harmful to healthy, from polluting to sustainable, from Red to Green. Each season had a different topic
Welcome to our season called "Book Talks." In the first two episodes, we will cover the book "Stuffed and Starved - the hidden battle for our world's food system." The author Raj Patel is a British Indian. Academic journalist and activist. He holds a Ph.D. in development and sociology from Cornell University. In this book, he focuses a lot on the inequality of our food system. The book's main thesis is that more people are overweight than people who are starving. And that's solving the issue is now our food system is not just about increasing yield. It's much more a poverty and distribution issue. I'm joined by my amazing co-host Frank Kuehne. He's the managing partner of the Adalbert-Raps Foundation, which offers grants for scientific research in food technology, but more on that later. Let's jump right in. LINKS Get funding for your food science research: https://en.raps-stiftung.de/ Find out more about the book Stuffed and Starved More info and links to resources on https://redtogreen.solutions/ Connect with the host, Marina https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ Connect with the host, Frank https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankkuehne/ More info and links to resources on https://redtogreen.solutions/ Please rate the podcast on Spotify and iTunes! <3 Hashtags: Book Talks, Stuffed and Starved, Rajiv Patel, British Indian, food system, inequality, starving, poverty, distribution, food technology, multinationals, liberalization, market, food supply chain, farmers, producers, manufacturers, retailers, consumer base, buying desks, agricultural products, packed food, processed food, frozen food, retailer chains, sustainability, CO2 emission, NAFTA, North American Free Trade Agreement, US farmers, subsidies, Gimsa, Minsa, industrial corn flour market, structural power, multinational, local market, soy, wheat, Ukraine, local farmer, supply chain, African farmers, European market, African market, scaling up farms, efficiency, industrial large scale agriculture, regenerative agriculture, community supported agriculture, diversified crops, maize producers, subsidized corn, agricultural business, spice company, seasoning company, Olam, Fairtrade. | |||
| (Old/R2G) 7. SEASON TRAILER - Books on the future of food 📕 Reviewing and discussing | 13 Apr 2023 | 00:01:20 | |
- An old episode from the Red to Green Podcast on Food Tech & Bio Tech. Listen if you are interested in the future of food, but this isn’t Scaling Nerds. Red to Green was a podcast that investigated how to transition the food industry from harmful to healthy, from polluting to sustainable, from Red to Green. Each season had a different topic
Do you ever think, "Oh, I wish I would have more time to read books on the food system?" - well, my cohost Frank Kuehne and I are doing it for you! Stuffed And Starved: Markets, Power And The Hidden Battle For The World Food System The books we will cover The Carbon Footprint of Everything - 2022 New Edition Future Foods: How Modern Science Is Transforming the Way We Eat Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health The World According to Monsanto: Pollution, Corruption, and the Control of the World's Food Supply Seeds of Science: Why We Got It So Wrong On GMOs Meals to Come: A History of the Future of Food Regenesis: Feeding the World Without Devouring the Planet Connect with Marina https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ Connect with Frank https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankkuehne/ Check out the Adalbert Raps Foundation to apply for a grant for your master, Ph.D. thesis, or food science research (for your startup). https://en.raps-stiftung.de/foerderbereiche/lebensmittelforschung | |||
| (Old/R2G) 6.12. Regulatory approval in Europe vs. the US and Singapore with Seth Roberts, The Good Food Institute Europe | 22 Feb 2023 | 00:36:52 | |
- An old episode from the Red to Green Podcast on Food Tech & Bio Tech. Listen if you are interested in the future of food, but this isn’t Scaling Nerds. Red to Green was a podcast that investigated how to transition the food industry from harmful to healthy, from polluting to sustainable, from Red to Green. Each season had a different topic
Why is it so hard to get approved in Europe? What does the actual process look like? What are the steps? What do companies need to do? And what is the difference between the systems in Europe, Singapore, and the U.S.? (All the technologies we covered this season have one thing in common: sooner or later, they need regulatory approval. But what does that mean? We often talk about the U.S. system, the FDA - the food and drug administration and the USDA, the United States Department of Agriculture. These two regulators work together for certain novel products like cultured meat. But you may know that Europe has very high safety and quality standard. As one startup founder told me" "If you can get past Europe, you can get em all" I love this topic, and we dive deep! If cultured meat, precision fermentation or biomass fermentation, or new terms for you, maybe check out the first episodes of this season to get an introduction. LINKS Connect with Marina Schmidt https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ | |||
| (Old/R2G) 6.11. The investor's perspective on biotech 🎢 in food with Foodlabs Principal Christian Guba | 15 Feb 2023 | 00:30:54 | |
- An old episode from the Red to Green Podcast on Food Tech & Bio Tech. Listen if you are interested in the future of food, but this isn’t Scaling Nerds. Red to Green was a podcast that investigated how to transition the food industry from harmful to healthy, from polluting to sustainable, from Red to Green. Each season had a different topic
How venture capital shapes the biotech space, the challenges of biotech patents, the hype and bust of plant-based, and what the hell a venture studio does. I enjoyed this a lot and I hope you do too - let's jump right in! LINKS Check out our supporter of this season ProVeg Incubator and their 12-month incubator program: https://provegincubator.com Connect with Marina Schmidt https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina Check out our supporter of this season, FoodLabs, and their Climate Program: https://www.foodlabs.com | |||
| (Old/R2G) 6.10. Scaling food biotechnology 📈 bioreactors, inputs and brains with GFI Lead Scientist Elliot Swartz | 08 Feb 2023 | 00:35:11 | |
- An old episode from the Red to Green Podcast on Food Tech & Bio Tech. Listen if you are interested in the future of food, but this isn’t Scaling Nerds. Red to Green was a podcast that investigated how to transition the food industry from harmful to healthy, from polluting to sustainable, from Red to Green. Each season had a different topic
