Why Believer Meats, Meatable (and Meati) Closed - While Redefine Meat Keeps Selling
Fresh news shows US based, mycelium-based maker Meati Foods has had its property seized for nearly $7 million in unpaid taxes, illustrating just how severe the downturn has become in the proteins world.
This follows the earlier winding down of Believer Meats and Meatable, both of which shuttered operations despite raising multi-millions because they couldn’t simultaneously crack cost, scale, and market adoption. In each case, promising technology met the harsh economics of f
13 hours ago1 min read
The Meat-Plus Era Has Begun as Kiwi Hybrid Protein Evolves
Meat isn’t being replaced, it’s being re-engineered, and New Zealand is now part of that shift. Across food science, a new logic is taking hold, the future of protein isn’t “meat versus alternatives,” it’s meat plus. Hybrid protein , a blending of animal protein with algae, yeast, plants, or fermentation-derived biomass, is emerging as the most commercially realistic path to better nutrition, lower environmental load, and preserved taste. This isn’t a food trend. It’s a re
15 hours ago1 min read
Can New Zealand Become a Serious Player in the Global Truffle Game?
Since the first Gisborne truffière produced in 1993, more than 40,000 inoculated trees across 100+ sites have been planted from the Bay of Plenty to Canterbury. Yields of well over 100kg per hectare have already been achieved, reputedly among the highest in the world for cultivated truffles. Agronomically, New Zealand isn’t the problem but whether the country can become a serious player in the global truffle game.
1 day ago1 min read
The Tiny People Mushroom Mystery
According to researchers at the University of Utah, this species triggers Lilliputian (tiny people) hallucinations, in other words vivid visions of tiny human-like figures dancing, marching, and interacting with the environment. But what’s interesting is 96% of documented cases report identical imagery. No psilocybin. No ketamine-like dissociation. Just tiny people. Everywhere.
3 days ago1 min read
Juicy Marbles Moves Beyond the Fillet and Into the Fridge Staple Zone
Juicy Marbles built its reputation on theatrical, whole-cut plant-based steaks, the kind designed to be carved, shared, and Instagrammed. Now the company is deliberately stepping down from the dinner-party pedestal and into everyday eating, launching its new Umami Burger across 225 UK Tesco stores.
Dec 31, 20251 min read
Top 10 FoodTech Companies to Watch in 2026
FoodTech in 2026 isn’t about who has the wildest idea, it’s about who actually shows up in food people eat. After years of hype, pullbacks and painful reality checks, a new class of companies is quietly moving ahead by doing something radical - making workable ingredients, scale, and slot into everyday products without asking consumers to change their habits.
Dec 31, 20251 min read
Kimchi Moves From Cultural Wisdom to Precision Immune Food
Kimchi has always been more than a side dish. For centuries it’s sat at the heart of Korean food culture, not as a “superfood”, not as wellness theatre, but as a daily, living eco-system of nourishment. Now, science has finally caught up. A new clinical study from South Korea’s World Institute of Kimchi reveals kimchi doesn’t just “boost” immunity, it fine-tunes it.
Dec 30, 20251 min read
Feeding Fungi Food Waste Is Making Better Animal-Free Protein
Food waste has officially entered its protein era. Researchers publishing in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry have shown that fungal mycelium grown on carrot side streams doesn’t just tick sustainability boxes and it actually tastes better than conventional plant-based proteins when turned into vegan burgers and sausages.
Dec 22, 20251 min read
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