On Monday afternoon, September 22, Food Tank hosted “A Roadmap to a Delicious, Nutritious, and Regenerative Food Future for All” during Climate Week NYC, in partnership with Unilever. The event explored how leaders across policy, media, farming, and business are shaping a better food future for all.
“Our job is huge. We need to change the way we grow food, eat food, talk about food, and love food. We really need new food habits—and that requires a lot of change,” says Dorothy Shaver, Global Food Sustainability Lead at Unilever.
Watch the full livestreamed event on Food Tank’s YouTube channel.
Panel discussions highlighted bold ideas and tangible actions from across the food industry, media, policy, and culinary worlds to build a more resilient, joyful, and regenerative food future. To kick off the afternoon, Rasmus Munk, Founder and Head Chef at Alchemist and Spora, spoke about the power that chefs hold to drive change.
“Chefs have a big voice out there, a lot of spotlight on us as well. We’re getting a lot of time to speak,” says Munk. “Restaurants are a big communicator and platform to try new things. With our craft, we can actually do things.”
Munk’s food research center, Spora, is part of an international consortium that converts carbon dioxide into protein-rich foods, a project backed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Novo Nordisk Foundation. This technology has moved from a conceptual stage to developing consumer-ready food prototypes—including chocolate truffles made without using cocoa products, which were passed out to Summit attendees.
Among Munk’s other food innovations are ingredients that push boundaries, he says, and inspire conversations at the dinner table, such as butterflies.
“When you serve a butterfly that is farmed, people freak out,” says Munk. But “it contains about 3.5-times more protein than farmed chicken.”
Munk’s work shows that conversations about food innovations don’t necessarily have to be about technology. And when thinking about innovation in the food space, Chitra Agrawal, Co-Founder and CEO of Brooklyn Delhi and Author of Vibrant India, reminds attendees to look ahead by looking to the past.
“There’s so much ancient wisdom that is baked into the products that we are selling” at Brooklyn Delhi, says Agrawal.
Meanwhile, several organizations and brands attested to consumer preference for plant-forward menus—and often, these dishes are the most healthy, simple, and sustainable options.
“People want global flavors, they do want plant-rich foods, and often they want whole, plant-rich foods like beans,” says Eve Turow-Paul, Author, Founder and Executive Director at Food for Climate League. “When you say sustainable products, people think it’s expensive…rice and beans are sustainable, this doesn’t have to be something that’s inaccessible.”
Food can also be a powerful opportunity for self-care and connection, says Rachel Krupa, Founder and CEO of The Goods Mart. As many look to consume less amid rising economic uncertainty and environmental concern, “food is an affordable luxury that we can all connect with and relate to,” says Krupa.
But ultimately, “if you want food that is accessible, that has to be a nonprofit,” according to Mark Bittman, a New York Times bestselling author, former New York Times food writer, and chef. The Summit’s audience heard about Bittman’s new public restaurant model, Community Kitchen, which combines locally sourced, high-quality, and nutritious food with equitable access for all through a sliding-scale payment model.
“Good food is a universal right, we’re trying to demonstrate it’s possible,” says Bittman.
U.S. Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan emphasizes that the event itself—and the conversations on stage—is reason to maintain hope for a more sustainable, equitable, and resilient food future.
“The fact that we’re all in this room shows that we haven’t given up yet. Focus on where you can use your voice, where you can use your power, and together we will come through this,” says Rep. McClellan.
David Gelles, award-winning New York Times climate reporter, echoed the importance of hope: “We are in an intense moment for a lot of people, a lot of people are scared…Without stories of hope, we sacrifice the possibility of positive change in the world.”
The afternoon concluded with Gelles sharing the story behind his forthcoming book, Dirtbag Billionaire: How Yvon Chouinard Built Patagonia, Made a Fortune, and Gave It All Away. While Patagonia is a “unicorn,” Gelles says there are lessons all businesses can learn from Chouinard’s story.
“I’m all for tasty food. But…real, durable systems change is going to come from the companies and entrepreneurs that have really bold visions—and sometimes unpopular ones—about how things fundamentally need to change, and then find the ways they can do that,” says Gelles.
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Photo by Ryan Rose for Food Tank.