We need to scale. But how? The biotech space is will go through some growing pains. Find out about scalability issues like bioreactor capacity, the supply of inputs, and the lack of brains. As well as lessons we can learn from vertical farming companies that are already a step or two further down the line. Join me for a chat with Elliot Schwartz, he is the Lead Scientist for Cultivated Meat at The Good Food. If you are not familiar with precision fermentation check out t episode 1 of this season where we explain a bunch of the terms. LINKS Check out our supporter of this season ProVeg Incubator and their 12-month incubator program: Connect with Marina Schmidt https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ Check out our supporter of this season, FoodLabs, and their Climate Program:
Bioreactor capacity Hashtags for this season Biotechnology in food Editor's note: this episode was lengthened with a ProVeg shout out at minute 8:30 | |||
| (Old/R2G) 6.9. Mimiking Honey and Monoculture Honey Productions 🐝 Melibio CEO Darko Mandich | 01 Feb 2023 | 00:37:27 | |
- An old episode from the Red to Green Podcast on Food Tech & Bio Tech. Listen if you are interested in the future of food, but this isn’t Scaling Nerds. Red to Green was a podcast that investigated how to transition the food industry from harmful to healthy, from polluting to sustainable, from Red to Green. Each season had a different topic
We lack bees, we lack insects and it's a severe issue for biodiversity. Because flowers are dependent on insects and vice versa, right? So if you eat traditional honey, are you promoting bee health? No, large-scale monoculture is an issue in crop agriculture and beekeeping. Hear from Darko Madrich, the co-founder and CEO of Melibio. I got to try their plant-based honey in Switzerland last year. And it tasted so similar I wondered whether they had just poured some natural honey into the bottle. By the way, whenever I meet Darko, I feel his spirit animal would be a giant bumblebee. He has that vibe. Anyway, Instead of using something like rice syrup, Melibio uses the compounds found in honey. Re-building it from the ground up. In the future, they want to use precision fermentation to add a few compounds that are hard to replace. But is that necessary?
Check out our supporter of this season ProVeg Incubator and their 12-month incubator program: Connect with Marina Schmidt https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ Check out our supporter of this season, FoodLabs, and their Climate Program: For sponsorships, collaborations or feedback write Marina at change@redtogreen.solutions
problems with honey honey production honey farming pesticide impact on bees honey alternatives vegan honey animal-free products animal-free honey Hashtags for this season Biotechnology in food What is biotechnology food Food biotechnology examples Food biotechnology startups Biotechnology food companies Biotech food in usa Food biotechnology examples Editor's note: on 17.02. a 1,5-minute partnership message was added at minute 7. | |||
| (Old/R2G) 6.8. Cacao-free chocolate 🍫 and cacao's issues with WNWN Co-Founder Ahrum Pak | 25 Jan 2023 | 00:30:59 | |
- An old episode from the Red to Green Podcast on Food Tech & Bio Tech. Listen if you are interested in the future of food, but this isn’t Scaling Nerds. Red to Green was a podcast that investigated how to transition the food industry from harmful to healthy, from polluting to sustainable, from Red to Green. Each season had a different topic
Why is the cacao trade so broken? Why does chocolate increasingly cause new rainforest areas to be cut down? What if we could make chocolate from other sources? Join us for this episode with WNWN co-founder Ahrum Pak. Check out our supporter of this season ProVeg Incubator and their 12-month incubator program: Check out our supporter of this season, FoodLabs and their Climate Program: https://www.foodlabs.com Connect with Marina Schmidt https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ Hashtags for this episode cacao-free chocolate chocolate farming cacao farming impact of cacao cacao alternatives WNWN company biomass fermentation traditional fermentation cacao fermentation Hashtags for this season Biotechnology in food What is biotechnology food Food biotechnology examples Food biotechnology startups Biotechnology food companies Biotech food in usa Food biotechnology examples | |||
| (Old/R2G) 6.7. A Critical View on Biotech 🔍 Is This Healthy? Is This Safe? 🤔 With Larissa Zimberoff | 18 Jan 2023 | 00:28:51 | |
- An old episode from the Red to Green Podcast on Food Tech & Bio Tech. Listen if you are interested in the future of food, but this isn’t Scaling Nerds. Red to Green was a podcast that investigated how to transition the food industry from harmful to healthy, from polluting to sustainable, from Red to Green. Each season had a different topic
The issue is "ingedientisation" - our foods are increasingly puzzled together from protein isolates, colorants, binders, additives, and more. It's January 2023. I recorded most of these interviews in August last year- we plan far in advance. And in the meantime, instead of becoming more excited about biotech, I have become more critical. And that's not a negative development. And it's not a black-and-white state. Being in the industry is like being in an echo chamber of technocratic hype. It helps to step out once in a while and look at the bubble from the outside. Most of the technologies we have discussed are about ingredients. So what about health? And that's what you will hear from Larissa Zimberoff, a Bay Area writer focused on the interplay between food, technology, and business. Her publications include: The New York Times, Bloomberg, and The Wall Street, and she wrote the book "Technically Food: Inside Silicon Valley's Mission to Change What We Eat" which is available as an Audible, ebook, and print. Check out our supporter of this season, FoodLabs and their Climate Program: Check out our supporter of this season ProVeg Incubator and their 12-month incubator program:
Connect with Marina Schmidt https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ Hashtags for this episode biotech critique biotech in food critique food tech critique food industry globalization food safety issues Hashtags for this season Biotechnology in food What is biotechnology food Food biotechnology examples Food biotechnology startups Biotechnology food companies Biotech food in usa Food biotechnology examples | |||
| (Old/R2G) 6.6. Molecular Farming - Growing Whey 🐮 in Plants 🌱 with Miruku CEO Amos Palfreyman | 11 Jan 2023 | 00:35:30 | |
