Eat For The Planet with Nil Zacharias

Ethan Brown is the CEO and Founder of Beyond Meat and he has one simple goal: make meat out of plants. In our conversation, Ethan shares details about how close his company is to creating a product that perfectly mimics the taste, texture, smell, and experience of meat. He also talks about the unique challenges and innovations that come with pioneering the plant-based protein space and what they a...

Kelly Swette is the CEO of Sweet Earth Enlightened Foods and her ultimate goal is to change the food system and make convenient, sustainable, and healthy foods the new norm. In our conversation, we talk about her incredible journey with the company and her unique take on everything from the importance of fresh ingredients and bold flavors in food to the recent acquisition of Sweet Earth by food gi...

David Benzaquen is the CEO of PlantBased Solutions, a strategic brand management and marketing agency for plant-based products, and Ocean Hugger Foods, a company that makes vegan seafood alternatives. Show notes for this episode: https://eftp.co/david-benzaquen Newsletter signup: https://eftp.co/newsletter Follow us on Instagram Follow Nil Zacharias on Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Vis...

Ravi DeRossi owns 15 successful restaurants and cocktail bars in New York City – and he’s on a mission to make every item on their menus plant-based. In this engaging and unique conversation, he also shares his bold vision and gives exclusive details about 4 new concepts he has for future restaurants. Ravi started his career as a painter and you will learn he approaches the restaurant business wit...

Jaime Athos, CEO of Tofurky discusses how Tofurky has managed to stay independent and family-funded throughout their monumental success. Jaime shares a variety of insights from his thoughts on the responsibility he inherited from his step-father to how to balance mission of the company with profit, decoding the hype in the plant-based food space, and how he hopes to aid new businesses by pulling f...

This week's episode highlights news and trends in the plant-based food industry based on what I saw at this year's Natural Products Expo East, recently held in Baltimore. I identify the following 3 trends as the hottest new ones to keep an eye on:   1. The evolution of dairy-free products 2. The demand for clean, whole ingredients in plant-based proteins 3. The emergence of functional snacks and b...

Miyoko Schinner is Founder and CEO of Miyoko's Kitchen. In this interview we talk about her recent success with Miyoko’s Kitchen as well as the challenges she faced scaling the business. From the simple logistics she wishes she had thought through before diving in, to how to choose the right investor, Miyoko shares the advice she was given and the things she had to find out the hard way. Miyoko wa...

This episode features my recent interview with Jerry Sever for Plant-Based Business Week, an online conference that showcased 30+ of the world’s top experts across the plant-based industry. Show Notes: https://eftp.co/media-food Newsletter signup: https://eftp.co/newsletter Follow us on Instagram Follow Nil Zacharias on Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stephen Ritz, the founder of Green Bronx Machine, is a Bronx native and educator in the public school system, who has seen how an excess of cheap, unhealthy food can negatively impact a community. Show Notes: https://eftp.co/stephen-ritz Newsletter signup: https://eftp.co/newsletter Follow us on Instagram Follow Nil Zacharias on Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoice...

I recently had the honor of sitting down with Greg Steltenpohl, co-founder and CEO of Califia Farms, a company that makes dairy-free milks, citrus juices, and specialty coffee drinks. Show Notes: https://eftp.co/greg-steltenpohl Newsletter signup: https://eftp.co/newsletter Follow us on Instagram Follow Nil Zacharias on Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Craig Cochran is the co-owner of Terri, a 100 percent plant-based fast casual restaurant with 3 locations in NYC. He also recently launched a new restaurant, P.S. Kitchen that caters to a more high-end palate and donates all their profits to charity. In our conversation, Craig tells the story of how he worked his way from being employed at some of NYC’s first vegan restaurants to eventually starti...

Michele Simon is the executive director of the Plant Based Foods Association, a trade group with over 80 members, whose goal is to level the playing field for plant-based food. Show Notes: https://eftp.co/michele-simon Newsletter signup: https://eftp.co/newsletter Follow us on Instagram Follow Nil Zacharias on Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, I speak with David Simon, lawyer, sustainable consumption advocate, and author of the book Meatonomics. In our chat, we get into the externalized costs of the meat industry, specifically, the burden on taxpayers, the environment, and of course animals that keep this mega industry afloat. Show Notes: https://eftp.co/david-simon/ Newsletter signup: https://eftp.co/newsletter Follow...

