This article is awful. And no, it’s not awful because it critiques alt protein and agro-capitalism. It’s awful because it assumes only one path for the emergence of a technology and cherry-picks data points. 1/x https://thebaffler.com/latest/fake-meat-real-profits-mitchell

It fails to consider different pathways for the technology’s emergence, such as state funding, open IP research, and the role of economies that don’t have a (US)-style Big 4 meat monopoly on place. It doesn’t mention the tech’s roots in university research programs. 2/x

It doesn’t consider the work on food tech justice of people like Garrett Broad (who Im definitely not speaking for here) or my work on trying alt protein to federal research and food programs. It doesn’t once mention non-white, non-American leaders in this field. 3/x

In academic parlance, we call this selecting on the dependent variable. It’s sloppy and it doesn’t do justice to its crucially important subject matter. The end.

And also ... you have to specify what you mean by “food system” and what level of abstraction/precision you’re working with. To say a food system with slaughterhouses and massive land requirements is “the same” as one without them is patently absurd unless you define your terms.

If your metrics are, let’s say, wages and corporate concentration, say that, but don’t equate those two concerns with the “food system” as a whole. You could have a higher-wage, less concentrated food system that doesn’t address animal or environmental issues at all.