- An old episode from the Red to Green Podcast on Food Tech & Bio Tech. Listen if you are interested in the future of food, but this isn’t Scaling Nerds. Red to Green was a podcast that investigated how to transition the food industry from harmful to healthy, from polluting to sustainable, from Red to Green. Each season had a different topic
What if you make a plant grow dairy proteins? A theme in this season is using new machines. New production hosts. But they are not made of steel or flesh and are all way smaller. This could be cells or fungi like yeast or bacteria used as machinery. So it becomes possible to produce certain ingredients more efficiently. Another machinery that is pretty well-known to humans is planted. We are used to extracting, for example, pigments, proteins, and oils from them. Plants naturally produce them. But what if plants could produce milk proteins? Or other fats? This is called molecular farming. Most likely, no way of conventional breeding will make a plant produce milk. You need genetic engineering. Genetic engineering means taking DNA from a different organism, in this case, a mammal. And inserting this DNA into a plant. This differs from Gene editing like CRISPR, where you only edit the existing DNA. You will hear from Amos Palfreyman, the co-founder and CEO of Miruku, a New Zealand startup. At first, you will hear how a biotech company realized it's a food company, then we cover the molecular farming technology and process and end with some thoughts on whether GMOs should be labeled. This is our biotech in food season. Let's jump right in. LINKS Check out our supporter of this season FoodLabs and their Climate Program: Check out our supporter of this season ProVeg Incubator and their 12-month incubator program: Please leave a review on iTunes https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/red-to-green-food-sustainability/id1511303510 Connect with Marina Schmidt https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ Hashtags for this season Biotechnology in food What is biotechnology food Food biotechnology examples Food biotechnology startups Biotechnology food companies Biotech food in usa Food biotechnology examples
Molecular Farming Dairy alternatives Dairy replacements non-dairy milk animal-free dairy | |||
| (Old/R2G) 6.5. Bioactive Proteins and Cell-based Milk with TurtleTree CSO Aletta Schnitzler | 21 Dec 2022 | 00:26:51 | |
- An old episode from the Red to Green Podcast on Food Tech & Bio Tech. Listen if you are interested in the future of food, but this isn’t Scaling Nerds. Red to Green was a podcast that investigated how to transition the food industry from harmful to healthy, from polluting to sustainable, from Red to Green. Each season had a different topic
Glands would work like little milk machines. You give them the nutrients and boom you get the milk. Freaky, huh? You will find out why it's hard to re-create conventional dairy milk. And what technology may come after precision fermentation. Something we will call "cells as machinery." or cell-based milk. To look into the future, you will hear from TurtleTree CSO Aletta Schnitzler. Turtletree develops dairy bioactive, so recreating parts of milk that are probiotic or have other health benefits. The bioactive can be added to plant-based products to make them more nutritious. But in parallel, they are also looking at the moonshot solution of using glands to produce milk. So you would grow the glands and give them the necessary nutrients and environment to work as little milk machines. We will clarify this more in a few minutes. Cell-based milk is some of the crazier stuff I have come across in my research on biotech. So I hope you will enjoy this as much as I did. Let's jump right in Check out our supporter of this season FoodLabs and their Climate Program: Check out our supporter of this season ProVeg Incubator and their 12-month incubator program: LINKS Check out our supporter of this season FoodLabs and their Climate Program: Check out our supporter of this season ProVeg Incubator and their 12-month incubator program: Please leave a review on iTunes https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/red-to-green-food-sustainability/id1511303510 Connect with Marina Schmidt https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ Topics and hashtags for this episode Cells as machinery Turtletree company Cell biotechnology Cell-based milk what is cell-based milk Cell-based cheese Cell-based dairy Bioreactor Hashtags for the season Biotechnology in food What is biotechnology food Food biotechnology examples Food biotechnology startups Biotechnology food companies Biotech food in USA Food biotechnology examples Editor's Note: Seles - The episode has been re-edited and content between 15:46- 20:12 has been removed. (Feb 2023) Marina - the episode has been shortened to 25 minutes ( Mar 2023) | |||
| (Old/R2G) 6.4. Traditional Fermentation 🍷 Yogurt, Kimchi and Wine with Empirical Spirits Co-Founder Lars Williams | 14 Dec 2022 | 00:29:52 | |
- An old episode from the Red to Green Podcast on Food Tech & Bio Tech. Listen if you are interested in the future of food, but this isn’t Scaling Nerds. Red to Green was a podcast that investigated how to transition the food industry from harmful to healthy, from polluting to sustainable, from Red to Green. Each season had a different topic
We all have eaten fermented foods. Fermented foods are known to be great for the gut microbiome. But why is that the case? You will find out in this episode. Some of the earliest archaeological evidence of fermentation is 13,000 years old. These residues of beer were found in Haifa, Israel. For the longest time, humanity used fermentation without a clue what it's was all about. You may remember Louis Pasteur from our food history episode on canning. He is known as the father of fermentation, as he uncovered the process in 1857. Pasteur proved that living cells, yeast, were making sugar to alcohol. And that a microscopic plant caused the souring of milk - the lactic acid fermentation. You will hear more about it in a bit. Pasteur figured microorganisms are responsible for good and bad fermentations, which spoil the taste of milk, wine and vinegar. He tested whether heat could sterilize products, and he was right. We now know this process as pasteurization. That led him to suspect that microorganisms may also be causing disease and enabled the development of vaccines. During this season, we covered biomass, precision fermentation and gas fermentation. Before we move on to other topics, we round it up by looking into the past - traditional fermentation, also known as microbial fermentation. You will hear from Lars Williams, co-founder of Empirical Spirits, "The Man Behind The World’s Most Innovative Distillery" according to Forbes. They incorporate fermentation deeply into their process of making novel alcoholic drinks.
