Top 10 good food moments of 2018

As 2018 wraps up, we’re revisiting 10 of our favorite moments of the past 12 months. You’ve powered the good food future through your partnership, and we couldn’t be more grateful.
Gfi employee hands in a stack

Thanks to you, our loyal supporters, this has been an incredible year! As 2018 comes to a close, we’re revisiting 10 of our favorite moments of the past 12 months. You’ve powered the good food future through your partnership, and we couldn’t be more grateful. 

We’re savoring these moments from 2018 when…

1. The International Team launched GFI-Asia Pacific and GFI-Israel! GFI is honored to be one of the founding members of the China Plant-Based Food Alliance. With staff now in Brazil, India, Asia Pacific, and Israel, GFI is taking good food global.

Managing director of gfi-asia pacific elaine siu at the future food forum 2018 in beijing
Managing Director of GFI-Asia Pacific Elaine Siu at the Future Food Forum 2018 in Beijing

2. The GFI Policy and SciTech Teams testified on the Hill (time and time again). GFI has the world’s only full-time lobbyist focused on plant-based and clean proteins, and he is backed up by our entire policy team. As the debate around how cell-based meat should be regulated unfurled this year, GFI spoke before Congress, the FDA, and USDA about how the government can help food innovation take root in the United States.

3. Dr. Sylvia Earle pumped her fists for clean seafood. Be still our hearts! Dr. Earle is a legendary oceanographer, National Geographic Explorer in Residence, and President and Chairman of Mission Blue. She joined GFI Senior Scientist Dr. Liz Specht on stage at The Good Food Conference to introduce GFI’s An Ocean of Opportunity Action Paper and kick off our Sustainable Seafood Initiative.

Dr. Earle thinks "we really ought to be embracing" clean seafood.
Dr. Earle thinks “we really ought to be embracing” clean seafood.

4. The GFI Innovation Team put the finishing touches on The Good Food Startup Manual and shared it with the world. This extensive step-by-step guide for starting a plant-based or clean meat company is packed with insights from successful good food entrepreneurs. And if you want to dive deeper still, you’ll find a wealth of additional, carefully curated resources.

5. We tasted the future of food at The Good Food Conference! This event brought together leading food industry pioneers, policy experts, entrepreneurs, and scientists from across the globe and sold out six weeks early with 500 attendees and more than 4,400 livestream viewers. Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors—including lunch sponsors Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat, and Gold-Level sponsor MorningStar Farms—the meals surpassed the conference name.

Impossible burger on a plate
The future is served.

6. GFI Senior Scientist Dr. Liz Specht rocked a cover story for Food Technology! This is the membership journal for the Institute of Food Technologists. At a time when attracting top scientific talent to the good food space is mission-critical, Liz’s piece “Is the Future of Meat Animal-Free?” earned the readership of the largest food science professional society in the world. It’s just a taste of all the open-access publications GFI released this year!

7. The GFI Corporate Engagement Team calculated that plant-based meat sales increased 23 percent in the past year for U.S. retail! This is just one of many insights from GFI’s second annual release of Nielsen data for plant-based foods. These insights gained widespread coverage, including in AFP, The Washington Post, and Fast Company, which titled its story: “People are really, really into plant-based meat these days.” Yup. Pretty much.

Plant-based meat dollar sales growth by region in the united states

8. GFI-Brazil uncovered a market of nearly 60 million Brazilians who are choosing plant-based foods. GFI partnered with an international consumer research company to conduct a survey on consumer attitudes about plant-based foods in Brazil. Clearly, the time is now for plant-based Brazilian barbecue.

9. The next generation of good food innovators gathered at the Kellogg School of Management for our event: Rethinking Meat! With panelists from UPSIDE Foods, Kraft Heinz, and Tyson (“We don’t want to be disrupted. We want to be part of the disruption.” ), this was one of GFI’s many high-impact campus initiatives designed to inspire scientists and entrepreneurs at schools across the US.

10. GFI Executive Director and Co-Founder Bruce Friedrich got the last word in the New York Times about our lawsuit against Missouri’s unconstitutional labeling law. As Bruce put it, “they are threatening to throw people in jail for calling veggie burgers ‘veggie burgers.’ It’s Orwellian.” GFI partnered with Tofurky, the ACLU of Missouri, and the Animal Defense League to stop this law in court. We’re working to get the last word there too. We’ll keep you posted!

With your support, 2019 will be a year of further breakthroughs in harnessing the power of food innovation and markets to create a sustainable, healthy, and just food system. Please make your most generous gift today, and together we will shape the new future of food.

Author

Mary allen

Mary Allen GFI ALUM

Mary Allen is a science writer, creative strategist, and GFI alum focused on the intersection of sustainability and emerging technology. Find more of her work at mary-allen.com.