The Not Company in Santiago, Chile is rethinking the way we eat as part of a mission to safeguard the world’s food systems while protecting planetary and human health. Miguel Soffia visits their headquarters to see how an AI algorithm named - Giuseppe - is making everyday foods with an innovative twist, by combining disparate plant-based ingredients to recreate popular animal-based dishes. From burgers and milk to mayo and ice cream, the Not Company’s founders aim to transform diets around the world. Miguel challenges Giuseppe and the human chefs to make lasagne. He meets the scientists in the company lab, takes a taste test with one of NotCo’s founders and the creator of Giuseppe, Karim Pichara, and sees how plant-based foods are taking off around Santiago. This story about an innovative food start-up in Chile shows that, when human determination meets technology, entrenched systems can be challenged and the results can be transformative, and even profitable.
Wild for Meat - In 1987 Charlie and Isabella Burrell took on the family farm – the 350 thousand acre Knepp Estate in Sussex. Over the next ten years they worked tirelessly to develop the business. Their farming practice was much the same as other farmers in the UK at the time: intensive farming for crop and animals supported by widespread use of chemical fertilizer. But by the mid ‘90s it became evident that they couldn’t make the farm work and, with bankruptcy looming, they started looking for alternative approaches. In 2000 they decided to ‘take their hands off the steering wheel’ and let the farm run itself. Since then the animal stock has vastly increased, the landscape has returned to its pre-agricultural state and there has been a quite extraordinary increase in biodiversity. With the sale of the sustainably reared meat and the advent of eco-tourism they are now making money and, equally important for them, making a positive contribution to the environment. Russell Beard goes to Knepp to meet Charlie and Isabella find out how this turnaround was achieved. He goes on “safari” to see the resident herd and learns how their grazing techniques naturally replenish the land. And he meets some visiting farmers for whom Knepp has become a model of regenerative agriculture.
Johan Rockström - We also speak to Johan Rockström, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and Professor in Earth System Science at the University of Potsdam. Together with colleagues, he carried out a global scientific assessment, the EAT Lancet Commission. This identified the type of diet that was healthiest not only for people but also for the planet as one thatdrastically reduces red meat consumption compared to the high per capita levels in the industrialised parts of the world. Animal protein dishes can still be served but not for every meal - two from fish two from white meat and one from red meat across the week.
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