Check out our supporter of this season FoodLabs and their Climate Program: Check out our supporter of this season ProVeg Incubator and their 12-month incubator program: Connect with Marina Schmidt https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ Hashtags and topics of the episode Microbial Fermentation microbial fermentation process microorganisms in fermentation sauerkraut history Traditional fermentation Kimchi fermentation Kombucha fermentation Lactic acid fermentation Alcohol fermentation acetic fermentation Topics and hashtags of the season Biotechnology in food What is biotechnology food Food biotechnology examples Food biotechnology startups Biotechnology food companies Biotech food in usa Food biotechnology examples | |||
| (Old/R2G) 6.3. Gas Fermentation 🏭 Proteins From CO2, Hydrogen and Salt - with Arkeon Co-Founder Gregor Tegel | 07 Dec 2022 | 00:39:42 | |
- An old episode from the Red to Green Podcast on Food Tech & Bio Tech. Listen if you are interested in the future of food, but this isn’t Scaling Nerds. Red to Green was a podcast that investigated how to transition the food industry from harmful to healthy, from polluting to sustainable, from Red to Green. Each season had a different topic
What if you could make pure protein by feeding microbes CO2 and hydrogen? This technology is independent of soil and sun and just badass. Sci-Fi is real, I tell you. Sci-Fi is real. In this season we have looked at precision fermentation and biomass fermentation. If that doesn't mean much to you, don't worry. You will still be able to understand this episode. Both of these technologies need some kind of input. For example yeast in precision, fermentation needs sugars and other nutrients mixed into the broth in the bioreactor. And in solid biomass fermentation, you for example would need some kind of grain for the mycelium, the root structure of a mushroom, to grow in. But what if you wouldn't need any agricultural input? What if you could use a microbe that is so badass that it makes proteins from CO2 and hydrogen? Gregor came across gas fermentation on a quest to find the most sustainable food humanity can produce. You will hear from Gregor Tegl, co-Founder and CEO of Arkeon today, a company based in Austria. LINKS Check out our supporter of this season FoodLabs and their Climate Program: Connect with Marina Schmidt https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ Show notes DNA sequence comparisons consistently categorize all living organisms into 3 primary domains:
Bacteria and Archaea are called prokaryotes, which means they are unicellular organisms. And they were likely the first ones on planet earth. Almost all prokaryotes have a cell wall, a protective structure that allows them to survive in extreme conditions. That isn't always the case for the third type.
The bottom line is that different technologies and processes tap into different types of organisms. Most fermented foods, including kimchi and sauerkraut, are made using bacteria. Precision fermentation also uses bacteria, but they are most likely genetically engineered, as well as yeast, which is part of the fungi kingdom. But this second category, the Archaea, survives incredibly extreme environments and deserves special attention. Don't worry if that was too much info all at once. You will find this part in the show notes if you want to read it. Hashtags and topics for the episode gas fermentation arkeon biotechnologies Pressure fermentation importance Why is fermentation important what does fermentation yield Carbon utilization in food Hashtags for the season is biomass fermentation safe what is biomass fermentation what is microbial biomass in fermentation nature's fynd Plant based cheese Plant based cream cheese | |||
| (Old/R2G) 6.2. Three Types of Biomass Fermentation 🍄 with Nature's Fynd CSO Debbie Yaver | 30 Nov 2022 | 00:29:23 | |
- An old episode from the Red to Green Podcast on Food Tech & Bio Tech. Listen if you are interested in the future of food, but this isn’t Scaling Nerds. Red to Green was a podcast that investigated how to transition the food industry from harmful to healthy, from polluting to sustainable, from Red to Green. Each season had a different topic
How biomass fermentation is different from precision fermentation and why fungi are such wonderful solutions for everything from alternative proteins to plastic replacements to biodiesel. Together with Chief Scientific Officer of Nature's Fynd, Debbie Yaver, we get into the weeds. You will also learn about 3 types of biomass fermentation. Nature's Fynd has raised a total of 500 Million US dollars. They are working on two kinds of cream cheeses and two different breakfast patties. How? Using a badass fungus that was discovered in a NASA-funded project, more about that in a few minutes. This is episode two of our reason on biotech in food, for an introduction check out our previous episode. This episode is a bit technical but also packed with lots of valuable information! Let's jump right in Check out our supporter of this season FoodLabs and their Climate Program: Check out our supporter of this season ProVeg Incubator and their 12-month incubator program: Connect with Marina Schmidt https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ Hashtags and topic for the episode is biomass fermentation safe what is biomass fermentation what is microbial biomass in fermentation nature's fynd Plant based cheese Plant based cream cheese Hashtags for this season Biotechnology in food What is biotechnology food Food biotechnology examples Food biotechnology startups Biotechnology food companies Biotech food in usa Food biotechnology examples | |||
| (Old/R2G) 6. SEASON - BIOTECH IN FOOD - An Introduction with Irina Gerry from Change Foods | 23 Nov 2022 | 00:28:33 | |
- An old episode from the Red to Green Podcast on Food Tech & Bio Tech. Listen if you are interested in the future of food, but this isn’t Scaling Nerds. Red to Green was a podcast that investigated how to transition the food industry from harmful to healthy, from polluting to sustainable, from Red to Green. Each season had a different topic
