Fake meat’s false promise: Why Silicon Valley can’t hack the future of food

In an excerpt from her new book, author Julie Guthman explores whether alternative protein can actually deliver on its promise of being better for the environment.

Solutions are the bread and butter of the tech sector, and Silicon Valley has led the way in making our everyday transactions faster, cheaper and more convenient. Recently, though, techies have set their sights on problems far more intractable, complex, and political than data and communications technology, namely the world of food and agriculture. And they have made this foray without genuinely engaging how past introductions of technology in food and agriculture have gone down.