The Food Fight: Recent Episodes
EIT Food
Matt Eastland and Lukxmi Balathasan present the Food Fight, a new series from EIT Food examining the biggest challenges facing the food system, and the innovations and entrepreneurs looking to solve them.
It’s that time again! Matt is back with another Big Takeaway Episode, picking out some of the standout moments in Series 3 from food loss and regenerative agriculture, to protein diversification and tackling inequality in the food system.
Richard Bennett, Activity Leader for the EIT Food Consumer Trust Grand Challenge, highlights how they are developing new initiates to increase consumer trust throughout the food system.
Dov Dori, Co-ordinator of the TRACOD Project, highlights how they are improving trust and transparency in the food system with their technology that identifies species of fish.
Monika Tomecka, Founder and Director of uFraction8, highlights how they are optimising biotech processes with their scalable and high yield filtration systems for bio manufactures.
Curious about cultured meat? In this episode, Matt is joined by Didier Toubia, Co-Founder and CEO of Aleph Farms, and Seren Kell, Science and Technology Manager at the Good Food Institute, to discuss farming cells rather than animals, and the important role of cultured meat as a climate solution.
Ana Rascón, CEO at Glucanova, highlights how their technology is creating liquid oat products which are high in fibre, sustainable and nutritious.
In this special episode, Matt is joined by Ed Bergen, a Senior Analyst at FutureBridge, to discuss predictions for the food system in 2022 and the emerging trends which we can expect to see in the sector.
Tal Zeltzer, Co-founder and CTO of Phytolon, describes their technology which is producing sustainable, high-quality natural food colours
The modern western diet is making us and our planet sick. Matt and Lukxmi are joined by Dr. Gunhild Stordalen, founder and executive chair of the EAT Forum, and Anjli Vyas, food and impact lead at Planet Nourish, to discuss where it all went wrong and what an ideal diet looks like for all of us.
Join Matt backstage at the Future of Food conference where he gets the lowdown from EIT Food FutureFoodMakers Sasha Cohen Ioannides, Chloé Dorin and Emilija Oreščanin. Find out their thoughts on future-proofing the food system and how they developed the highly anticipated Menu for Change.
How do we convince people to switch from steak to healthier, more sustainable meat alternatives? Could the answer be a meatier taste and texture? Matt Eastland is joined by author and podcaster Paul Shapiro (CEO of The Better Meat Co.) and biologist and food entrepreneur Alison Stille (Co-founder and CEO of Walding Foods) to get their thoughts on the alternative meat market and how the industry can influence further change.
Marco Snikkers, CEO and Founder of OneThird, describes how they are preventing food waste with their AI scanner which can determine the true shelf life of fresh produce.
Matt is joined by EIT Food’s Strategic Relationship Manager, Barbaros Corekoglu, to celebrate the small business entrepreneurs who are transforming their food systems for a better tomorrow. These innovators are all winners of the recent UN Food Systems Summit ‘Good Food For All’ competition. In part 2, you will hear about farming and agricultural innovations including solar powered cold rooms, pay as you use solar energy for farmers, saltwater-based agriculture and super chickpeas.
Esben Christiansen, CEO and Founder of Pure Algae, highlights how they using their technology to add value to land-based aquaculture systems
What do we need to do to stop food inequality, and ensure everyone everywhere has access to nutritious food? Matt is joined by Co-ordinator of the Scaling up Nutrition Movement (SUN Movement), Gerda Verburg and Senior Regional Project Manager from Feedback Global, Lucy Antal. They discuss food poverty, how it is interconnected with sustainable development, and how we all have a role to play in preventing people from going to bed hungry.
