The Spoon Podcast

Michael Wolf

Join host Michael Wolf as he explores the world of food, ag and how innovation is changing what we eat.

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20 episodes
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English

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August 26 · 24 min
How One Japanese Entrepreneur Built a Food Business in America
In this episode of The Spoon Podcast, Mike talks with Yuta Katsuyama, co-founder of Chicago-based Onigiri Kororin, about his journey from Japan to building an onigiri business in the U.S. They discuss how a graduate school project turned into a startup, the years of experimentation it took to find the right business model, why calling onigiri a “sushi sandwich” helped win over American retailers, and how frozen onigiri could help the company expand beyond Chicago. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
July 13 · 38 min
Building an AI from Scratch for Taste and Smell
In this episode, Mike sits down with Kai Schaeffner and Andreas Nicklas, who have been spending the last couple of years building an AI to better understand and predict individual taste and smell preferences. Kai and Andreas talk about how they've built their platform using scientific cohort and patient data, why taste is often the missing link between healthy eating recommendations and real behavior change, and how personalized taste profiles could eventually power everything from recipe recommendations and connected appliances to restaurant menus and digital food passports. They also talk about why are building their own specialized AI models rather than relying on large language models, and where the company sees opportunities to bring its technology to food brands, healthcare providers, hospitality companies, and consumers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
June 25 · 39 min
Reimagining The Future of Farming With Neal Carter
In this episode of The Spoon Podcast, Mike talks with Neal Carter, founder and CEO of Okanagan Specialty Fruits, about buying back the company he and his wife Louisa founded nearly 30 years ago. Carter reflects on the long journey behind the Arctic apple, the company’s nonbrowning apple created to reduce waste and get “more apples in more places,” and explains how OSF’s early work with RNA interference is giving way to a new generation of genome-edited fruit. He also lays out his bigger vision for the farm of the future, where genetics, automation, AI, and redesigned tree architecture come together to make orchards less labor-intensive, more resilient, and more economically viable for growers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
June 8 · 44 min
The Rise and Fall of Brava
This week's guest is former Brava executive Travis Rea, who reflects on building one of the more interesting kitchen startups over the past decade. Rea shares the story behind Brava's light-based cooking technology, the challenges of creating an entirely new appliance category, and the lessons learned about consumer adoption, hardware startups, and innovation in the kitchen. The conversation also explores Brava's unexpected impact on accessibility and independent living, why the company developed such a loyal user community, and what the future holds for smart cooking technology. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 22 · 19 min
Can Fermentation Help Save Coffee & Cocoa?
In this episode of The Spoon Podcast, Michael Wolf talks with Jake Berber, the cofounder and CEO of Prefer, a Singapore-based startup that uses fermentation to create coffee and cocoa extenders from ingredients like rice and chickpeas. Berber explains why rising coffee and cocoa prices, climate pressure, and growing global demand convinced him there was a massive opportunity to help future-proof some of the world’s favorite foods, and his journey from Texas to Israel to Singapore led him into the world of food tech and climate-resilient ingredients. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
April 28 · 49 min
Creating the Open AI of Food Robotics With Rajat Bhageria
In this episode of The Spoon Podcast, Mike sits down with Chef Robotics CEO Rajat Bhageria to unpack how the company quietly went from years in stealth to assembling more than 100 million meals. Bhageria explains why assembly, not cooking, is the real bottleneck in food production, how Chef is using its ChefOS platform to build a data-driven approach to food manipulation, and why the messy, variable nature of food has historically made automation so difficult. The conversation also explores Chef’s expansion into new categories like airline catering and school meals, as well as Bhageria’s bigger ambition to build the defining success story in food robotics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
April 9 · 25 min
Is Brain Health Optimization The Next Big Wave in Wellness?
In this episode of The Spoon Podcast, Mike catches up with Mo Abouelsoud, CEO of U The Mind Company, about the emerging intersection of brain health, wellness, and consumer technology. Abouelsoud explains how his company’s non-invasive brain stimulation devices are designed to help treat neurological conditions while also opening the door to cognitive enhancement, better focus, and long-term brain wellness. The conversation explores whether brain health could become the next major category in wellness, alongside sleep, metabolism, and fitness, and looks at how new technologies might one day give consumers a more complete picture of how their brains and bodies work together. You can find out more about U the Mind Company at https://uthemind.company/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
April 7 · 26 min
Is AI an Enemy or Ally for Recipe Creators?
