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Read time today: 2:27 min

Hi friend,

It’s Friday morning. You are reading VITAMIN C 🍋.

This week alone, millions of words were published about food tech and food innovation.

Some were loud. Some were useful. I went through them so you don’t have to.

Here are five thoughts worth your time:

Adam Bergman, Managing Director at EcoTech Capital, did the math on food tech's last decade:

↳ ~$40B went into ag and food tech from 2018–2022

↳ Bergman expects ~70% of that capital to be wiped out

Too much money chased growth before product-market fit. Overcapitalized teams scaled cost, not demand. Now exits are rare, funds are stuck, and new money won't come without proof.

So what gets funded in 2026?

↳ Automation that replaces labor (if we like it or not, this is coming)

↳ AI that improves farm economics today

↳ Food aligned with GLP-1 behavior and regulation

Read Bergman's full analysis here.

The world's biggest content creator Jimmy Donaldson aka MrBeast visited Upside Foods and tasted their cultivated chicken on camera.

His reaction: "It tastes just like chicken."

463 million YouTube subscribers heard him say it.

For decades, the cell-based sector focused on better tech. But what it needed was a bridge into mainstream culture.

Regulatory approvals are clearing. The science works. What was missing was trust, familiarity, and narrative. MrBeast created exactly that.

The future of protein won't be only won in labs or policy rooms. It'll also be won in our feeds.

Read the full story here.

The French fashion brand Coperni Paris just launched C+, a clothing line with probiotics and prebiotics woven into the fabric.

The pitch: as you move, warmth and friction activate microscopic cultures that "nourish and protect your skin's microbiome."

Does it work? Maybe. Does it matter? Not really.

What matters is that the microbiome has officially escaped the wellness bubble. It's not just kombucha and gut health supplements anymore. It's fashion, skincare, and soon everything else.

Read more about it here.

A Century of Plenty is the new book from McKinsey Global Institute. I haven’t read it yet, but it comes highly recommended.

The core question: Can the poorest country reach Switzerland’s quality of life by 2100?

The answer: Yes, if we choose to.

The math shows that abundance is possible. Enough food. Energy. Materials. Innovation that compounds over time.

So why does a sense of uncertainty still dominate today?

Because narratives drive investment.

The pattern is simple:

↳ Belief in growth → capital flows

↳ Capital flows → productivity rises

↳ Productivity rises → prosperity grows

For us food builders, this matters. The story we tell about the future of food determines where capital goes, who commits their talent, and which solutions get built.

The future we get depends on the stories we choose to tell today.

Check out the book here.

AI makes it ridiculously easy to play with brand ideas.

I took the VITAMIN C logo and engraved it into food - chocolate, butter, toast, fruit.

And yes, your logo could also sit on toast tomorrow.

Stay awesome,
Lia

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