Scientists and founders use cutting-edge technologies to make ingredients with less. Less water. Less land. Less greenhouse gas emissions. But also with more. More climate resilience. More functionality. More nutrients. Here are some technologies you will understand by the end of this season:
Check out our supporter of this season FoodLabs and their Climate Program: Check out our supporter of this season ProVeg Incubator and their 12-month incubator program: Connect with Marina Schmidt https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/
is precision fermentation gmo will biomass be used in the future what is precision fermentation what does fermentation yield precision fermentation process precision fermentation definition precision fermentation definition precision fermentation process is biomass fermentation what is biomass fermentation what is microbial biomass in fermentation are biotech foods safe for humans what is biotechnology in food industry can biotech foods help feed the world what is biotechnology in food industry Why food biotechnology is important How can food biotechnology help food safety How does food biotechnology increase food production | |||
| (Old/R2G) 5. SEASON FINAL FOOD HISTORY ☢️ The Pink Slime Scandal - Ammonia in Ground Beef 🥩 | 07 Sep 2022 | 00:28:52 | |
- An old episode from the Red to Green Podcast on Food Tech & Bio Tech. Listen if you are interested in the future of food, but this isn’t Scaling Nerds. Red to Green was a podcast that investigated how to transition the food industry from harmful to healthy, from polluting to sustainable, from Red to Green. Each season had a different topic
Here's one of the wildest stories of (lacking) food regulation in the US: In 2008 over 70% of all ground beef sold in the US contained "pink slime," - ammonia-treated scraps. These trimmings would usually be processed into pet food and cooking oil due to higher levels of fecal contamination. Well, the company Beef Products Inc found a way to kill the E.Coli and Salmonella bacteria by spraying the scraps with ammonia and increasing the PH to 9.5. After all, the human food market is more profitable than pet food. Grrreat.... But then it all blew up, starting with an investigative news story by the New York Times in 2009 (and winning the author Michael Moss a Pulitzer Prize)... | |||
| (Old/R2G) 5.11. How China Became the 2nd Largest Dairy Nation 🧀 A Lactose Intolerant Society Meets Political Influence | 24 Aug 2022 | 00:14:26 | |
- An old episode from the Red to Green Podcast on Food Tech & Bio Tech. Listen if you are interested in the future of food, but this isn’t Scaling Nerds. Red to Green was a podcast that investigated how to transition the food industry from harmful to healthy, from polluting to sustainable, from Red to Green. Each season had a different topic
Since 2020 China is the second largest dairy market globally and it’s right on track to exceed the US and become Nr 1. How did milk go from the image of being barbarian to being seen as a valuable necessity for strong, healthy babies? How is the communist party of China using milk as a political tool? And insights into how small cultural changes can have massive repercussions if your culture is freaking 1,4 billion people large. Oh man, get ready for this one. Connect with Marina Schmidt https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/
If you go way back in history the root of this development can be found in the optimum wars in the 19th century. I am quoting Jian Yi, from the China Good Food Fund: “You have to understand the psychology here – there is a sense in China that we have been humiliated ever since the opium wars, but that now we are no longer going to be humiliated by foreign powers.” China has had an extensive history of severe famines like The Great Chinese Famine 1959, which was highly influenced by agricultural reforms. Through most of the imperial dynasties until the 20th Century, milk was generally seen as the disgusting food of barbarians. For most of the 20th Century, milk had a relatively low profile in China. China's economy was closed to the global market, and its production was minimal. Throughout the Mao era, milk was in short supply, rationed to those deemed to have a particular need: infants and the elderly, athletes, and political party staff above a particular grade. Therefore, milk was considered a special treat: When Richard Nixon visited China in the early 70s, he was given White Rabbit candy as a gift, a chewy white caramel made of milk solids. As China opened up to the market in the 1980s, after Mao’s death, dried milk powder began appearing in small shops where you could buy it with state-issued coupons. Jian Yi’s parents bought milk powder because they thought it would make him stronger. “It was expensive, I didn’t like it, I was intolerant, but we persuaded ourselves it was the food of the future.” In a little over 30 years, milk has become the symbol of a modern, affluent society and a sign of a country that can feed its people. The average person in China has gone from barely drinking milk to consuming about 30kg of dairy products a year. Though that is still just a bit more than 1/10th of American dairy consumption, it matters if 1,4 billion people do it. The transition has been driven by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), for which milk is not just food but a critical strategic tool. For a country that was not long ago stricken by famine, the ability to afford animal products, particularly milk has been marketed as a visible symbol of the Party's success. Also, during the one-child policy, the CCP made a social pact with the people: while family size might be limited, the state would make sure that each couple's offspring would be as strong as it could make them. Feeding children milk took on great importance in maintaining that image. The CCP created a market for milk where there had been none before and invested heavily in developing a domestic dairy industry. | |||
| (Old/R2G) 5.10. Lessons from the New Coke - How Coca Cola Flopped in a Race to Better Taste | 17 Aug 2022 | 00:10:38 | |