In this episode of The Spoon Podcast, Mike catches up with Will Templeton, co-founder and CTO of Allspice, about how the traditional recipe blog model, laden with ads, pop-ups, and static content, is breaking down as users increasingly “lift” recipes into apps, screenshots, or AI tools. The conversation explores how Allspice is building a new infrastructure layer for recipes, using structured ingredient data and vector databases to make sense of messy, inconsistent inputs from across the web. They also dig into the role of AI in the future of cooking, from conversational interfaces and guided cooking to the tension creators feel between embracing AI as a tool and fearing it as a threat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
April 2 · 34 min
Talking About Nature's Trickster Protein With Ali Wing
In this episode of The Spoon Podcast, Mike catches up with Oobli CEO Ali Wing to discuss what Wing calls "nature's trickster protein", the sweet proteins they develop for products like ice teas and chocolate bars. Wing talks about how the company is positioning its sweet protein technology at the center of two major shifts reshaping the food industry: the rise of GLP-1-driven dietary behavior and the growing demand for protein-forward, lower-sugar products. She also explains why the company has shifted from consumer-facing products like teas and chocolate to a B2B ingredient platform, and how partnerships with companies like Ingredion and Mars are helping drive scale. The conversation also explores the future of sweetening systems, the role of fermentation in food innovation, and why the industry may be entering a new era of large-scale product reformulation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
March 25 · 30 min
Where Are Grocery Stores With AI Adoption in 2026?
Mike is joined by Matthew Schwarz, CEO of Afresh, who discusses the company’s expansion from fresh produce to an all-in-one AI solution for the entire grocery store. Matt explains how the company's AI tech has prevented 200 million pounds of food waste annually and explores the rise of agentic AI, the balance between automation and humans, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
March 13 · 46 min
Why The Future of Food Testing May Be in Your Brainwaves
In this episode of The Spoon Podcast, Michael Wolf talks with Mario Ubiali, founder and CEO of neuroscience company THIMUS, about how brainwave data and AI could reshape how food companies develop new products. Ubiali explains how his company uses wearable EEG technology to measure consumers’ neurological responses to food, capturing signals around liking, familiarity, and emotional engagement that traditional surveys often miss. The conversation explores why consumers frequently say one thing but feel another when tasting food, how neuroscience can reveal those hidden reactions, and why combining brain data with AI could create a new generation of predictive tools for food and beverage innovation. You can find more about THIMUS at their website, https://thimus.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
February 19 · 41 min
Are Home Kitchen Marketplaces the Future or a Risk to Consumers?
In this episode, Mike sits down with friend, food systems thinker and The Food Corridor founder Ashley Colpaart to talk about the rise of Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operations (MEHKOs) and what they mean for the future of food entrepreneurship. Ashley shares why she believes lawmakers are trying to avoid an “Uberfication moment,” and why she thinks shared commercial kitchens remain a critical access point for food founders. Drawing on her own origin story growing up in a family hot sauce business that couldn’t scale without infrastructure, Ashley explains why she became interested in shared kitchens as her professional focus and explains how it led her to build her company. You can read Ashley's recent essay on MEHKO movement here on her blog: https://www.thefoodcorridor.com/blog/mehkos-2026-2/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
February 12 · 40 min
From Wallaby Milk to AI: Nora Khaldi on Decoding Nature’s Molecular Code
In this episode, Mike sits down with Dr. Nora Khaldi, founder and CEO of Nuritas, to explore how a postdoctoral epiphany about wallaby milk led her to build one of the first AI-powered molecular discovery platforms in food. They discuss how Nuritas uses AI to uncover, validate, and scale molecules into clinically validated ingredients, why ingredient discovery has historically taken decades, and what she's learned over the past decade building Nuritas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
February 5 · 22 min
So You Wanna Know When You're Going to Die? Download This App
In this conversation, Mike interviews Brent Franson, CEO of Death Clock, a company that uses AI to predict when you're going to die (aka life expectancy) based on health data. Brent and Mike discuss the origins of Death Clock, the importance of preventative health, and the role of consumer responsibility in managing health. Brent shares insights on the demand for longevity solutions, his entrepreneurial journey, and the potential for health tech to democratize access to quality healthcare. The conversation also touches on the challenges and opportunities in the longevity movement, including the impact of big tech companies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
February 4 · 34 min
What Should Impossible Foods Do Now?
