The Spoon Podcast

Hosted by Michael Wolf

Technology

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Episodes

171

Latest episode

Jun 2026

Language

EN-US

About the show

Join host Michael Wolf as he explores the world of food, ag and how innovation is changing what we eat.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

June 8, 202644 min

The Rise and Fall of Brava

This week's guest is former Brava executive Travis Rea, who reflects on building one of the more interesting kitchen startups over the past decade. Rea shares the story behind Brava's light-based cooking technology, the challenges of creating an entirely new appliance category, and the lessons learned about consumer adoption, hardware startups, and innovation in the kitchen. The conversation also explores Brava's unexpected impact on accessibility and independent living, why the company developed such a loyal user community, and what the future holds for smart cooking technology. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 22, 202619 min

Can Fermentation Help Save Coffee & Cocoa?

In this episode of The Spoon Podcast, Michael Wolf talks with Jake Berber, the cofounder and CEO of Prefer, a Singapore-based startup that uses fermentation to create coffee and cocoa extenders from ingredients like rice and chickpeas. Berber explains why rising coffee and cocoa prices, climate pressure, and growing global demand convinced him there was a massive opportunity to help future-proof some of the world’s favorite foods, and his journey from Texas to Israel to Singapore led him into the world of food tech and climate-resilient ingredients. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

April 28, 202649 min

Creating the Open AI of Food Robotics With Rajat Bhageria

In this episode of The Spoon Podcast, Mike sits down with Chef Robotics CEO Rajat Bhageria to unpack how the company quietly went from years in stealth to assembling more than 100 million meals. Bhageria explains why assembly, not cooking, is the real bottleneck in food production, how Chef is using its ChefOS platform to build a data-driven approach to food manipulation, and why the messy, variable nature of food has historically made automation so difficult. The conversation also explores Chef’s expansion into new categories like airline catering and school meals, as well as Bhageria’s bigger ambition to build the defining success story in food robotics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

April 9, 202625 min

Is Brain Health Optimization The Next Big Wave in Wellness?

In this episode of The Spoon Podcast, Mike catches up with Mo Abouelsoud, CEO of U The Mind Company, about the emerging intersection of brain health, wellness, and consumer technology. Abouelsoud explains how his company’s non-invasive brain stimulation devices are designed to help treat neurological conditions while also opening the door to cognitive enhancement, better focus, and long-term brain wellness. The conversation explores whether brain health could become the next major category in wellness, alongside sleep, metabolism, and fitness, and looks at how new technologies might one day give consumers a more complete picture of how their brains and bodies work together. You can find out more about U the Mind Company at https://uthemind.company/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

April 7, 202626 min

Is AI an Enemy or Ally for Recipe Creators?

In this episode of The Spoon Podcast, Mike catches up with Will Templeton, co-founder and CTO of Allspice, about how the traditional recipe blog model, laden with ads, pop-ups, and static content, is breaking down as users increasingly “lift” recipes into apps, screenshots, or AI tools. The conversation explores how Allspice is building a new infrastructure layer for recipes, using structured ingredient data and vector databases to make sense of messy, inconsistent inputs from across the web. They also dig into the role of AI in the future of cooking, from conversational interfaces and guided cooking to the tension creators feel between embracing AI as a tool and fearing it as a threat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

April 2, 202634 min

Talking About Nature's Trickster Protein With Ali Wing

In this episode of The Spoon Podcast, Mike catches up with Oobli CEO Ali Wing to discuss what Wing calls "nature's trickster protein", the sweet proteins they develop for products like ice teas and chocolate bars. Wing talks about how the company is positioning its sweet protein technology at the center of two major shifts reshaping the food industry: the rise of GLP-1-driven dietary behavior and the growing demand for protein-forward, lower-sugar products. She also explains why the company has shifted from consumer-facing products like teas and chocolate to a B2B ingredient platform, and how partnerships with companies like Ingredion and Mars are helping drive scale. The conversation also explores the future of sweetening systems, the role of fermentation in food innovation, and why the industry may be entering a new era of large-scale product reformulation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

March 25, 202630 min

Where Are Grocery Stores With AI Adoption in 2026?

Mike is joined by Matthew Schwarz, CEO of Afresh, who discusses the company’s expansion from fresh produce to an all-in-one AI solution for the entire grocery store. Matt explains how the company's AI tech has prevented 200 million pounds of food waste annually and explores the rise of agentic AI, the balance between automation and humans, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

March 13, 202646 min

Why The Future of Food Testing May Be in Your Brainwaves

In this episode of The Spoon Podcast, Michael Wolf talks with Mario Ubiali, founder and CEO of neuroscience company THIMUS, about how brainwave data and AI could reshape how food companies develop new products. Ubiali explains how his company uses wearable EEG technology to measure consumers’ neurological responses to food, capturing signals around liking, familiarity, and emotional engagement that traditional surveys often miss. The conversation explores why consumers frequently say one thing but feel another when tasting food, how neuroscience can reveal those hidden reactions, and why combining brain data with AI could create a new generation of predictive tools for food and beverage innovation. You can find more about THIMUS at their website, https://thimus.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

February 19, 202641 min

Are Home Kitchen Marketplaces the Future or a Risk to Consumers?

In this episode, Mike sits down with friend, food systems thinker and The Food Corridor founder Ashley Colpaart to talk about the rise of Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operations (MEHKOs) and what they mean for the future of food entrepreneurship. Ashley shares why she believes lawmakers are trying to avoid an “Uberfication moment,” and why she thinks shared commercial kitchens remain a critical access point for food founders. Drawing on her own origin story growing up in a family hot sauce business that couldn’t scale without infrastructure, Ashley explains why she became interested in shared kitchens as her professional focus and explains how it led her to build her company. You can read Ashley's recent essay on MEHKO movement here on her blog: https://www.thefoodcorridor.com/blog/mehkos-2026-2/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

February 12, 202640 min

From Wallaby Milk to AI: Nora Khaldi on Decoding Nature’s Molecular Code

In this episode, Mike sits down with Dr. Nora Khaldi, founder and CEO of Nuritas, to explore how a postdoctoral epiphany about wallaby milk led her to build one of the first AI-powered molecular discovery platforms in food. They discuss how Nuritas uses AI to uncover, validate, and scale molecules into clinically validated ingredients, why ingredient discovery has historically taken decades, and what she's learned over the past decade building Nuritas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices