Action out of heartbreak: Issue #34

moving forward in sobering times

World news has been heartbreaking, and our staff sends care to everyone affected by violence, lack of access to basic needs, and extreme weather events.

There are moments when despair takes over and a focus on food feels frivolous, but then clarity comes: our outdated food systems are responsible for an incredible amount of suffering. There is the extraordinary suffering of animals. Then there’s the harm we’re doing to water, soil, air, and biodiversity, all making the Earth increasingly inhospitable for humans.

And so we act, improving food in order to reduce suffering however we can.

Portfolio Updates

• Kerry Song of Abbot’s Butcher talks about food as medicine on The Big Silence podcast

• Abbot's Butcher, Good Catch, and Meati were all featured in Whole Foods’ 2024 Trends

• Wicked Kitchen won the Excellence in Concessions award

• Anina Culinary Art has been selected to represent Israel in the national pavilion at the COP28 climate conference

• Oshi’s whole-cut “salmon” debuts at NYC’s Coletta

• Gathered Foods announced a full year without a single workplace accident

• Heura debuts clean-label plant-based deli ham slices in Spain and France

What we’re reading and watching:

• Unovis partner Dan Altschuler Malek participates in AgFunder alt-meat roundtable

• Lab-grown meat can be kosher and halal

• The Imperative of Cutting Methane from Fossil Fuels from the International Energy Agency

• Farm Animal Investment Risk and Return (FAIRR) released a new report on avian flu

• Key laws under threat by the EATS Act

• Pressure and intimidation from agriculture lobbies led to the role of cattle in rising global temperatures being underplayed by the FAO

• “Climate-friendly” beef may sound nice, but there’s reason to be skeptical about what the label means

Continuing our work in a broken world, and sending you love, Unovis