013: Your Favorite Food Staples, Now in Healthier Versions with Monica Bhatia

Essential Ingredients Podcast

"If we can make nutrition no brainer, we can drive adoption, we can drive sustainability." -Monica Bhatia

The food system, undoubtedly, is an industry that has a high potential in innovation, especially with the rise of technology. In fact, we are seeing endless possibilities in this arena.

But before we go bigger, we ought to consider one area that affects us all- staple foods. We cannot live without our daily staples (or at least most of us can't). Unfortunately, most of these products are mixed with questionable ingredients that do not have a business being in there in the first place. What if there is a healthier version for each of our favorite staples?

Co-founded by Monica Bhatia, Cella Farms aims to deliver nutritionally balanced staple food products that also taste great. They use fermentation technology in order to enrich agricultural products with complete protein. Now, consumers can enjoy their bread, pasta, and other staples with confidence.

Listen in as Justine and Monica walk us through Cella Farms and their mission in creating a more sustainable food system. They also talk about the importance of transparency and clean-labeling, choosing a co-founder, creating fun and healthy food that kids will love, methods of getting your products out into the market, and what drives Monica to continue on the path to creating a more sustainable food system despite challenges.

Meet Monica:

Monica Bhatia is an impact-driven technopreneur with 15 years of experience in bio-manufacturing and commercialization of sustainable products, including food, fuels and chemicals. As an early employee at Geltor, she helped commercialize the world's first animal-free ingestible collagen. Previously, she was responsible for scaling-up algal DHA, algal fuels and food oils at Solazyme, to multi-ton production facilities in the USA and Brazil.

Monica is also the co-founder of Novol Bio, a company that develops high quality prescription eyeglasses using sustainable polymers made from corn. Being a life-long vegetarian, she understands the pros and cons of a plant-based diet. At Cella Farms, her goal is to drive technology that fundamentally improves the way humanity eats, regardless of diet styles, age or cultural preferences.

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Episode Highlights:

01:16 What is Cella Farm

06:08 Consumers Decide

09:34 Passion, Imagination, & Reputation

15:20 A Bread That Kids Love

20:12 Reaching the Buyers

22:32 Future Food Tech London