Israel’s Innovators in the Alternative Protein Industry, Part 1 of 2

Israel has long been considered the “Vegan Capital of the World,” and for good reason. In addition, when it comes to recognizing animal-peoples’ natural rights, Israel is far ahead of many other countries, having been the first country to ban horse and donkey-people-drawn carts and carriages used for work purposes, and have long prohibited the sale of personal-care and household products that were tested on animal-people.

Israel has risen as a leader in food technology to produce a new generation of alternative proteins from plant-based or animal-people cells. In our two-part show, we will explore the current innovations in alternative plant protein by showcasing several Israeli entrepreneurs making huge advancements in this field.

Leonardo Marcovitz is an experienced entrepreneur who has put a lot of personal effort, and most of his savings, into a company that is unique in that it will provide plant-based foods that are clean label, which means no artificial additives or preservatives, and non-allergenic, as they are not derived from soy and have fewer than six ingredients, something that is very appealing to consumers. The edible oil industry produces leftover powders high in protein. “More Foods has figured out how to use the by-products from the edible oil industry, in conjunction with yeast, in order to create meat alternative products.”

The second plant-based Israeli entrepreneur is Lior Shalev, co-founder and CEO of Simpliigood, the company growing fresh Spirulina as a direct source of protein. “We’re growing Spirulina, fresh Spirulina, and we’re the only company in the world that knows how to grow fresh Spirulina.”

Amazingly, among its many advantages, perhaps the greatest, is that Spirulina is simply a bacterium of the fast-growing algae plant capable of doubling in volume every 24 hours with very little water and requiring very little manpower. “It has all the different amino acids that you would want to find, all intact. And we actually have 74% protein inside. Not only that, the rest are actually micronutrients which are super important for our diet.” Simpliigood has successfully created an artificial “smoked salmon” made from its Spirulina plant.