Mark Chryssolouris, CEO at SuSea, highlights their technology to reduce food waste which is increasing the shelf life of seafood
Around 40% of the food we grow goes uneaten. This is one of the findings from the “Driven to Waste” report published by the World Wildlife Fund and Tesco. So what can we do to reduce the huge amounts of food loss occurring before it reaches our supermarket shelves, and limit the environmental impact of agriculture? Pete Pearson, a senior Food Waste director at WWF joins Matt to discuss the findings of the new report, that uses data to quantify and highlight loss occurring in the supply chain. He is also joined by Emilie Vanpoperinghe, the Co-Founder of Oddbox a food waste startup delivering wonky fruit and vegetables from farmers to consumers across the UK.
Soil Capital’s Andrew Voysey describes Europe’s first certified carbon payment programme for farmers, which places value on the way food is produced by rewarding regenerative practices.
Do farmers have a taste for tech? In this episode, Matt is joined by Will Wells (Founder of Hummingbird Technologies) and Marina Martin Curran (Sustainability Manager at Vivent) to discuss the role of new technologies in agriculture, and how these innovations are being adopted by farmers.
Anne Jorun Aas, CEO of Farmforce, describes how they are turning data into tools for the agriculture value chain - securing sustainable sourcing, protecting the environment and improving farmer quality of life.
What are the steps for creating a regenerative farm? Matt is joined by Farmer and Founding Director of the Sustainable Food Trust, Patrick Holden, and Agriculture Project Manager at EIT Food, Philip Fernández, to discuss regenerative agriculture. If you are interested in improving soil health and increasing biodiversity through sustainable food production, then this podcast is for you.
Marine Biologist and founder of Marine Feed, Fredrik Norén, highlights how they are developing sustainable products from the sea squirt using a low-carbon, zero waste production system.
Matt is joined by EIT Food’s Strategic Relationship Manager, Barbaros Corekoglu, to celebrate the small business entrepreneurs who are transforming their food systems for a better tomorrow. These innovators are all winners of the recent UN Food Systems Summit ‘Good Food For All’ competition. In part 1, you will hear about farming and agricultural innovations including weed killing toothpicks, aerial precision-spraying drones and agricultural technologies which connect smallholder communities with consumers.
Sean Peters introduces DryGro – a company innovating in the alternative protein space, using water lentils to develop a food innovation solution for animal and human consumption. He describes how water lentils can be grown in enclosed manufacturing environments which require less water compared to traditional crops, offering a sustainable future farming technology.
Lisa Larkin, CEO and Founder of Durrow Mills, explains how they are fighting back against processed bread with their nutrient dense, gut-friendly sprouted flour.
Stefan Jozefowicz, Project lead at SatAgro, highlights how they are using satellite data to improve processes across agriculture.
Ari Melamud CEO of RisingFoodStar DouxMatok, explains how their unique technology uses sugar to reduce sugar
RootWave CEO, Andy Diprose, highlights new technology which uses electricity instead of chemical herbicides to kill weeds in a sustainable way.
Gender equity is better for business - so why do gender barriers still exist? How do we ensure we are designing a fair and equitable future for us all? To better understand the challenges and experiences of women in the agrifood industry, EIT Food commissioned a report on the state of gender bias. In this episode, Matt and Lukxmi are joined by entrepreneur Karen Karp (President of KK&P) and investor George Coelho (Co-Founder and Partner of Astanor) to break down the research and kickstart discussions around how we can make positive changes.
CEO of Faromatics, Heiner Lehr, highlights how they are using their ‘ChickenBoy’ robot to help livestock farmers increase both animal welfare and farm productivity.
CEO of Thor Ice, Thorsteinn Víglundsson, highlights how they are increasing food safety by reducing bacteria growth with their advanced fresh food chilling systems.
Co-founder and CEO of Menutech, Laure Joumier, highlights how they are using technology to simplify allergy-friendly menu preparation for the hospitality sector
Erik Dam, CEO at NutriLeads, highlights how they are developing crop-derived food ingredients with clinically proven health benefits
Founder and CEO of Essento, Christian Bärtsch, highlights how they are developing tasty and sustainable food products made from farmed insects.