Dr. Michelle McMacken is a board certified internal medicine physician at Bellevue Hospital and an assistant professor of medicine at NYU School of Medicine. She is an advocate for plant-based nutrition and has helped transform the lives of many of her patients by focusing on their food choices and guiding them to improve their overall well-being through healthy eating and lifestyle modifications....

Few people have a better understanding of the oceans and their current state than Captain Paul Watson, President, CEO and founder of Sea Shepherd. Show Notes: https://eftp.co/paul-watson Newsletter signup: https://eftp.co/newsletter Follow us on Instagram Follow Nil Zacharias on Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rob Laing, the CEO of Farm. One is a farmer of the future! He runs a thriving hydroponic farm that specializes in growing rare and exotic herbs and greens – right out of the Institute of Culinary Education in the heart of New York City. an agriculture ecosystem and how we can bring about a real food revolution by helping people connect with farming in urban areas. Show Notes: https://eftp.co/rob-l...

This episode features a recording of a panel discussion from the Reducetarian Summit, held in New York City in May 2017. The goal of the summit was to spark solution-driven conversations that can help individuals and communities decrease meat consumption. I had the pleasure of moderating the opening panel of the summit, focused on providing an overview of the Broken Food System. In the recording,...

Adam Lowry, co-founder and co-CEO of Ripple Foods, is on a mission to create the purest plant protein and a ripple effect in the food system. Using a proprietary technology, Adam and his co-founder Neil Renninger, have successfully made milk from yellow peas that has just as much protein as cow’s milk, half the sugar and double the calcium … oh, not to mention their product doesn’t taste a thing l...

David Bronner, CEO of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, the top-selling brand of natural soaps in North America dishes some hard facts and truth about sustainable agriculture. David starts off by getting into the fascinating backstory of Dr. Bronner’s soaps, and he shares his thoughts on a range of issues related to food, including how he helped make Dr. Bronner’s palm oil supply sustainable – something...

In this episode, I speak with T.K. Pillan, co-founder of Veggie Grill, the largest all vegan restaurant chain in the United States about his experience building a successful food business. T.K. is now also an investor and co-founded Powerplant Ventures, a venture fund that supports visionary entrepreneurs who are leveraging the power of plants to deliver better nutrition in more sustainable and et...

I had the pleasure of sitting down with John Mackey, founder and CEO of Whole Foods Market to discuss his thoughts on how best to eat with the planet, keeping your personal health in mind. Mackey helped fuel the rise of organic and natural food in the United States and also popularized the idea of “Conscious Capitalism." In addition to running Whole Foods, Mackey is a best-selling author and his n...

When it comes to understanding the future of food, there are few people who know more than Bruce Friedrich, the Executive Director of the Good Food Institute (GFI) and founding partner of New Crop Capital. Show notes for this episode: https://eftp.co/bruce-friedrich Newsletter signup: hhttps://eftp.co/newsletter Follow us on Instagram Follow Nil Zacharias on Twitter Learn more about your ad choice...

Gene Baur, President of Farm Sanctuary talks about the problems with our food system and explore solutions both meat eaters and vegans can agree on. Gene has spent the past 30 years fighting for a more just food system and believes that “people should make food choices that are aligned with their own values and interests.” After all, we vote with our dollars every day and as he puts it, have a lot...

Dive into the future of meat production and the battle against climate change with Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal, founder and CEO of KBW Ventures. Khaled is not your typical venture capitalist/investor. Not only is he a member of the Saudi royal family, but he is also vegan, an outspoken animal rights advocate, as well as a firm proponent of clean energy and healthy living. Khaled has bold ambitio...

My goal with this podcast is to cut through the media noise and help people make food choices that provide them with maximum benefit and have minimum negative impact on our planet. The show will feature conversations with food industry leaders, health and sustainability experts, as well as entrepreneurs and creative minds who are redefining the future of food.  Together I hope we can learn how to...