- An old episode from the Red to Green Podcast on Food Tech & Bio Tech. Listen if you are interested in the future of food, but this isn’t Scaling Nerds. Red to Green was a podcast that investigated how to transition the food industry from harmful to healthy, from polluting to sustainable, from Red to Green. Each season had a different topic
In April 1985, the Coca-Cola Company decided to discontinue its most popular soft drink and replace it with a sweeter formula it would market as “New Coke.” As soon as the decision was announced, a large percentage of the US population boycotted the drink and made sales plummet for the company. Outrage over pulling the original coke recipe was high, and after only 79 days of introducing New Coke, the product was pulled from shelves and the original Coke returned. So what went wrong? Connect with Marina Schmidt https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ As the Pepsi Challenge had highlighted millions of times [over], Coke could always be defeated when it came down to taste. So in what must have been seen as a logical step, Coca-Cola developed a new formula and conducted 200,000 taste tests to see how it fared. The results were overwhelming. Not only did it taste better than the original, but people also preferred it to Pepsi-Cola. Coca-Cola decided it was time to make a drastic decision that, to this day, is considered extraordinary in the history of brand marketing. They changed the recipe for the first time in 100 years and created “New Coke,” the sweeter alternative favored in the blind taste tests. They pulled all traditional Coca-Cola from store shelves and replaced them with the new formula, leaving consumers with no option but to drink New Coke instead of the Coke they had known before. The company expected sales to rise, and they initially did. But the outrage and drop in sales that followed were unprecedented and unexpected. | |||
| (Old/R2G) 5.9. Bubble Tea Boom, Bust and Rise - How Faulty Science Destroyed an Industry 💣 | 10 Aug 2022 | 00:09:44 | |
- An old episode from the Red to Green Podcast on Food Tech & Bio Tech. Listen if you are interested in the future of food, but this isn’t Scaling Nerds. Red to Green was a podcast that investigated how to transition the food industry from harmful to healthy, from polluting to sustainable, from Red to Green. Each season had a different topic
Bubble tea used to be a popular drink with shops popping up throughout the beginning of the century. But in 2012 a study sealed the fate of bubble tea in Germany: scientists from RWTH Aachen found the sweet bubbles to contain carcinogenic substances. While the study was retracted, the damage was done, sealing the fate of many immigrant and family-owned businesses. But now bubble tea is coming back, why? And what can we learn from this? Connect with Marina Schmidt https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ | |||
| (Old/R2G) 5.8. How microwaves and freezers changed food culture forever 🥡 Food history for the future of food. | 03 Aug 2022 | 00:15:46 | |
- An old episode from the Red to Green Podcast on Food Tech & Bio Tech. Listen if you are interested in the future of food, but this isn’t Scaling Nerds. Red to Green was a podcast that investigated how to transition the food industry from harmful to healthy, from polluting to sustainable, from Red to Green. Each season had a different topic
Microwave is hard to beat for sheer convenience. But the most significant food tech innovation of the 1940s wasn't welcomed with open arms. It took decades of struggles before it rocketed to success in the 1980s. Red to Green is a food tech podcast focused on the future of food and food sustainability. We cover topics like cellular agriculture, cultured meat, food waste, food packaging, and more.
Connect with Marina Schmidt https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ The first microwave 'electric range' for the home kitchen was launched in 1955, retailing at $1295. It took more than a decade for a more affordable model to arrive, still costing nearly 500 bucks. 30 years after the first commercial model, microwave ovens had made it into less than 10% of American kitchens. Ad campaigns selling "the greatest cooking discovery since fire" with futuristic and science language may have backfired. As the cold war heated up, fears around any radiation grew. Positioning microwaves as something novel, cutting-edge and techy possibly didn't appeal to the actual users at that time - homemakers. Despite the introduction of safety standards in the 70s and multiple studies showing microwaves don't mess with the nutritional qualities of food, conspiracy theories about them continue to pop up today. Early ads for microwaves also promoted how homemakers could cook what they already made, but faster – a roast chicken, done in 30 minutes! However, despite claims of speed and convenience, it could take a home cook hard work to get good results. Microwaves can only penetrate about 2.5 cm into foods, so they tend to cook food unevenly unless they are cut small enough. They also typically don't produce the caramelization and Maillard reactions, which are delicious browning of foods that make baking cookies and roasting meats smell mouth-watering. If you try onions in a pan with oil, they become nicely brown. If you put them in the microwaves, they will soften up in a puddle of fat. Also, they tend to dry food out, making a chicken chewy - in the wrong way. As a result, speedy, homemade microwave meals could be inconsistent and uninspiring compared to their oven-baked or stovetop cousins. However, a revolution in convenience and consistency was already underway in another part of the kitchen – the freezer. Frozen ready meals had been around for a while - Swanson's famous TV Dinners were introduced in 1953 and frozen on the tray used for cooking and serving. Meals like this saved time on planning, shopping, and washing up – They were hugely popular by the 1970s, and late in the decade, food companies and microwave oven manufacturers spotted a chance to team up. Frozen meals could be incredibly uniform. You might not beat a home cook in quality by formulating recipes and designing packaging specifically for microwave cooking, but you could get a consistently alright meal fast. | |||
