Wondering how these three topics are related?
My todays' guest is Miyoko Schinner.
Miyoko founded and lead until 2022 a $ 260 million brand of vegan cheese, called Miyoko Creamery. To a large extent, Miyoko re-invented vegan cheese and made it popular in the United States. What is key is that Miyoko is a true defender of animal rights and undertakes multiple actions to remove animals from the food chain, from producing delicious vegan cheese to generously sharing her recipes, to founding non-profit organisations for the animal cause.
Current western food traditions based to a large extent on consumption of meat and dairy products lead to a lot of adverse effects such as up to 25% of total human-generated greenhouse gas emissions, animal suffering due to the way animals are treated in industrial farms, human health problems such heart diseases and diabetes. Eating animal products in quantities currently consumed is absolutely unsustainable. As Miyoko argues this is a very recent human history, while old history knows very different examples such as an 8-century long Japanese vegan society.
We will also talk about many other topics such as history of vegan diet, how venture capital or financial system in general can influence the food system, barriers for transition to low-carbon economy in the agriculture, or simply relationship between work-efficiency-diet and happiness.
Miyoko’s LinkedIn profile if you are interested in reaching her out regards Vegan Style Brand
https://www.linkedin.com/in/miyoko-schinner-6a47204/
Miyoko’s YouTube channel for easy vegan recipes:
https://www.youtube.com/@thevegangoodlifewithmiyoko
3:25 – Queen of vegan cheese
5:20 – Creation of first vegan cheeses
7:45 – Processed cheeses mostly consumed in the US contain no milk
11:00 – SAD – Standard American Diet and plant-based movement
13:35 – Changing a habit of eating cheese in Europe; vegan cheeses in France and Italy
14:55 – Evolution of food and eating habits
17:23 – Where is money in food production
18:57 – The role of investors in shaping the economy and the food system
22:00 – Miyoko creamery development: the story of becoming an international brand
26:15 – Multiple regional brands as an alternative to national and international brands
27:27 – Smaller VC market in Europe: a curse or a blessing
30:40 – Is there too much of innovation…
31:24 – What should we be thinking about if we want to change the world
32:45 – Are there more vegans today than thirty years ago?
35:10 – People have been eating plant-based food for thousand years
37:37 – We could make peasant food look sexy
38:13 – Everybody is an impact investor today
40:25 – The right to use word “butter” for vegan products
43:49 – Vegan diet is sufficient for human health
47:17 – Leading non-profit organisations for animal rights
50:50 – LEAP organisation: Leaders for Ethics, Animals and the Planet
52:14 – Converting farms into growing crops
53:37 – Dairy farmers and ranchers are having hard times to meet their needs
56:03 – We need government programs instead of investors
56:30 – Aka Steve Jobs’ departure from Miyoko Creamery
58:28 – New projects
1:00:25 – Creating Vegan Lifestyle Brand
1:00:40 – YouTube Channel for cooking vegan at home
1:05:45 – Getting back to the kitchens and restoring eating together habits
1:12:48 – Book recommendations
1:15:00 – Historical traditions of eating vegan food
1:15:55 – Japan was vegan for 800 years
1:17:13 – To get in touch with Miyoko
New episode is published every second Tuesday. It is available on Google podcasts, Apple podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.
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The podcast reflects only my own views.
#vegan, #vegancheese, #climateaction, #sustainability, #animalrights