Ted Audio Collective

Hey listeners it's Ted Health and I'm Dr. Shoshana Unger In vision your dinner plate transforming into a powerful tool in the global crusade against climate change.

In his 2023 Ted Countdown Summit Talk, Tao Chang, an impact investor with an unexpected passion for food, takes us on a deep dive into

how our individual dietary choices can echo globally in the fight against climate change.

From the nuances of taste to the vast potential of new proteins,

Tao's talk is a call to rethink our relationship with food, our planet, and the future of both of them.

Prepare to be fascinated and maybe even a little hungry for change. My wife is the last person in the world who would consider me a foodie type of person.

She's always puzzled at why sometimes I couldn't even tell the difference between beef and pork

when shopping or eating.

So a few years ago, when I told her that I found my calling in food as an impact investor

She was shocked and thought I had a midlife crisis

But the impact logic behind my midlife crisis or midlife epiphany is simple.

Given its size and reach, there's no way the world can achieve its climate goals

without engaging China in a significant way.

This is why I've spent much my career

focused on supporting environmental entrepreneurs in China,

mainly in industrial space,

things like energy or recycling.

But I've always wondered about how to reach the vast number

of Chinese consumers.

I found my answer in alternative proteins or what we prefer to call new proteins nowadays in China.

New proteins can be plant-based, microbial,

...