The “Three P’s” Blocking Food Tech—and the Ingredient That Might Solve Them
Plant-based meat’s struggle shows that sustainability alone doesn’t sell—food tech will scale only when products deliver taste, affordability, and trust, with processes like mycelium-based fermentation offering a path to better price, performance, and perception.
Plant-based meat didn’t stumble because people stopped caring about sustainability. It stumbled because food is unforgiving.
In a conversation about scaling food-tech innovation under cost and regulatory pressure, Paul Shapiro (Co-Founder and CEO, The Better Meat Co.) offered a sharp diagnosis for why plant-based meat has lost momentum: the three P’s—price, performance, and perception.
Plant-based meat often costs more than animal meat. It doesn’t consistently match the taste and texture consumers expect. And it is widely perceived as ultra-processed—especially when ingredient lists look more like chemistry sets than food.
That combination is difficult to market your way out of.
Why the Industry’s Story Had to Change
For years, food tech leaned heavily on vision: save the planet, reinvent agriculture, disrupt the global protein system.
But as Shapiro argued, large-scale transitions rarely happen because people are persuaded morally. They happen when something better replaces something older.
He pointed to historical examples. For centuries, horses powered transportation. They were not displaced because society suddenly decided horse labor was unethical. They were displaced because automobiles proved faster, more efficient, and more practical. Similarly, whale oil did not disappear because of moral awakening—it faded when kerosene became cheaper and easier to use.
His takeaway was direct: alternative proteins will not scale primarily because they are better for the environment. They will scale when they are better products.
The Hidden Cost of “Making Plants Taste Like Animals”
One reason perception matters is the way many plant-based meat products are manufactured.
Shapiro walked through the standard pathway:
-
Grow peas or soy
-
Mill into flour
-
Isolate protein
-
Apply extrusion—a high-pressure heating process that restructures plant protein to create a meat-like texture
-
Add binders, flavors, and masking agents to approximate the sensory experience of meat
Each step serves a purpose. But each step also adds cost and complexity.
That complexity helps explain two persistent challenges:
-
Why finished products remain more expensive than conventional meat
-
Why consumers increasingly associate them with heavy processing
The challenge for the industry is not just to create protein.
It is to create protein that people want to eat repeatedly, at a price they accept, with an ingredient list they trust.
The Argument for Fungi: Less Formulation, More Food
Shapiro argued that mycelium—the root-like structure of fungi—offers a structurally different approach.
Biomass fermentation—where the entire microbial biomass becomes the edible product—differs from precision fermentation, which typically produces small quantities of specific ingredients added into formulations.
In Shapiro’s view, mycelium-based ingredients can address the three P’s simultaneously:
-
Price: When everything in the fermenter becomes product, fewer processing steps are required.
-
Performance: Mycelium naturally delivers umami flavor and fibrous texture, reducing reliance on additives.
-
Perception: A whole-food, single-ingredient positioning simplifies the label.
Fermentation—a process that uses microorganisms such as fungi or bacteria to convert raw inputs into usable proteins—has long existed in food production. The difference now is scale and application.
If fewer formulation steps are required, cost structure and perception can shift together.
The Real Test: Will It Earn Repeat Consumption?
This is the unspoken standard behind the three P’s.
Sustainability messaging may drive initial trials. Repeat purchasing is driven by taste, affordability, and trust.
Shapiro noted that dietary shifts do not require perfect imitation. Americans gradually shifted from beef toward chicken not because chicken tasted identical to beef, but because it became cheaper and was perceived as healthier. The same dynamic could occur again if new proteins deliver better overall value.
Food tech’s next phase is not about hype.
It is about earning a place in everyday diets—one meal at a time.