Growing Salmon from Cells — Aryé Elfenbein (Co-founder of Wildtype)

Aryé Elfenbein is the co-founder of Wildtype -- a San Francisco startup growing real salmon directly from cells. They're pioneers of cellular agriculture and have become the first company in the world to bring cultivated seafood to market. In this live conversation, we discuss how Wildtype grows salmon from cells. We explore the work behind its texture and flavor, including techniques borrowed from textile manufacturing and changes to the cells’ diet. Aryé recalls the early failures, the first restaurant tastings, and the practical problems of scaling production. The conversation was recorded at a World’s Fair Co gathering in San Francisco, with questions from an audience that had just tasted their salmon. EPISODE PAGE + TRANSCRIPT https://www.worldsfair.org/programs/wildtype WATCH ON YOUTUBE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmbhsUVr3sM CHAPTERS 00:00 A personal connection to salmon 02:36 From cardiology to cultivated fish 06:24 Why salmon? 09:46 Growing the cells 13:32 Recreating salmon’s texture 16:26 The first years—and the first taste 20:42 What kept the team going 22:22 When it started to feel like food 23:08 The road through regulation 28:05 What’s stopping the next scale-up? 30:35 Seeing people enjoy the food 32:05 Audience Q&A: what still needs improving? 33:22 Solving the practical problems 36:38 Learning from outside your field 37:30 The search for better flavor 41:58 A ten-year view of food 44:32 How to support Wildtype CONNECT Wildtype Website: https://www.wildtypefoods.com/ X: https://twitter.com/wildtypefoods World’s Fair Co. X: https://x.com/WorldsFairCo Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/worldsfairco If you want to learn more about our in-person events, please visit worldsfair.org. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Build the Future Podcast. This is a project by World's Fair Co. You can learn more at worldsfair.org.