Welcome from the editor: innovation and tradition

Welcome and thank you for joining me this weekend.

In the Northern Hemisphere, January can feel like a long month. Temperatures dip even further, the sky’s grey and trees are bare. People hibernate at home, the streets are quieter, and the days are noticeably shorter.

But whilst January can feel static, life continues, and behind closed doors, there’s a hive of activity and innovation going on. A good reminder that winter is but a season.

Whilst we moan about the chilly weather, in Finland, one of the coldest countries in the world, Solar Foods are hard at work to bring food innovation to the world, in the form of Solein, an environmentally-friendly and sustainable protein ‘made out of thin air’. And we could all be eating it very soon.

Cell-based meat has been (not literally) on everyone’s lips for some time, but now it’s the oysters’ turn to get the lab treatment. US start-up Pearlita has opened a research lab to develop a cultivated version of the mollusc, which interestingly, whilst now oysters are considered a delicacy enjoyed by the well-off, traditionally they were a ‘poor’ food, consumed by the lower classes. How times have changed.

And talking of change, I caught up with Emma Osborne, CEO and Founder of ethical recruitment agency Citizen Kind, who sheds light on how businesses are making progress towards becoming more sustainable and greener. And it’s not just companies that are changing, individuals are too, looking for careers that align with their ethics.
Emma calls it‘The Great Reshuffle’.

Among all this innovation, it’s important to keep traditions. The history of tea – from ancient China to kombucha looks at this ancient drink and the innovation behind the commercialisation of kombucha. Kombucha originated around 220 B.C., but it’s only in the 21st century that’s been widely consumed in western countries.
I’d say rebranding tradition is definitely innovation.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend,

Stef