Week 7.2025
Food and climate highlights on my radar!
It’s been a minute. A year, actually. Life at Savor + two kids has been a ride, and something had to give. But I missed writing this newsletter, and I missed the people who care about where food, climate, and business collide (and all your sweet and interesting messages!)
So, I’m keeping it simple: one topic, one raise, one product. Less noise, more signal. Let’s get back into it. 🚀
[one topic] Seed Oil Panic
The latest STAT article nails it: seed oils are the new food villain, and it’s mostly nonsense. The MAHA movement—now backed by RFK Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services—is calling seed oils "poison" and blaming them for everything short of bad vibes. The result? Steak ‘n Shake switching back to beef tallow and an internet-fueled obsession with “ancestral” eating. But let’s be real: seed oils are not ultra-processed foods. Under the NOVA system, they’re in the same category as olive oil and butter—far from the actual junk food problem.
Yes, some studies hint that excessive omega-6s might not be great, but institutions like Harvard, the American Heart Association, and Mass General all agree: seed oils are fine. The problem isn’t canola oil, it’s too much of everything—cheap industrial food, ultra-processed calories, and metabolic chaos. STAT did what more outlets should be doing: calling out the fear-mongering while keeping the conversation nuanced. More of this, please.
[one raise] Olipop’s Wild $1.85B Valuation
That’s a lot of soda. The prebiotic soda brand just raised $50 million in a Series C, proving that gut health + nostalgia is a winning formula. They nailed it—great branding, a clean label that feels indulgent but “better for you,” and a vibe that makes you feel like you're drinking soda and making a good life choice. Smart.
For context, this puts them in the same league as Ghost Energy ($1B+ deal with Keurig Dr Pepper) and way ahead of Spindrift ($650M valuation). Functional beverages are having a moment, but Olipop’s scale is next level. The real question? How much soda can the “better-for-you” crowd actually drink? Because at this valuation, they better be selling a lot.
[one product] NotCo Keeps Impressing Me
Their Dubai Style NotSquare is proof that food innovation doesn’t have to crawl, it can sprint. They took a viral pistachio-filled chocolate trend and turned it into a market-ready product in two weeks. That’s an insane pace in an industry where R&D cycles often stretch for years. What I like here is that this isn’t some random product drop; it taps into the pistachio craze, the growing demand for premium plant-based indulgence, and, of course, the universal love of chocolate. At a time when the world feels increasingly uncertain, people are reaching for small luxuries—chocolate sales hit $21.4 billion last year, because comfort food is crisis-proof. NotCo just hacked that emotional pull, and they did it in record time.