Get smarter about food tech, sustainability & food innovation — in just 3 minutes. Welcome to VITAMIN C®
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Read time today: 2:54 min
Hi friend,
It’s Friday morning. You are reading VITAMIN C 🍋.
I scroll the internet so you don’t have to.
Here are my top links and inspirations of the week to help you stay ahead in food tech & food innovation:
Two meals.
Same calories. Same ingredients. Cooked the exact same way.
And yet — one is seen as healthier.
A new Swedish study shows:
→ People rated food served in a bowl as healthier than the same food on a plate.
→ The label “vegan” made it seem healthier than “plant-based”.
Taste, satisfaction, price? No difference.
Only the health image shifted.
Why?
Because we don’t judge food with logic. We judge it with stories.
Presentation, language, and form matter.
I call this psychological product design.
A small tweak can change a lot how we perceive what is inside our food.
Check out the study here.
2. [Food for Thought] 🍎 New York just upgraded 200M meals a year
Two weeks ago New York city announced new food standards – influencing over 200 million public meals each year.
The focus?
↳ Less ultra-processed, more whole ingredients
↳ More access to plant-based protein
↳ Fewer artificial additives
↳ Clearer procurement policies
NYC’s mayor Adams isn’t waiting for a national mandate. He is making healthy food the default, not the exception. For students. For patients. For seniors in NYC.
Yes, implementation will be key.
But I believe it is this kind of policy shift that rewires the system — and supports real health for real people.
On my next NYC trip, I’ll definitely check out one of those public canteens.
Link to the article.
3. [People & Startups] 💪 This startup unlocked the world’s most abundant protein
The world’s most abundant protein isn’t soy or peas — it’s hiding in leaves: the plant protein Rubisco.
And New Zealand startup Leaft Foods cracked the code: extracting Rubisco at scale. Their result is a a clean, neutral protein with 97% lower emissions than meat.
Their first product, Leaft Blade, hits your bloodstream 6x faster — and athletes are already testing it. The leftovers even enrich the soil.
👉 I haven’t tried the product, but love the idea. More about Leaft Foods here.
4. [Recommendation] 🎟️ Event - The best excuse to come to Berlin in October
If you needed a reason to visit Berlin (again) — this is it.
From October 6–12, the city turns into a playground for food lovers.
Berlin Food Week is back.
This one week event is a reflection of what happens when culinary creativity meets purpose-driven minds. There are fun food happenings across the city.
A must-go for anyone serious about European food innovation.
More: berlinfoodweek.de
5. [Inspiration] 🍦 What ice cream teaches us about systems change
Saying yes is easy.
Saying no — that’s where systems change begins.
Think of ice cream: choosing your favorite flavor means leaving other nice options behind. That trade-off is what gives the choice meaning.
It’s the same with food at scale.
Every procurement decision, every menu redesign, every climate policy is about intelligent rejection. Less ultra-processed, more whole. Less animal protein, more plant-based. Less single-use packaging, more reusable systems.
In a world drowning in abundance, the power isn’t in saying yes to everything. It’s in saying no to what doesn’t serve health, people, or planet.
6. [Sponsored] 🤩 My go-to snack option
Let me tell you a little story.
If you're building a business, your brain is your biggest asset.
And what you feed it? A hidden leverage.
I’ve tried many productivity tricks out there. The simplest one for me?
Snack smarter.
Almonds give you protein, good fats – and no sugar crash.
For the Almond Board I took a deep dive into almonds as a functional ingredient for food innovations. Startups are using them for everything from vegan cheese, snack bars to textile fibers - very cool.
And I know the critical voices: Yes, almonds need water.
But so does every nutrient-dense food.
Compared to dairy, their impact is lower – and their potential is bigger.
I believe there is still much innovation to unfold.
What’s your go-to snack?
Stay awesome,
Lia
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