Fresh Take: What 2023 Has In Store For The Food Industry

It’s been a no-resolution-January over here and I’ve been loving it. I’ve never been big on giving up something at the start of the year, but I always make a list, or several. This year, my lists are all about the subjects I want to investigate and feature—in the magazine, on Forbes.com and in this newsletter. Expect more on lab-grown meat, the investor frenzy shake-out and vertical farming, along with deep dives into entrepreneurs who are addressing climate change through their work (the ones actually doing it, as well as the ones co-opting the marketing).

Are there brands or labels at the grocery store irking you? Who are the founders who you want to hear more about? What about the technologies? Reach out! I want to hear from you.

The future of food is already here. That’s thrilling, because there are more folks than ever who really care about where their food comes from and these stories. But it also means that the stakes are that much higher.

I’m writing to you from Seattle, where I’m posting up to do some reporting. Later today I’ll head up to Squim, Washington, better known as “the lavender capital of North America,” and next week I’ll spend some time with the fishing industry. I’m looking forward to reporting everywhere and anywhere this year—more farms, more factories, more billionaire boardrooms, more!—and I’m excited to take you behind the scenes of these interviews with me.

Before I sign off, did you catch me talking about my book, Raw Deal, on NPR’s Fresh Air last week? If you missed it, give a listen here. I enjoyed chatting about the alternatives challenging the status quo of the meat industry, from Air Protein (which is commercializing air meat, as detailed in the video below) to Cooks Venture (the chicken company with its own breed). I’m wishing you a restful winter weekend!

—Chloe Sorvino, Staff Writer

Order my book, Raw Deal: Hidden Corruption, Corporate Greed and the Fight for the Future of Meat, out now from Simon & Schuster’s Atria Books.

This is Forbes’ Fresh Take newsletter, which every Friday brings you the latest on the big ideas changing the future of food. Want to get it in your inbox every week? Sign up here.

What’s Fresh

What Does 2023 Have In Store For The Grocery Industry? Will 2023 grocery trends be tender, juicy and delicious? From challenging economic conditions to regenerative value chains, 2023 promises plenty of fun and excitement for the food industry, writes Errol Schweizer.

Eat Just To Scale Up Cultured Meat Production On Gaining New Regulatory Approval In Singapore Global food tech company Eat Just Inc.’s cell-cultured meat division, Good Meat, will significantly scale up production after its serum-free media gained regulatory approval by the Singapore Food Agency, on track to reach price parity with conventional meat by 2027, reports Douglas Yu.

Video: This Entrepreneur Is Turning Air Into Meat Lisa Dyson, cofounder and CEO of Air Protein, has developed a novel process utilizing fermentation to turn air into protein. By the Forbes Video Team. Interviewed by Yours Truly.

Five Food Technologies To Curb Climate Change From biomimicry to AI addressing food waste, food system innovation will be key to mitigating the climate crisis, writes Shayna Harris.

How The Auspicious Kumquat Became The Star Of A Florida County Festival An indispensable lucky charm for Lunar New Year, the golden little fruit has brought prosperity to Pasco County communities since the 1910s, reports Claudia Alarcon.Schweizer.

Nothing like starting off the year with some lucky black-eyed peas stewed low and slow for hours with a ham hock. The beans came from my quarterly share of the Rancho Gordo bean club, and the hog comes from my neighborhood farm share’s partner network, Lewis Waite.

Chloe Sorvino leads coverage of food and agriculture as a staff writer on the enterprise team at Forbes. Her book, Raw Deal: Hidden Corruption, Corporate Greed and the Fight for the Future of Meat, will publish on December 6, 2022, with Simon & Schuster’s Atria Books. Her nearly nine years of reporting at Forbes has brought her to In-N-Out Burger’s secret test kitchen, drought-ridden farms in California’s Central Valley, burnt-out national forests logged by a timber billionaire, a century-old slaughterhouse in Omaha and even a chocolate croissant factory designed like a medieval castle in northern France.

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