Registered nutritionist Hannah Baugh and Doctor Margherita Ronco join Matt and Lukxmi to discuss whether GP’s are getting enough training and education on nutrition and whether there is more that can be done. This episode is brought to you in partnership with the new EIT Food online course on Nutrition for Health and Sustainability, which aims to bridge this skills gap for medical students.
Christopher Kong, Co-Founder and Head of Business Development at Better Nature, highlights how they are leveraging an ancient fermentation process to create a minimally processed, protein and fibre rich meat-free alternative, without compromising the taste.
As more people look beyond meat and dairy, we have seen a boom in the alternative protein market - but what are the new options available to us and are they actually healthy? Dr. Simone Frey (Founder and Managing Director of NUTRITION HUB) and Josephine Quist (Founder and CEO of Nutrilution) join Matt and Lukxmi to talk about alternative proteins, plant-based foods and what these new opportunities mean for our health.
Founder and CEO of Probitat, Carme Plumed-Ferrer, highlights how they are developing gut friendly fermented plant-based products to help people live a healthier life.
The microbiome - a word growing in popularity - but how does it affect our gut health and what is its impact on our overall wellbeing? To discuss the topic, Matt and Lukxmi are joined by ‘The Gut Stuff’ founder Lisa Macfarlane, one of the two Mac Twin DJ’s, who traded in her decks to build the UK’s first e-commerce online shop for gut health; and Anthony Finbow, CEO of Eagle Genomics, a startup that develops enterprise platform solutions addressing complex microbiome and genomics data for clients in healthcare, personal care and agritech sectors.
Co-founder and CEO of Vegshelf, Baiba Soika, highlights how they helping plant-based CPG’s get in front of food retailers with their online B2B platform.
Next big thing in health? Matt and Lukxmi are joined by Emma Ek (Product Manager at the startup BeYou) and Thomas Hayes (Research Analyst at Lux Research) to talk about the future of personalised nutrition and whether technology is simplifying – or overcomplicating - the proven methods of staying healthy.
Lukxmi sits down with Stella Spanou, who is in charge of fundraising at The University of Aarhus, to discuss the relationship between EIT Food and Aarhus and the benefits of the EIT Food community for agrifood startups and scaleups.
Matt and Lukxmi are back with another big takeaway episode, where they reflect on some of the stand out moments from series 2. From extreme places to grow food, to what makes an entrepreneur, they look back on the unusual year and celebrate the purpose-driven agrifood heroes they met.
Isaac Berzin, CTO of Vaxa, highlights how they are converting clean energy to sustainable food by farming omega-3 rich microalgae.
Ricardo Garcia, Head of Partnerships and Blockchain Advisory at ScanTrust, highlights how they are helping brands regain trust with consumers through QR code technology.
Maxine Roper, Co-Founder of Connecting Food, highlights why transparency in our food chain is so important for both consumers and brands.
This week Matt and Lukxmi peer into their crystal ball to predict the big trends and innovations to hit the agrifood sector in the upcoming year. They’re joined by Edward Bergen from Mintel – an expert Food and Drink Analyst – who presents findings from Mintel’s latest research, alongside Annick Verween who lifts the lid on some exciting projects and trends that are emerging from within EIT Food’s RisingFoodStars community of startups and scale-ups.
Kristof Mertens, Managing Director and Co-founder of Porphyrio, highlights how they are improving poultry farming with their cloud-based data management system.
Matt and Lukxmi are joined by consumer scientist Klaus Grunert from Aarhus University, who shares results from a recent study looking at the intriguing ways the pandemic has changed our eating habits. And Brij Sahi from SwissDeCode explains how his startup has pivoted in response to the pandemic to produce rapid DNA testing solutions to detect Covid-19 in food manufacturing units.
Abir Mehawej, Director and Co-Founder of BeYou, highlights how they are shaping the future of digital health with their personalised wellness platform.
