Weee!, an online grocer with a focus on Asian and Hispanic communities, announced today that it has raised a $315 million Series D round of funding. The round was led by existing investor DST Global, with participation from new investors including funds managed by Blackstone, Arena Holdings, and Tiger Global. Weee! has raised more than $415 million in funding in total.

With approximately 65 percent of the global population estimated to be lactose intolerant, it makes sense that the plant-based cheese market is expected to be valued at $4.42 billion by 2027. Plant-based cheeses are commonly made from ingredients like cashews, almonds, coconut, and soy, and a not-so-common ingredient showing up in alternative cheese is potatoes.

Vertical farming company Oishii has raised $50 million in Series A funding, according to a press release sent to The Spoon today. The round was led by SPARX Group’s Mirai Creation Fund II, with participation from Sony Innovation Fund, PKSHA Technology, Social Starts, and several angel investors. It brings Oishii’s total funding to date to $55 million.

We had the big earthquake of eastern Japan in March 11th, 2011.We can't forget it.So I talked about it.

The Spoon are pleased as punch to announce the return of ArticulATE, food robotics and automation summit. The virtual event will be held via Hopin on May 18th (get your tickets now!).

San Diego, CA-based vegan cookie company Maya’s Cookies has launched a limited-edition cookie to celebrate International Women’s Month. Created in collaboration with vegan fast-casual chain By CHLOE, the Raspberry Double Chip Cookie is a brown sugar cookie studded with semi-sweet chocolate chips, chunks of white chocolate, and raspberries. A portion of the proceeds goes to benefit nonprofit kitchen incubator La Cocina, which works to solve problems of equity in business ownership for women, immigrants, and people of color.

I introduced a trend of vegan recipes.

Asian e-grocer Umamicart launched on Monday in the New York metro area and Mid-Atlantic region with next-day delivery, according to a press release emailed to Grocery Dive.

Shake Shack announced this week it is testing the use of biodegradable straws and cutlery at six of its 310 locations, according to Nation’s Restaurant News. Those items are now available at units in West Hollywood and Long Beach in California, Madison Square Park and West Village in NYC, and in Miami, Florida.

Israeli startup Aleph Farms and Brazilian meat and food company BRF S.A. announced today that they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to bring cultured meat to Brazil.

Peet’s Coffee, Beyond Meat, and Eat Just have joined forces to launch a fully plant-based breakfast offering dubbed the Everything Plant-Based Sandwich. The item is available as part of Peet’s Spring 2021 menu.

Hudson, the chain of stores you’ve most likely purchased a bottle of water from while waiting at an airport, announced yesterday the opening of its first Hudson Nonstop store. The new store features Amazon’s Just Walk Out cashierless checkout technology, allowing customers to walk in, grab what they want and leave without needing to wait in line.

New vegan brand Moku—which makes meaty vegan jerky from king oyster mushrooms —was created by entrepreneur Matt Feldman, an honoree on this year’s Forbes 30 under 30 list.

This week, vegan ice cream brand NadaMoo! launched a new line of ice cream made with no added sugar. The new ice cream formulation is made with a base of organic coconut milk base—as are the other offerings at NadaMoo!—but instead of sugar, the ice cream is sweetened with a combination of organic allulose, organic erythritol, and a touch of stevia extract. “Over the past years, more and more consumers have embraced a commitment to their long-term health which includes a reduction in sugar and dairy, but we recognize that doesn’t stop cravings for the occasional, decadent treat,” NadaMoo! President and CEO Daniel Nicholson said. “With this launch, consumers who closely watch their sugar intake can finally let ice cream out of the penalty box, while staying on track with their wellness goals.”

Clothing giant H&M recently launched its new sustainable concept, Innovation Stories that will feature a range of collections all through 2021 and its debut collection is out, developed using plant-free leather and other eco alternative materials.

New York-based restaurant chain Just Salad plans to pilot its popular reusable bowl program for digital orders in the near future. The announcement comes as part of the fast-casual chain’s annual sustainability report, which was just released, and tracks company progress on making its business more eco-friendly.

Today, vegan brand Beyond Meat announced that it has entered into a three-year global strategic partnership with fast-food chain McDonald’s. Through the partnership, Beyond Meat will help McDonald’s develop new plant-based menu options through its newly announced McPlant platform. “Our new McPlant platform is all about giving customers more choices when they visit McDonald’s,” Francesca DeBiase, McDonald’s Executive Vice President and Chief Supply Chain Officer, said. “We’re excited to work with Beyond Meat to drive innovation in this space, and entering into this strategic agreement is an important step on our journey to bring delicious, high quality, plant-based menu items to our customers.”

Traeger Grills announced this week the launch of its first Apple Watch app, which allows users to both monitor and control the cooking on its WiFire compatible connected grills.

ChickP, an Israeli-based chickpea protein start-up, announced today that it will be expanding to the US to explore partnerships and that it has started commercial production of its chickpea isolate protein. The company has signed a joint market development agreement with Socius Ingredients, a company that uses food ingredients for different applications, for its US expansion.

CellMEAT, a South Korean cultivated protein startup, has closed a ₩5 billion (approx. US$4.5 million) pre-Series A funding round. The firm says that the proceeds will go towards further R&D of its cell-based meat technology to scale up and cut costs, with the view to “make cultured meat a reality in South Korea”. So far, the company has already developed its proprietary animal-free cell-culture and cell-culture medium technology, which critically does not rely on fetal bovine serum (FBS).