Berta Maeso and Giuseppe Scionti – Food, Technology and the Future of Protein

Novameat is a plant‑protein brand of sliced cuts created exclusively for restaurants and producers. After years of research, we have developed our own technology to texturize plant‑based proteins with good bite, juiciness and recognizable flavor while maintaining their nutritional properties and keeping production costs accessible. This project was born with a clear intention: to protect the planet’s biodiversity.

We believe it’s possible to achieve this by reducing the consumption of meat and animal products. In my case, I have been living with a plant‑based diet and lifestyle for many years, and I think that, both myself and the rest of the team, we have found in Novameat a way to align our personal values with our professional careers.

What people like about animal protein is its texture and taste; we know that for sure. But traditional isn’t necessarily better, and sometimes it’s necessary to innovate—always transparently and knowing what you’re doing.

Personally, I greatly admire chefs who innovate with the texture or ingredients of their dishes. That’s precisely what we are trying to do at an industrial and scalable level: to make that culinary innovation accessible to millions of people.

There is a similarity between Spain and Italy, my home country, because Mediterranean cuisine has always been associated with quality and health. In that sense it is more difficult to question certain traditions, because we have the perception that everything traditional is good, particularly when we talk about meat. On the other hand, in recent years a significant current of culinary innovation has emerged in this same region, indicating that resistance to change is beginning to weaken.

Furthermore, at an industrial level, we have a great advantage because the ingredients we have close at hand—and know best—are of very high quality. The Mediterranean region, with its variable latitudes, diverse temperatures and access to both sea and mountains, generates a great diversity of ingredients that are easily accessible and allow for a wide variety of recipes. I think this is a very important point when thinking about protein diversification: our ingredients can provide very different nutritional profiles. We just have to know how to use technology to tap their full potential and make plant protein even better than animal protein.

In this sector, there are many people who want to change things, and there are two ways to do it: you can go against the system and create something from nothing, or you can try to turn the system around. Both are necessary and can happen at the same time, but changing a system from within can be just as, if not more, effective than creating something entirely new. In our case, on the one hand we have our selection of plant‑protein cuts, and on the other we are exploring collaboration with large traditional protein companies—mainly meat—so they can incorporate our technology and expand their range. That would allow us to create a real impact in the short term.

As a company, we have focused heavily on the technological side—developing and implementing it—that is our speciality. However, I come from the academic world and have always believed that transparency and education can be just as important, if not more important, than the technology itself. Communication and education are crucial, not only to understand how a technology works but to understand its context and long‑term relevance.

The sector is saturated. In recent years, many plant‑protein products have been launched—some with the backing of major companies—but despite strong communication efforts they were not up to what consumers wanted. The entire branding process, and especially the brand strategy phase, helped us understand that we could fill the gap that had opened up between discourse and product. In our case, we sometimes think the opposite and are too humble when we talk about our own product.

Internally, strategy is also very important. It is crucial for everyone who is part of Novameat to understand and be aligned with what we are doing for the health of the project.

It’s a matter of authenticity. Before going through this process of strategy and identity redesign, we had adopted a way of working and communicating that was very typical of the sector but that distanced us from our essence; there was a clear difference between who we were and what we communicated. Developing narrative pillars, a tone of voice and a clear message has helped us differentiate ourselves, show who we really are and tell what we do in our own way.

A clear example is the technological issue. Before starting this process, despite it being a major differentiating value, we were very afraid to talk about it; we thought people wouldn’t understand it, that it would be rejected. Thanks to building our own narrative, we have managed to introduce technology into our discourse in a very organic way: we have discovered ways of writing about it, explaining it and showing it that are much simpler than we thought.

As Berta said, in recent years we’ve experienced a kind of bubble, and many companies have launched plant protein products that were very pioneering but didn’t live up to consumer expectations in terms of taste, texture, nutritional properties or price.

Even so, the resources needed to produce meat through livestock farming remain very inefficient, so this diversification of protein is only a matter of time. It may be now or in five years, but there are various signs—improvements in product quality or lower production costs, for example—that indicate that many consumers will start experimenting with less traditional protein products. It’s inevitable.

That’s easy: everyone at the same time. Companies play a fundamental role because we have to create the structures necessary to be able to serve consumers. At the same time, we also have the responsibility to spread the word, so that both people and institutions understand that this is directly linked to social well‑being and to greater environmental awareness.

We were just talking about this with Berta a little while ago (laughs). We both agreed that we would like it to be a tree. I was thinking of an olive tree and Berta was talking about an oak. Both have strong roots and are very resilient; they can live for thousands of years.

I find it very interesting to think of the seed as a paradigm of change and conservation. Seeds contain and protect the DNA that ensures the survival of their species and, at the same time, they act as the starting point for a process of radical transformation. They not only protect what is necessary to create the tree; they also transmit its message.

We founded Novameat seven years ago and each stage has been very exciting. The fun thing about entrepreneurship is that each stage brings new sensations: development and innovation, creating the production structure, finding partners, finding ways to reach the end consumer, and so on.

Right now we are completely focused on expansion. It’s time to reach into people’s daily lives and make it easy for them. Knowing that little by little we’re reaching many more places is very gratifying.