Are we doing enough to attract new talent and skills into the agrifood industry? Matt and Lukxmi are joined by Carl Edwards, Director Education & Public Engagement at LEAF (Linking Environment & Farming), serial entrepreneur Ykä Marjanen (Grainsense/Manna Insect), and EIT Food’s Professional Development Lead Barbara Mason, to discuss strategies for attracting more people into the exciting world of food and technology. Recorded as part of New Scientist Live’s Future of Food and Agriculture day.
Graham Bonwick, Director of AgriFoodX, highlights how they are protecting the environment with their sustainable and biodegradable plastic alternatives made from agrifood by-products.
Dr Natalie Masento from University of Reading and Sarah Hickey from Guy's and St Thomas’ Charity join Matt and Lukxmi to discuss the current state of childhood nutrition in the UK and globally. They explore the impact of “food environments” and how physical and emotional surroundings can play a role in building positive habits. Natalie introduces 'See and Eat!’, a series of eBooks developed to get children interested in vegetables – and Sarah also shares how Guy's and St Thomas’ Charity is working with partners to reduce childhood obesity in London.
Anthony Finbow, Chief Executive at Eagle Genomics, highlights how they are using data, technology and science to further understand the health and environmental impact of microbiomes.
Yuval Gilad, Co-founder and CEO of Freeze-em, highlights the benefits of the black soldier fly and how their freezing technology is helping to grow the industry of insect protein production.
Matt and Lukxmi meet three entrepreneurs from different EIT Food Business Creation programmes. Ying Shao, shares the story of Plantik Biosciences – a startup looking into new advancements into plant breeding. Lorenzo Conti introduces his company Crover, who have developed a robotic grain monitoring system. And Solveiga Pakštaitė talks about her journey as inventor of “Mimica Touch”, a product revolutionising smart food packaging.
Head of Product at Trellis, Uri Rosenzweig, highlights how their AI technology makes data more transparent and accessible for the entire food supply chain.
This week bugs are on the table, as Matt and Lukxmi meet two entrepreneurs serving up insects in the hunt for alternative protein sources. Philipp Egli introduces Crick – a Swiss company producing crackers made from crickets – and Miha Pipan explains how his company, Better Origin, are using Black Soldier Fly larvae to convert agricultural waste into animal feed.
Taly Nechushtan, CEO at Innovopro, is committed to bringing their chickpea-based protein ingredients to the global food market in order to create sustainable and tasty food solutions
Ana Digón from Agricultura Regenerativa, and lay Englard, the co-founder of Trellis, join Matt and Lukxmi to discuss the sustainability issues of modern industrial farming. Ana, who represents a group of progressive farmers in Spain, shares the benefits of 'Regenerative Agriculture' a system promoting crop diversity and soil rehabilitation through natural methods. Ilay also shares his hopes for Trellis – a tech driven platform built to help farmers use data and AI – improving sustainability and profits along the way.
Director of Accounts and Sales at Tastewise, Laura Hoffman, describes how they are helping companies understand the latest culinary trends with their AI-powered insights and real-time data
This week Matt is joined by EIT Food CEO Andy Zynga to meet two recipients of the new Covid-19 Bridge Fund, a €5.4m investment fund helping startups through the crisis. Fanny Rolet introduces Antofenol – a biotechnology company developing vine-wood extracts that can be used in place of chemical preservatives for food – and Françoise de Valera shares the story of Food Sourcing Specialists, a company tackling sustainability in the sports nutrition market.
Orbisk CEO, Olaf van der Veen, explains how their smart camera and AI technology can reduce food waste in the hospitality sector by providing detailed insights into the quantity and type of food being thrown away.
Archana Jagannathan (Senior Director Sustainable Packaging at Pepsico) and Daphna Nissenbaum (Co-Founder of compostable packaging company TIPA) join Matt and Lukxmi to talk about the latest innovations in food packaging – and why now is the time to fight the plastic packaging crisis.