| (Old/R2G) 5.7. The Global Supply of Bananas 🍌 is Threatened - Again. Monocultures and Pesticide Resistance | 27 Jul 2022 | 00:12:38 | |
- An old episode from the Red to Green Podcast on Food Tech & Bio Tech. Listen if you are interested in the future of food, but this isn’t Scaling Nerds. Red to Green was a podcast that investigated how to transition the food industry from harmful to healthy, from polluting to sustainable, from Red to Green. Each season had a different topic
Before 1960, the main export banana was called the Gros Michel. Why can’t we eat the Gros Michel anymore today? Because it has become virtually extinct due to Panama disease affecting it over many decades, driving it to its eventual near-extinction. The fungi infection ravaged banana plants across the globe, from Asia to Africa, exterminating plant after plant. The fact that the fungi spread worldwide at a relatively rapid pace highlights a severe problem with our current agricultural practices. If a pest or disease figures out how to infect one of the banana plants, it has all the information it needs to infest all of them, as the same genetic material means the other plants have no defense left to fight against the disease. A solution needed to be found, and it presented itself in The Cavendish, a variety that was discovered to be almost entirely resistant to Panama disease. It quickly replaced the Gros Michel on plantations as the export banana and has become the banana we know and eat regularly today. Today, 99% of exported bananas and 47% of global banana production is the Cavendish variety. But now, our current flaky banana is threatened - as history repeats itself. The Panama disease is back, and it's upgraded. The new strain is called Tropical Race 4 and is found on Cavendish plantations across Asia, Australia, the Middle East, and Africa. Daniel Bebber, leading researcher of the BananEx research group at the University of Exeter, researches solutions for the spread of the Panama disease and puts it like this: "The story of the banana is really the story of modern agriculture exemplified in a single fruit. It has all the ingredients of equitability and sustainability issues, disease pressure, and climate change impact all in one. It's a very good lesson for us." These are great examples of the importance of understanding coupled human-environment systems. That's an environmental science concept that, in essence, says that humans impact the environment, and the climate impacts humans. It's essential to understand them both as systems, including many complex, interacting parts that form a whole working system. Red to Green is a podcast focused on the future of food and food sustainability. We cover topics like cellular agriculture, cultured meat, food waste, food packaging, and more. Connect with Marina Schmidt https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ | |||
| (Old/R2G) 3.12. Season 3 final: Toxic Positivity ☣️ why benefits are not enough - lessons from the fossil fuel industry 🛢️ on personal climate action with Prof. Kimberly Nicholas, Dr Gulbanu Kaptan | 22 Jul 2022 | 00:29:52 | |
- An old episode from the Red to Green Podcast on Food Tech & Bio Tech. Listen if you are interested in the future of food, but this isn’t Scaling Nerds. Red to Green was a podcast that investigated how to transition the food industry from harmful to healthy, from polluting to sustainable, from Red to Green. Each season had a different topic
we are approaching the end of this season on promoting alt proteins. Today you will hear from two speakers, our first is - Kimberly Nicholas, a Senior Lecturer in Sustainability Science at Lund University in Sweden. Kimberly holds a Ph.D. in Environment and Resources from Stanford University. She has published over 50 articles on climate and sustainability in leading peer-reviewed journals and is the author of the book “Under the Sky we Make - how to be human in a warming world.” I love her take on toxic positivity and how pointing out the issues of the existing system, e.g. animal agriculture, is important to drive change. Our second guest is Dr Gulbanu Kaptan, Associate Professor in Behavioural Decision Making at the University of Leeds. Her research focuses on judgement and decision making with a special interest in food-related decision making and risk (benefit) communications. Connect with Marina on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ | |||
| (Old/R2G) 5.6. Food forever - how tin cans revolutionised the food industry 🥫 - food history for the future of food | 20 Jul 2022 | 00:14:11 | |
- An old episode from the Red to Green Podcast on Food Tech & Bio Tech. Listen if you are interested in the future of food, but this isn’t Scaling Nerds. Red to Green was a podcast that investigated how to transition the food industry from harmful to healthy, from polluting to sustainable, from Red to Green. Each season had a different topic
Even something as useful as a tin can - a revolution in food preservation - was not safe from the repercussions of safety scandals. The problem of food preservation is at least as old as agriculture. Humans have been very creative at finding ways to salt, dry, smoke, pickle, freeze, and ferment foods to keep them edible after the harvest ends – many of these traditions date back millennia and remain alive today. come in pretty handy, even if they aren't particularly exciting. I know I have plenty gathering dust in the back of a cupboard [myself]. But if you stop to think about it, the humble tin can is [actually] a bit of a modern miracle. On the other hand, canning is remarkably new in comparison – its 200th birthday was only in 2010. But it works almost unbelievably well. In 1974 some canned goods were retrieved from the wreck of a steamboat that sank in the Missouri River. When they were opened, the oysters, peaches, and tomatoes were analyzed and found to be safe to eat, even after 100 years underwater in tin cans. (Though none of the scientists seems to have been brave enough or hungry enough [actually] to try any.) Red to Green is a podcast focused on the future of food and food sustainability. We cover topics like cellular agriculture, cultured meat, food waste, food packaging, and more.
