Fellow Braai Brus, errr, Climate Warriors,

🌍Today we’re grabbing a drink with Brett Thompson, co-founder and CEO of Mzansi Meat, the African continent’s first cellular agriculture startup.

Thanks for reading Climate Tech Cocktails ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Brett has deep roots in 🦁animal advocacy and has worked in alternative protein for over a decade in 🇿🇦South Africa and 🇩🇪Germany, focusing on using innovation to drive better food systems, specifically by cultivating quality meat without harming animals.

📻 Listen to the episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, Audacy and Substack👉

Thank you for your continued support. We’re grateful to have you with us, fighting the good fight with a cool beverage in hand.

⚡️ New to CTC? Sign up here!👉

📲 Follow us on Twitter 👉

📝  Show Notes Below👇

🎧 New podcast episode:

Brett Thompson, co-founder and CEO of Mzansi Meat, on effective solutions in food systems:

“I think there needs to be a bouquet of solutions. I don’t think plant-based is the only solution; I don’t think unprocessed, regenerative farming, any of those things alone are solutions  - rather I think you need to add a hell of a lot of things to it. And I think cultivated meat adds to that, because there’s not one silver bullet. People want to eat meat, and this provides an opportunity… It’s about how we innovate and improve that process.”

Brett and co-founder Tasneem Karodia started the cultivated meat industry in Africa by establishing the first company of its kind on the continent. They introduce a more efficient, sustainable and ethical means of creating animal protein products, and have started with beef. Their methods contribute to long-term food security for many, and their harm-free, biology-driven approach is already inspiring other companies to venture into production in the region, sparking a needed industry, and a climate-friendly change.

Find Brett on Twitter and Instagram: @BrettVThompson

Find Mzansi on twitter: @MzansiMeatCo

… and on LinkedIn

🥃 What we drank during the episode: Diemersdal Estate Red Pinotage (Brett), and Kahlua with Coffee (Matt)

Enjoy the show!

📻 Listen to the episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, Audacy and Substack👉

Interested in sponsoring?

Please reach out to m@climatetechcocktails.com

Companies/Startups mentioned during the show:

🍔Discourse ZA

🍔Credence Institute

🍔Diemersdal Estate Wine

🍔Shoprite

🍔Spar

🍔Fry Family Food

🍔Pro Veg International

🍔Upside

🍔Good Food Institute

🍔BioMilQ

🍔USDA

🍔FDA

🍔BioCiti

🍔Denovo Dairy

🍔Yoco

People/places/things mentioned during the episode

🧠Cellular Agriculture

🧠Alternative Protein

🧠Animal Advocacy

🧠Cape Town, SA

🧠Franschhoek

🧠Stellenbosch

🧠Shark Cage Diving

🧠 Melanie Joy

🧠Nature Reserves

🧠Johannesburg

🧠 Elon Musk

🧠Mother’s Day

🧠Madame Gandhi

🧠Applied Ethics

🧠David Benatar/Ethics of Humor

🧠BioEthics

🧠Durban

🧠Freediving

🧠Homelands

🧠Nigeria

🧠Kenya

🧠Egypt vs North Africa vs Subsaharan Africa

🧠Kruger National Park

🧠Crocodiles in Africa’s Ecosystem

🧠Zambia

🧠Zimbabwe

🧠Mozambique

🧠English Common Law

🧠Nigerian Lamb Stew

🧠Braai

🧠Smiley

🧠District 9

🧠Nelson Mandela

🧠Afrikaans Language

🧠Potjie

🧠National Heritage Day

🧠Meat Free Mondays

🧠Primary Adult Stem Cells

🧠Woodstock Cape Town

🧠Bioreactor

🧠The Research Triangle

🧠Ryan Bethencourt

🧠The Netherlands

🧠Bio Innovation

🧠Stellenbosch University

🧠Michelle Egger

🧠Tammy Fry Kelly

🧠Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

🧠Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal by Ayn Rand

🧠Getting Things Done by David Allen

-TIMESTAMPS-

[0:00] Intro

[1:03] Drink of the Show

[3:20] Reasons People Should Visit South Africa

[5:25] Shout Outs to Some Rad Mothers and Cool Names

[8:02] Brett’s Journey Into Animal Rights Advocacy

[11:08] Populations, Economies and Regional Laws in Africa

[20:29] African Food Culture and its Relationship with Meat

[22:45] Meat Culture’s Relationship to Economic Status and Public Health Data

[24:53] Braai and Potjie

[30:02] The Social Considerations of Abstaining from Meat

[33:13] Founding Mzansi Meat Co

[35:55] Cows on Mars

[37:23] How Cultivated Meat is Made

[44:05] Unique Advantages and Challenges to Mzansi’s Location

[51:51] Breaking Ground for a Now-Emerging Market

[55:07] 3 Startups

[56:32] 3 Books

[57:41] Conclusion

Thanks for reading Climate Tech Cocktails ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Next
Next

Project Two