CEO of Prolupin, Malte Stampe, highlights the versatility of lupin and how the plant can be made into a healthy and sustainable alternative protein.
Food historian Dr Annie Gray and sustainable restauranteur Alice Gilsenan (of Nature London) join Matt and Lukxmi to talk about ways to avoid food waste. They explore whether tips and tricks from the past can help us solve food waste issues today – featuring kimchi, pigswill, and meal planners.
Founder of Urban Crop Solutions, Maarten Vandecruys, highlights how they are pioneering technologies for state of the art indoor farming systems.
Have you ever thought about growing food in the subzero temperatures of the arctic tundra, or even in space, on a space station or on a far away planet? This week Matt and Lukxmi meet Benjamin Vidmar (founder of Polar Permaculture Solutions) and Angelo Vermeulen (co-founder of SEADS [Space Ecologies Art and Design] and researcher at TU Delft) to talk about farming in "the extreme” and why it’s such an important area of study.
Matt and Lukxmi look back at some of the most poignant moments from series 1 of the Food Fight podcast. From improving diets to reducing food waste – they discuss the encouraging progress that’s being made to fix some of the food system’s biggest problems... and where work still desperately needs to be done.
Federica Bordoni, Business Developer at Agricolus, explains how they are pushing the boundaries of smart agriculture by creating a cloud platform to support and optimise the work of farmers across the globe.
Matt and Lukxmi are joined by Professor Chris Elliott OBE from Queens University Belfast (Founder of the Institute for Global Food Security), alongside Food Unfolded journalist Silvia Lazzaris. They discuss the current fragility of the global food system, how businesses are evolving through Covid-19, and the technology providing the solutions.
David Kat, the Vice President of Business Development at Wasteless, discusses how they are helping food retailers and suppliers reduce food loss through their AI-powered dynamic pricing.
Matt Eastland is joined by Mark Cuddigan, the CEO of organic baby food brand Ella’s Kitchen, alongside Solveiga Pakštaitė, the founder of Mimica – a startup fighting food waste with temperature reactive labels. They explain why they put values before profit, and why every food business should be driven by the desire to do good in the world.
(This episode was recorded prior to the Covid-19 outbreak)
Inna Zhuravlova introduces Banabooms, a start-up created out of EIT’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Project, who are giving new life to surplus bananas by turning them into a sustainable breakfast cereal for all to enjoy.
From allergens to food fraud, knowing what's in our food and understanding the ingredients is more important than ever. In this episode Matt and Lukxmi are joined by Brij Sahi, who introduces SwissDeCode, a company pioneering the use of portable DNA testing. Jaed Khan also shares the story of FoodMaestro – a company helping to answer the question “can I eat this” by building apps and retail solutions that help to navigate dietary needs. (This episode was recorded prior to the Covid-19 outbreak.)
Aleph Farms CEO and Co-Founder, Didier Toubia, discusses how they are shaping the future by taking cells from a real cow and replicating them outside of the animal to grow slaughter-free meat
This week Matt is joined by Annick Verween to host a panel discussing what the food sector is doing to reduce sugar consumption, in response to growing health concerns. Recorded live at EIT Food’s Venture Summit in Lisbon, guests include Tom Simmons (Founder of Stem) and Ilan Samish (Founder of Amai Proteins) who have pioneered novel ingredients that can replace sugar, both its sweetness and structure. Karine Delafaye also explains how the world-renowned food company Danone are also championing the movement, with their own Sugar & Sweetness acceleration project.
Alba Martin introduces Natural Machines - a company that has created a 3D food printing appliance called Foodini, which enables consumers to eat healthier, lower their food waste and personalise the food they print.
This week we’ve got trust issues. Matt & Lukxmi are joined by Anthony Warner (The Angry Chef) and Liesbet Vranken (from the KU Leuven University in Belgium) to discuss who we can trust in the food system to give us reputable information about the food we're eating. From farmers to food packaging, social media influencers to health food shops – they shed some light on who to trust, and who to take with a pinch of salt.
