Protein from water? Yes 🌊

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Hey friend-

Happy new year! It’s the first Friday of 2026 and you are reading VITAMIN C 🍋.

You’ve got New Years resolutions. I’ve got insights.

Let’s kick off the year with five sharp ideas to fuel your next food small talk.

Here you go:

What if the way we eat could extend our lives and protect the planet?

I just came across this Harvard study (published in 2024) that still feels very relevant.

The study found that people who followed the Planetary Health Diet most closely had a 30% lower risk of dying early from major diseases like cancer, heart, or lung conditions.

They also caused less environmental harm, including lower greenhouse gas emissions, fertilizer use, and land footprint.

Sounds like a pretty compelling reason to cut back on meat and add more plants to our plates this year, right?

Read more about the study here.

 While the rest of the world argues about flavors, Japan is engineering texture.

There are over 400 words in Japanese to describe how food feels in your mouth. From mochi-mochi (“soft elasticity”) to zaku-zaku (“crispy and hearty”), Japanese consumers know exactly what a bite should feel like.

That obsession shows up everywhere, especially in candy. In 2025, gummies overtook hard candy in Japan, powered not by wild flavors, but by layered bites: chewy, crunchy, aerated, melt-in-your-mouth.

Texture lets brands innovate without scaring consumers. Same product, new bite.

The lesson?

Stop asking only what should this taste like. Start asking how should this feel.

More here.

Last year I met Alex Worker, New Zealand–born founder of Nutrition from Water (NXW) and I came away genuinely impressed.

His Portugal-based biotech startup is doing something pretty amazing: turning microalgae into affordable, high-protein nutrition with global impact.

Their Marine Whey™ platform creates protein-rich, highly digestible ingredients that can replace animal protein across foods and beverages.

NXW is now working with SIG, a Swiss leader in aseptic packaging that enables food and drinks to stay shelf-stable for months without refrigeration.

That makes all the difference for markets in the Global South, where cold-chain infrastructure is limited.

Honestly?

I love everything about this.

Because we live on a blue planet.

71% of Earth is water, yet more than 95% of our food comes from land. Algae-based nutrition feels like one of the most underexplored opportunities we have.

Check NXW out here.

Technically Food has been on my shelf for years. A kind VITAMIN C reader recently pointed me back to it (thanks, Amelie 🙂).

It’s a thoughtful look at how Silicon Valley approached food innovation.

Understanding that history matters right now.

Because we have moved from a “software will fix food” mindset and growth-at-all-costs delivery models to a more realistic phase, where physical infrastructure, unit economics, and supply chain resilience shape what actually scales.

Sometimes, the best books just need a second read.

Check out the book here.

Here's a cool image showing how a bunch of small failures turn into experience, which then turns into success:

This image captures a hard truth - progress is messy. Small failures stack up. Over time, they turn into experience. And eventually, into something that works.

This is super common with a lot of founders:

As we enter a new year, this is your reminder:

If things feel tangled right now, you’re probably on the path - not off it.

Happy 2026 & stay awesome,
Lia

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