#21 – Bruce Friedrich on Protein Alternatives and the Good Food Institute

Bruce Friedrich is the co-founder and executive director of The Good Food Institute — a nonprofit that works with scientists, investors, and entrepreneurs to support the development and marketing of cell-cultured and plant-based alternatives to animal food products.

In this episode we discuss:

• [00:02:21] Bruce's path to GFI
• [00:06:01] Inefficiencies of animal agriculture
• [00:10:06] Other external harms of animal agriculture
• [00:18:27] GFI's theory of change
• [00:27:54] Why focus on affluent markets?
• [00:32:53] Is regular meat-eating an historical abberation?
• [00:35:22] Protein alternative research
• [00:38:49] Plant-based vs cultivated meat
• [00:42:40] Marketing protein alternatives
• [00:47:27] Nomenclature
• [00:49:44] Policy
• [00:53:46] Why do we need government spending on R&D?
• [00:57:40] GFI's counterfactual impact
• [01:01:08] Religious influences
• [01:04:43] The supreme court
• [01:09:16] Three book recommendations
• [01:13:14] Outro

You can read much more on these topics in our accompanying write-up: earthisidea.com/episodes/bruce.

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