Edvard Krogius introduces GrainSense – a company that has developed a handheld tool to help farmers analyse the quality of grains in the field. He explains how the production of higher quality grain proteins, could play a key role in creating a more profitable and sustainable food supply.
Matt and Lukxmi are joined by Thor Sigfusson (Founder of the Iceland Ocean Cluster), Hordur Kristinsson (Chief Science & Innovation Officer at Matis) and Isabel Hoffmann (CEO & Founder of startup Tellspec) – to discuss whether technology is protecting, or indeed exploiting our seas and fish stocks? This episode was recorded live at the YFood London Food Tech Week in May 2019.
NapiFeryn’s CEO, Magdalena Kozłowska, highlights the pressing need to feed an increasing world population and how her startup is delivering a sustainable solution in the form of protein from rapeseed.
Whether you’re a meat eater, vegan, or vegetarian, the role of protein in our diet is something we all need to think about. In the food industry it’s widely accepted that ‘alternative proteins’ will play an important role in creating a more sustainable food system – but what exactly are they, and should we all be eating them? To answer these questions Matt and Lukxmi meet Roberta Iley from Forum for the Future's Protein Challenge 2040, and Jim Laird, CEO of 3F Bio, a startup developing alternative proteins through fermentation.
Tom Simmons introduces Stem – a company working to develop natural plant-based sugar substitutes to help manufacturers reduce the sugar content of physical food products such as those in bakery, confectionery, and snack segments.
44% of bread baked around the world is never eaten – but for Toast Ale, this is an opportunity. Matt and Lukxmi meet Rob Wilson, "Chief Toaster" at Toast Ale, to hear how the brewery is creating delicious beer from crusts that would have otherwise ended up in the bin. They are also joined by Linda Grieder, founder of RethinkResource, to discuss how the food industry can do more to divert waste and side streams, by putting them to good use (and making money along the way).
Tipa's CEO, Daphna Nissenbaum discusses why plastic has dominated the packaging industry and how they are tackling the plastic problem through their sustainable alternative.
Matt and Lukxmi are joined by Danielle Nierenberg (co-founder of Food Tank), Ignace De Nollin (MD of SmartWithFood) and chef, nutritionist and food activist Bela Gil – to discuss how we can influence consumers to make healthier food choices. This episode was recorded live at Seeds & Chips Food Innovation Summit in Milan in May 2019.
FoodPairing co-founder, Bernard Lahousse, explains how his company is combining flavour science with data science – to create new exciting pairings that are tasty, healthy and sustainable.
Matt and Luxkmi present a podcast recorded live at Seeds & Chips Food Innovation Summit in Milan in May 2019. Joined by Alexandre Bastos (Director of Science & Technology for the Flavours division of Givaudan), Eshchar Ben-Shitrit (Founder of Redefine Meat) and Lorena Savani (EIT Food Innovation Programme Manager) they ask the question “Should producers be responsible for making food healthy?”
Linda Grieder introduces RethinkResource, a company looking at ways that food waste and side streams can be turned into profit. She also explains how RethinkResource's new platform – Circado – is working to connect industries to make the most out of food waste opportunities.
According to UN research, one-third of all food produced is wasted. In this episode Matt and Lukxmi meet with Tessa Clarke (founder of food-sharing platform OLIO) and Veerle Carlier (R&D and Innovation manager at food retailer Colruyt) to discuss strategies for tackling the problem.
Protein is a vital component of any healthy diet – but with a rising global demand how can we scale production without destroying the planet along the way? Jim Laird introduces 3F BIO, a company focusing on meat alternatives that taste just as good.
In the first episode of the The Food Fight podcast Matt and Lukxmi are joined by Professor Corinna Hawkes, Director of the Centre for Food Policy of City University London, and Stephane Durand from Queen’s University Belfast, to debate the question "Can we really feed 10 billion people by 2050?"