Magi Richani is the founder and CEO of Nobell Foods.
How do you change someone’s mind? Does the fact that one-third of greenhouse gas emissions came from food systems in 2015 influence what people eat? While some believe that facts, data and even shame all carry the potential to change minds, I hold an opposite view: I believe in the power of temptation. If we want to truly address climate issues and encourage people to build new eating habits, we should stop telling people to change. We should tempt them with irresistibly delicious food instead.
The story of our generation doesn’t have to be one of climate inaction and environmental strain. An evolved future of food is possible: one where we eat based on desire, pleasure and affordable cost. But it’s time for a new strategy. It’s time to accept the fact that many humans don’t like being told not to do something—to give something up—and that companies should appeal to their pleasure-seeking side instead.
I am vegan, part of the 2% of the American population who choose not to eat animal products. But I love cheese. My most powerful food memories revolve around cheese. In my childhood kitchen in Lebanon, my breakfast was often a swirl of labneh drizzled with olive oil and served with Arabic bread, cucumbers, olives and tomatoes. Labneh was the breakfast star. For me, cheese is comfort, pleasure and cultural identity. Asking people to forsake foods like these in the name of climate or animal welfare is unlikely to work. This is why I founded my company: to change what people eat not with facts or data, but with temptation.
Additionally, I don’t think there will be significant change to the food system without reaching cost parity with commodity foods. Businesses should create alternatives that not only taste delicious but are also affordable. Asking consumers to spend three or five times more on an alternative is not a feasible answer to our food problems. Cost, in addition to taste, tempts customers. Today, we see this affordability problem in cheese. Nielsen data (via the Good Food Institute) demonstrates that, on average, plant-based meat is two times as expensive as beef, more than four times as expensive as chicken, and more than three times as expensive as pork per pound.
In addition to cheese, what might this temptation look like? Food tech is off to a delicious start. Familiar brands like Impossible are satisfying burger cravings everywhere from home barbecues to a range of restaurants. Oat milk brands like Oatly have infiltrated our morning coffee and cereal routines. But there are also newer, lesser-known examples of what happens when food and technology combine, with an emphasis on taste: For example, Umaro is making plant-based bacon from seaweed, and MycoTechnology is using mushroom fermentation to make plant-based proteins.
While some consumers express concern about the role of technology in food, innovation and pushing boundaries are a long tradition within several food categories. In my opinion, innovation belongs in food, but it also has long been part of the evolving story of food—think about fermentation, refrigeration and pasteurization, to name just a few examples. Technology can not only help companies make more sustainable and affordable foods but can also design healthier foods without compromising taste.
But back to taste. For too long, taste has been ignored in the dialogue around alternative foods. Humans are generally pleasure-seeking, routine-loving, escape-craving creatures. Yet, false assumptions around changing food habits have stacked up in recent years, including that preaching data, fear-mongering, or making emotional pleas about the next generation can sway minds.
And yet, over the last 50 years, it doesn’t seem that these strategies have truly moved the needle on what Americans eat. Only 2% of the American population today is vegan. Though recent polls are encouraging—such as a 2020 Gallup poll that found nearly 1 in 4 people were eating less meat than they were previously—I believe we can move the needle faster.
How can companies or aspiring entrepreneurs move the needle on the adoption of alternative foods that are good for the planet? They may want to accept the fact that many in the general public have become numb to climate stats of doom and gloom and plan a different approach—humor, optimism or seduction are all strategies to consider utilizing. Appealing to customers’ indulgent side can be part of earning the business of those who are hesitant to try alternative foods.
In marketing, activations and partnerships with established brands can boost customer trust. Occasion-based marketing, such as carving out a place for alternative foods during holidays or annual events like sports seasons, can hijack an occasion and change what foods people associate with events.
One way to identify the biggest missing links in food technology right now and begin to create products to fill those gaps is to pay attention to where taste falls short of the animal incumbent. For too long, a prevailing assumption in good-for-the-planet foods is that they aren’t as delicious as animal-based foods. Entrepreneurs should dismiss this not-as-tasty premise and prioritize flavor as their north star. Good-enough alternatives are no longer good enough; the most lucrative opportunities are now equivalent to or better in taste than animal products. To reach the widest possible audience for product adoption on a mass scale, entrepreneurs should focus on two essential factors: delicious taste and affordable cost.
We have a fighting chance of impact if we harness technology and creativity to launch foods that tempt, seduce and delight. Plant-based and animal-free eating can’t be all about health, animal welfare or the environment. The close-your-eyes sheer pleasure of food should be marketed as part of the future of how we eat, too. With the correct approach to products like plant-grown proteins, businesses can tempt people into changing what’s on the dinner table.
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