There was a time when peanut butter was the hero of school lunches. Today, it’s the villain.
Allergies are serious business. Over 6 million people in the U.S. are allergic to the legume. Even airlines stopped handing out little bags of nuts. But new choices aim to please sandwich lovers and fill candies like “peanut butter” cups without the nuts — or even the chocolate around it.
Read MoreIf you’re not olive oil in the kitchen, you’re nobody. But olive oil, which is healthy and delicious, is expensive, and it isn’t a workhorse. That award goes to canola, palm and soybean oil, of which Americans consume an estimated 11.56 million metric tons per year. And increasingly, they’re being scrutinized for their impact on our planet and health.
Read MoreVegan cheese convinces no one. It doesn’t stretch, it hardly melts, and if you leave it out too long, it separates into an oily mess. Typically made from a blend of nuts, fats, gums and binders, it’s also usually unhealthy.
But things may be looking up. Oliver Zahn, an astrophysicist turned data scientist and founder of Berkeley company Climax Foods, has discovered new combinations of plant proteins and fats that can do all the things vegan cheese historically couldn’t — including fool chefs.
Read MoreBefore voting to adopt California’s $308 billion state budget last month, Assembly Member Ash Kalra, a Democrat from San Jose, took a tour of Upside Foods, a food technology startup in Emeryville.
Read MoreOne of the Bay Area’s leading food-tech companies just inked a deal to manufacture the world’s largest known bioreactors for growing meat from cells. Ten of them.
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