Welcome to this discussion on whether #alternative meats can bring more to the heartland than just burgers. Moderated by @LATimes’s @aminawrite, and featuring...

featuring: @TheBTI's @alexjmssmith,
@ASU_SFIS's Christy Spackman,
@StrayDogCapital's Johnny Ream.

(Produced by @CSPO_ASU and @IssuesinST)(2/?)

How did you get interested in alternative meats, asked @aminawrite. @StrayDogCapital's Johnny Ream says it started with a family health issue that influenced his choice to start investing in foods that were better for the planet.

@christyspackman was interested in the challenge of the human and technological interface. And @alexjmssmith was introduced through his work on environmental issues. Lots of ways to come to alternative meats.

Plant based meats are now sold in CVS and other places across the US, but the cell cultured meats are quite rare—available maybe at one restaurant in Singapore, and very expensive.

How do we create alternatives to meat that are cheap enough for everyone? Johnny Ream says a lot of R&D is needed on the front end to have better ingredients for plant based meats. With cell-cultured meats, we need growth media and bioreactors.

We need funding for basic research, college education in this area, and sort of incubators for manufacturers. Government funding could help a lot.

@christyspackman says the techno utopian vision that we can reinvent meats, but do we understand enough about culture and nutrition. How do we deal with the tension between these things?

Johnny Ream replies: We look for companies that are using a few recognizable ingredients. We think that's what consumers want... But we have to be careful, and this is where govt research could help in the early stage understanding. ..