Food Technology trend guru Dr. Liz Sloan shares her take on the defining consumer trends of 2026, which range from next-gen comfort food to snackable beverages. And John Ruff, retired senior vice president of R&D at Kraft Foods and a past president of IFT, draws on decades of product development experience to explain why alternative meat is a long game—one that will likely be defined by hybrids, mycoproteins, incremental improvements, and products consumers choose because they taste great, not because they’re told they should.

Plus: This episode of Omnivore is brought to you by IFT FIRST – Food Improved by Research, Science, and Technology. Join the leading food science and innovation expo, IFT FIRST, at McCormick Place in Chicago, July 12th through the 15th, for the industry’s premier event connecting innovation, science, and business. Learn more at ift.org.

In this episode of SciDish, we sit down with Bruce Friedrich, founder and president of the Good Food Institute, to unpack his new book MEAT: How the Next Agricultural Revolution Will Transform Humanity’s Favorite Food—and Our Future, recently named one of Publishers Weekly’s Top Ten New Releases in Science. Rather than arguing against meat consumption, Friedrich explores a pragmatic question: if global demand for meat continues to rise, can science help us produce it more efficiently, safely, and sustainably? We dig into the food science and biotechnology behind plant-based and cultivated meat, the real-world bottlenecks to scaling these innovations, why conventional meat companies are investing in alternative proteins, and how policy decisions today could quietly shape the future of protein production.

Plus: This episode of Omnivore is brought to you by IFT FIRST – Food Improved by Research, Science, and Technology. Join the leading food science and innovation expo, IFT FIRST, at McCormick Place in Chicago, July 12th through the 15th, for the industry’s premier event connecting innovation, science, and business. Learn more at ift.org.

With an insider’s view of how national guidance gets made, nutrition policy expert Robert Post breaks down the newly released U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, highlighting what’s truly new, what echoes past advice, and why the shifts matter. James Petrie, founder of Nourish Ingredients, explains how his company is creating animal-free fats that will allow product developers to formulate next-generation plant-based foods with better taste and mouthfeel.

Plus: This episode of Omnivore is brought to you by Almond Board of California.