Fork The System
Welcome to Fork The System — a podcast spotlighting the innovators, researchers, and advocacy leaders reimagining how we feed the world. Each episode will feature a professional working to build sustainable and ethical food systems.
New episodes monthly (every second Tuesday) with your host, Sherry Shu, a fourth-year student at Western University’s Ivey Business School.
Feedback on the episodes is always appreciated at https://bit.ly/forkthesystemfeedback.
Episodes
15 episodes
Kirumira Julius on empathy-building and policy enforcement in the animal welfare movement
Our fourteenth guest is Kirumira Julius, the Co-Founder of the African Institute for Animal Welfare, a non-profit organization whose mission is to end animal exploitation across Uganda and Africa. Their initiatives focus on promoting humane far...
Tina Owens on regenerative agriculture and the rising risk of conventional farming systems
Our thirteenth guest is Tina Owens, the lead of the Resilience and Agriculture Lending and Insurance Coalition (RALIC) for the Transformational Investing in Food Systems (TIFS), an organization aiming to bridge capital markets with the strategi...
Kari Snorek on caring about shrimp and the surprising empathy of farmers
Our twelfth guest is Kari Snorek, the Director of Operations at Shrimp Welfare Project, a non-profit organization that guides the shrimp farming industry towards higher welfare practices for a more sustainable and ethical future. The Shrimp Wel...
Wasseem Emam on fish welfare and connecting animal, human, and environmental wellbeing
Our eleventh guest is Wasseem Emam, the Founder & Executive Director of Ethical Seafood Research, a non-profit organization focused on improving animal welfare in aquatic food systems globally. ESR focuses its work on fish farming condition...
Albert Tseng on the power of impact investing in building alt protein familiarity in China
Our tenth guest is Albert Tseng, the co-founder of Dao Foods, a venture capital firm that seeks to grow the alternative protein space in China. Dao Foods invests in promising Chinese start-ups, provides mentorship, and builds stakeholder ecosys...
The Global Forum for Plant-Based and Alt Proteins on the importance of cultural diversity
Our ninth guest is actually a panel of three guests: Dr. Tawanda Muzhingi, Matt Tom, and Jaishree Singh from the Global Forum for Plant-Based and Alt Proteins. The goal of this organization is to unite and empower stakeholders in the plant-base...
Jamie Clay on building a values-driven business and the future of the vegan market
Our eighth guest is Jamie Clay. Jamie is an operations, strategy, and fundraising veteran, turned entrepreneur. She’s the founder of two purpose-led businesses: Flora + Fauna Experiences, which creates custom vegan travel itineraries and event ...
Katy Bluett on the power of founders collectives and changing trends in future food
Our seventh guest is Katy Bluett. Katy has a long and impressive history of working in New Zealand’s foodtech innovation space. She’s the Executive Director of Future Food Aotearoa, a founders collective to accelerate the growth and impact of f...
Kartic Bajpai on the decentralized Indian dairy sector and importance of profitability in sustainability
Our sixth guest is Kartic Bajpai. Kartic is currently studying for a Master's in Food Systems at the University of Hohenheim. Kartic has past internship experiences in the traditional dairy R&D space and is interested in applying these expe...
Max Tham on the importance of flavour, cost, and quality in alt protein adoption
Our fifth guest is Max Tham, a current Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the National University of Singapore. Max started his research journey working on anticancer agents, but now leads a research group investigating the molecular reactions of ...
Oscar Barrero Leal on problems with protectionist policy and the value of farming cooperatives
Our fourth guest is Oscar Barrero Leal. Oscar recently finished his Doctorate in International Economic Law at Middlesex University and is now an Assistant Professor at the University of Ibagué in Colombia. Oscar teaches and conducts research i...
Rikard Saqe on funding and scientific bottlenecks in alt protein development
Our third guest is Rikard Saqe, a current Master’s of Chemical Engineering student at the University of Waterloo. Rikard started off his research journey working on drug discovery and healthcare technology. He has since transitioned into cultiv...
Jeffray Behr on entering and developing the alt protein sector in Canada
Our second guest is Jeffray Behr, an Engineering Project Manager at New School Foods. New School Foods is a Toronto-based company producing whole-cut seafood made entirely from plants, with their inaugural product being a plant-based filet that...
Cogie Cogan on pivoting from advocacy to start-up and changing consumer behaviour
Our first guest is Cogie Cogan, a passionate leader in the animal welfare space. They’re a recent Western University graduate who studied Animal Ethics and Sustainability Leadership, where they took on animal welfare and climate advocacy roles ...