Insights from food systems changemakers drove our reporting this year. Below, we present our top 10 interviews of the year, featuring an EU lawmaker, a former White House advisor, and the queen of plant-based dairy herself. Our exclusives with these heavyweights are a must-read.
Note: all interviews are listed in chronological order of when they were published.
1) Eat Just’s Josh Tetrick on the US egg crisis
As Americans grappled with egg shortages and sky-high prices, Eat Just saw sales of its mung-bean-based Just Egg grow faster than ever before. Its co-founder and CEO Josh Tetrick told Green Queen about the company’s plans to meet “one of the most important moments in the plant-based industry”.
2) NotCo’s Karim Pichara on AI and food
The architect behind the artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms that have powered some of the most innovative and sustainable food products in the last decade, NotCo co-founder and CTO Karim Pichara took us behind its pivot to a B2B strategy, with clients like Mars, Mondelēz International, Nestlé, and Kraft Heinz.
3) Aleph Farms’s Didier Toubia on funding and launch
Although Aleph Farms received regulatory approval to sell cultivated beef in Israel two years ago, it still hasn’t made it to market. In that time, it also laid off 30% of its staff, filed a dossier in Thailand, and raised $29M. Co-founder and CEO Didier Toubia explained it all in his interview with Green Queen, while laying out a strategy for “Aleph Farms 2.0”.
4) Alpro’s Guillaume Millet on plant-based dairy growth
Guillaume Millet, the European VP of plant-based food for Danone, outlined how Alpro continued to gain its market share in the non-dairy milk and yoghurt categories, why it launched a kid-focused line and is targeting Gen Z, and why hybrid dairy isn’t a priority for the company yet.
5) Miyoko Schinner on her new vegan dairy cookbook
To mark the release of her seventh cookbook, The Vegan Creamery, plant-based dairy pioneer Miyoko Schinner told Green Queen what makes it different from her previous works, the new ingredients she uses, how she develops recipes, and what makes for the best non-dairy ice cream base.
6) PBFI’s Sanah Baig on US food policy
A former staffer at the US Department of Agriculture and senior policy advisor for agriculture and nutrition to the Biden White House, Sanah Baig joined the Plant Based Foods Institute as its new executive director. She laid out the government’s approach to meat, dairy, and plant-based foods, the upcoming dietary guidelines, and her thoughts on the MAHA movement and the livestock lobby.
7) Oatly’s Bryan Carroll on fashion-inspired strategy
2025 saw the world’s largest oat milk brand take a leaf out of the fashion playbook, releasing seasonal recipe ‘lookbooks’ and a trends report for the forthcoming year. Its UK marketing manager, Bryan Carroll, gave us a sneak peek behind the company’s Gen Z-courting strategy: “Oat Couture, if you will.”
8) Livekindly Collective’s David Suarez on becoming profitable
The parent company of Oumph, Like, Fry’s and more, Livekindly Collective became one of the only privately held plant-based meat companies to achieve profitability. In his interview with Green Queen, CEO David Suarez detailed just how the company did it.
9) Strive Nutrition’s Dennis Cohlmia on animal-free milk
Fresh from launching new packs of its Freemilk range, Strive Nutrition co-founder and CEO Dennis Colmia told us about the “trying, frustrating and challenging” period the animal-free dairy company has faced, why precision-fermented dairy has struggled, the problem with three-ingredient plant-based milks, and its fundraising plans.
10) MEP Anna Strolenberg on the EU ‘veggie burger’ ban
Days after the EU failed to agree on the proposal to ban meat-like terms on plant-based product labels, Dutch MEP Anna Strolenberg took us behind the scenes of the negotiations, outlining why the talks stalled, and why it’s a blow to European farmers.