In this episode, Mike sits down with Rachel Konrad, former head of communications at Impossible Foods and now a lecturer at Stanford Graduate School of Business, to talk about the state of alternative protein and where Impossible lost its way. Drawing on her experience as the company's first communications hire, Konrad argues that Impossible’s biggest mistake wasn’t market headwinds but a strategic shift away from its original biotech ambition toward a conventional CPG playbook. Mike and Rachel discuss founder vision, venture capital incentives, and the missed opportunity to license core technology to major food brands. They also discuss what a real turnaround would require if Impossible hopes to reclaim its original mission and relevance in the future of food Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
February 3 · 24 min
Writing The Cookbook for Cultivated Meat With Alex Shirazi
In this episode, Mike sits down with Alex Shirazi, a food technologist, conference organizer, and longtime observer of the cultivated meat industry, to talk about his latest project, A Scientist’s Cookbook. Shirazi explains why he chose to launch a cookbook via Kickstarter as cultivated meat products inch closer to market. They discuss writing a cookbook for products that aren't yet widely available, the cooling of investment in the sector, hybrid products as a bridge to scale, and the political pushback against alternative proteins. Alex also talks about the origin story and the future of the Cultured Meat Symposium. You can find and support Alex's Kickstarter for The Scientists's Cookbook here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hotdogfyi/a-scientists-cookbook/description Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
February 2 · 36 min
Restoring Fiber's Lost Signal in Modern Food
Michael Wolf sits down with Matt Barnard and Matt Amicucci, PhD, the cofounders behind one.bio and its newly launched consumer brand GoodVice, to discuss why they believe the modern food system is broken and why it starts with fiber. The conversation examines the science of dietary fiber as a biological signal and how decades of food processing have stripped those signals. They talk about why most fiber on the market today either doesn’t work or creates trade-offs consumers won’t tolerate. Barnard and Amicucci explain their new consumer line, GoodVice, which they view as a reference product, why GLP-1 drugs have accelerated awareness of fiber deficiency, and how restoring whole-food signals to everyday products could change the future of metabolic and gut health without requiring discipline, restriction, or sacrifice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
January 17 · 40 min
Chef vs Robot: A Conversation at CES about Who Will Cook Our Food in the Future
At CES 2026, the future of cooking took center stage in a conversation about whether robots will replace chefs or simply become their collaborators. The Spoon Podcast host Michael Wolf moderated a discussion with Tyler Florence, celebrity chef and longtime Food Network host; Nicole Maffeo, founder of Gambit Robotics; and Ali Kashani, CEO of Serve Robotics. They discuss how AI and robotics are entering professional and home kitchens, where automation will take hold, and why creativity, culture, and the human touch remain essential. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dec 12, 2025 · 1 hr 4 min
How AI is Changing Agriculture
In this episode, Mike is joined by Tim Beissinger (CTO of Heritable) and Charlie Andersen (CEO of Burro) to explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping agriculture. The conversation explores everything from AI-driven plant breeding to how autonomous robots are tackling labor shortages, improving yields. Both Tim and Charlie will be at CES in January, so make sure to check the CES Ag Tech conference (produced by The Spoon and MIke!) out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 26, 2025 · 37 min
Reinventing the Egg With The EVERY Company's Arturo Elizondo
In this episode, Michael talks with Arturo Elizondo, founder and CEO of The EVERY Company, about the company’s nationwide rollout inside Walmart products, its $55 million Series D fundraise, and the strategic shift toward becoming a “boring but sexy” B2B ingredient supplier powering baked goods behind the scenes. Arturo talks about the early IndieBio days, the decade-long journey from USDA intern to food-tech founder, and why he believes egg-based supply chains are destined for disruption as avian flu risks intensify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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