Connect with Marina Schmidt https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/ | |||
| (Old/R2G) 5.5. Why Italians feared 🍅 tomatoes and how Heinz and 🍕 Margherita changed that - history for the future of food | 13 Jul 2022 | 00:14:17 | |
- An old episode from the Red to Green Podcast on Food Tech & Bio Tech. Listen if you are interested in the future of food, but this isn’t Scaling Nerds. Red to Green was a podcast that investigated how to transition the food industry from harmful to healthy, from polluting to sustainable, from Red to Green. Each season had a different topic
Tomatoes used to be something scary; many Italians feared tomatoes believing they were poisonous. People were killed because they ate tomatoes, especially women. Yes. It sounds absurd nowadays. But the success of the tomato was a turbulent journey that took over 300 years. Red to Green is a podcast focused on the future of food and food sustainability. We cover topics like cellular agriculture, cultured meat, food waste, food packaging, and more. In Germany, there is the saying, "What the farmer doesn't know, he won't eat." During the 15th century, many foods came to Europe as immigrants. Christopher Columbus and his crew set sail west in August 1492. He hoped to get his hands on gold and spices in America. When he returned to Europe, his clients, the Spanish kings, were disappointed. Instead of gold and spices, Columbus returned with seeds, grains, tubers, and dried leaves from these four journeys. His crew ate cooked potatoes on the way back to Europe, which saved them from scurvy. What looked so unimpressive would turn out to be crucial. These ingredients would shape Europe's eating habits for decades to come. This is what historians call the Great Columbian Exchange. For the first time in history, potato and tomato plants ventured beyond the Americas. While both of these vegetables are now a basic ingredient of our diets, they didn't have such a warm welcome in Europe. People were (and still are) easily suspicious of unknown foods. The reasoning is just different. Back in the day novel foods were often associated with witchcraft and poison. But fortunately, not everything was lost. Eventually, people came around, so let's find out why. | |||
| (Old/R2G) 5.4. Pink Margarine and the Butter Lobby 🧈 | 06 Jul 2022 | 00:14:37 | |
- An old episode from the Red to Green Podcast on Food Tech & Bio Tech. Listen if you are interested in the future of food, but this isn’t Scaling Nerds. Red to Green was a podcast that investigated how to transition the food industry from harmful to healthy, from polluting to sustainable, from Red to Green. Each season had a different topic
How politicians were buttered up to make margarine selling illegal, how the spread ended up in some dirty smear campaigns and how Margarine changed colors from white to bright pink to our known buttery yellow. Red to Green is a podcast focused on the future of food and food sustainability. We cover topics like cellular agriculture, cultured meat, food waste, food packaging, and more. Please leave a review on iTunes https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/red-to-green-food-sustainability/id1511303510 Thanks to our partners of this season In 1866, French emperor Napoleon III. was considering the fact that no war can be won without strong and healthy soldiers. As an energy source, the French army was relying on nutritious butter, among other things. But butter had the disadvantage of being expensive and turning rancid quite quickly in a time without cooling facilities. So that year, the Emperor offered a reward of 100.000 Goldfranc to anyone who could come up with a suitable, cheap replacement. Three years later, a chemist Mège-Mouriès presented the solution: A mixture of beef fat, salt, sulfate of soda, gastric juices of a pig, and a little cream, all heated and mixed into a butter-like substance. At first, he dubbed his invention “beurre économique”, the cheap butter, but changed his mind. He renamed the mixture “oleomargarine”, from the Latin “oleum”, meaning beef fat, and the Greek “margaron”, meaning pearl, because of its pearly shine. That name was later shortened to “margarine”. Mège-Mouriès invention had the texture of a jelly, but at least it tasted like butter and won him Napoleon´s prize. The product didn´t really take off, though. In 1871, Mège-Mouriès sold the patent to a Dutch company called Jurgens which eventually became part of Unilever, still one of the leading manufacturers of margarine to this day. | |||
| (Old/R2G) 5.3. A poor man's meal: 🦞 lobster. How a sea insect made it from cat food to president's dinner plate. Food history for the future of food. | 29 Jun 2022 | 00:12:57 | |
- An old episode from the Red to Green Podcast on Food Tech & Bio Tech. Listen if you are interested in the future of food, but this isn’t Scaling Nerds. Red to Green was a podcast that investigated how to transition the food industry from harmful to healthy, from polluting to sustainable, from Red to Green. Each season had a different topic
Up into the 1800s, lobster was considered trash food in the U.S., fit only to feed prisoners, the poor, and cats. Surprising, huh? How did lobster rise from the dirty bottom of the food preference list to float at the very top amongst the high society? Find out how lobsters were entangled in protests and revolts of servants, snuck into passengers' foods on train rides, and were even caught up in World War II. Red to Green is a podcast focused on the future of food and food sustainability. We cover topics like cellular agriculture, cultured meat, food waste, food packaging, and more. Please leave a review on iTunes https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/red-to-green-food-sustainability/id1511303510 Thanks to our partners of this season The American lobster is native to the Atlantic coast of North America, mainly from Labrador to New Jersey. In the early days of the first settlers and way up into the middle of the 19th century, lobsters were so plentiful in this area that people could wade into the water and catch what they needed for dinner with their hands. While early colonists depended on the crustaceans for much of their food, the sheer abundance of the animal didn't help its popularity. When lobsters washed up on the shore after storms, they were considered smelly trash and used for fertilizer in the fields. They were the cheapest source of protein available in the area and therefore regarded as undesirable peasant food, too bland to be edible for discerning tastes. As 19th-century American navy captain and politician John J. Rowan stated: "Lobster shells about a house are looked upon as signs of poverty and degradation." Lobsters were also a common food in prisons, much to the displeasure of inmates, and were the food of servants. | |||
| (Old/R2G) 5.2. From hands to forks🍴 how we changed our eating habits forever - food history for the future of food | 22 Jun 2022 | 00:15:10 | |
- An old episode from the Red to Green Podcast on Food Tech & Bio Tech. Listen if you are interested in the future of food, but this isn’t Scaling Nerds. Red to Green was a podcast that investigated how to transition the food industry from harmful to healthy, from polluting to sustainable, from Red to Green. Each season had a different topic
While the knife and the spoon have been around for a bit longer, the fork had a tough journey. Being accused of the death of a queen, associated with prostitution, and being the star of a 1-year celebrity tour in France. Red to Green is a podcast focused on the future of food and food sustainability. We cover topics like cellular agriculture, cultured meat, food waste, food packaging, and more. Please leave a review on iTunes https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/red-to-green-food-sustainability/id1511303510 Thanks to our partners of this season | |||