Marketplace All-in-One Food Tour of the Future
Oct 15, 2025
Aria Elfenbein, a cardiologist-turned-researcher and co-founder of Wildtype, shares insights on the future of food amidst climate change. They discuss the challenges of sourcing staples like salmon, chocolate, and coffee, highlighting innovative solutions like lab-grown chocolate and cell-cultured salmon. Aria explains how they grow muscle cells for food, avoiding ocean pollutants, while also stressing the importance of cultivating seafood for ocean health. The conversation also touches on regulatory hurdles and the need for sustainable food systems as global demand rises.
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Tasting Lab-Grown Chocolate
- Amy Scott visited California Cultured and tasted three cell-grown chocolates, preferring a toasty dark one.
- Alan Perlstein explained the chocolate was made from cocoa cells grown in lab dishes to address climate threats to cocoa.
Climate Threatens Key Crops
- Alan Perlstein warned that climate change will make most current cocoa-growing land unsuitable.
- He predicted cocoa, coffee and similar foods will become more expensive or scarce without new technologies.
Behind-The-Scenes In The C-Lab
- At California Cultured's C-Lab Amy observed trays of petri dishes with clumps of cocoa cells grown in dark tents and mini reactors.
- The cells are fed sugar and plant extracts, fermented, roasted and turned into chocolate ingredients.