Berkeleyside Idea Makers

Join us for Berkeleyside’s Idea Makers on May 8 at BAMPFA for an immersive, lively conversation on plant-based meats, foraging adventures, and the captivating world of fungi.

First, Tovin Lapan, Editor of East Bay Nosh, will dive into the landscape of alternative meats. Berkeley is a hub for companies cooking up innovative products to take the place of meat, but a sharp cut in funding along with consumers becoming more selective in their food choices, has prompted some fall-out in an increasingly crowded field. Our guests are Ricardo San Martin, Director of the Alt: Meat Lab at UC Berkeley's Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology, and Beth Zotter, CEO of Umaro Foods, a company unlocking the potential of seaweed to make “bacon”. Together, we will explore the potential of plant-based proteins as sustainable alternatives to meat, and look at what’s needed to ensure the sector’s sustainability.

Next we’ll turn to all things mushrooms. Darwin BondGraham, fungi fan and Senior News Editor at The Oaklandside, will be in conversation with Alan Rockefeller, a distinguished mycologist and mushroom photographer, and Carrie Staller, a local mushroom forager and educator. Delve into the rich culture of mushrooms, from their ecological significance to the art of foraging and cooking these culinary treasures.

Don’t miss this evening of discovery, as we explore the diversity, sustainability and deliciousness of food and fungi in the East Bay and beyond.

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Idea Makers will be at the Barbro Osher Theater at BAMPFA in downtown Berkeley and all ticket holders receive free access to the BAMPFA galleries on the day of the event — just show your ticket at the front desk.

BAMPFA members receive a special discount on Idea Makers tickets! Reach out to [email protected] or (510) 642-2365 for your promo code

Check-in begins at 6 p.m., and the program will start promptly at 6:30 p.m.

BAMPFA is wheelchair accessible. The theater provides companion seats and wheelchair locations with preferred viewing sightlines. Assistive listening devices are available upon request.For questions about accessibility or to request accommodations please respond to this email or contact [email protected]

Berkeleyside would like to thank Red Oak Realty for their generous sponsorship support of Idea Makers.

We look forward to seeing you there!

More about our guests:

Beth Zotter is the cofounder and CEO of Umaro Foods, a company unlocking the potential of ocean farmed seaweeds to be the planet’s most abundant and sustainable source of protein. Umaro’s first product is a plant-based bacon with a patented formula for bacon fat. Before moving into alternative protein, Beth worked in energy. She led a $6M R&D project to demonstrate offshore seaweed farming technology in the Atlantic Ocean. Her team won the prestigious Top 60 Finalist in the Carbon Removal XPRIZE. Beth started her career at a seaweed biofuels venture, and has science and policy degrees from Harvard University and UC Berkeley.

Ricardo San Martin PhD is the director and co-founder of the Alt: Meat Lab at UC Berkeley’s Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology. He is an inventor and entrepreneur in chemical and biological sciences, as well as a professor of entrepreneurship and innovation. He is the founding director of the Master of Design program at Universidad Catolica de Chile, and has the entrepreneurial skill to set up new companies based on fundamental research (such as the development of vaccine adjuvants for COVID vaccines). San Martin is also the innovation director of Desert King International. He received his PhD in biotechnology from Imperial College London, and his master of science in chemical engineering from UC Berkeley.

Carrie Staller is a passionate wild food educator and the founder of Fork in the Path. Fork In The Path offers guided wild mushroom & plant foraging experiences in California for the adventurous of all ages. Carrie grew up with typical American mycophobia - as in - "don't touch that, it might K*ll you!" Now she is passionate about creating a relationship between people and wild seasonal food, something she sees as a birthright and a fundamental part of being human. Learning to forage and cook with wild food can be intimidating, but Carrie loves collaborating with a team of experts to make forest to table experiences accessible and fun. She has led hundreds of people through the forest for their first transformational experience of finding and eating wild food! Her next program starts in May and is focused on morels. Learn about it here.

Alan Rockefeller is a mycologist specializing in DNA barcoding, field photography, and fungal microscopy. Committed to his cause, Alan has been studying fungal diversity for more than two decades, and since 2001 he has photographed more than 2,500 species of fungi. In order to discover new fungi, and spark interest in the hearts and minds of those new to the field, Alan regularly leads forays all over North America, including Mexico where he has been studying the mushroom diversity for 15 years and is consequently bilingual. Alan’s contributions to community science have been widespread, and his dedication to teaching thousands of people over several years how to extract and amplify the DNA of their mushroom finds for sequencing is remarkable, and remains unparalleled.  As of today, Alan has uploaded more than 700 of his own fungal DNA sequences to Genbank, and he is a co-author on several scientific papers, including publications documenting new species of bioluminescent Mycena and Psilocybe. Alan is also devoted to the art of macroscopic mushroom identification and legitimately spends hours each day identifying mushrooms for the general public. Amazingly, he has identified over 300,000 fungi on websites like iNaturalist, Mushroom Observer, and various Facebook Groups. Nothing short of a powerhouse, Alan Rockefeller is an authority on the leading edge of mycology, who is beloved by his community for the knowledge and value he contributes to the field.

Host or Publisher Berkeleyside