Aug 24, 2026 · 44 min · 18 segments
In this episode of *Omnivore*, development chef, food writer, and science communicator **Anthony Warner**—better known as The Angry Chef— explores how the modern food system has dramatically reduced…
Mike LeeGuest
Anthony WarnerGuestJulie Larson-Brischer
Bill McDowellHostWell, I've been really looking forward to this conversation because you spend a lot of time helping companies and organizations think beyond the present, that product launch or some life cycle problem, to the future and what they can do.
[laughs] So when you look out 10 years, what are one or two structural shifts that you believe are inevitable regardless of who's in political office or what consumers are talking about on social media?
So I, I think one of the biggest things is kind of this idea that it might be the end of one-size-fits-all food, right? Um, I think in 10 years, we've already been kind of gravitating towards this world where we used to have Coke and Pepsi, now there's 100 variations of each, right? And so I, I think, and, and we've seen this in the explosion of kind of startups and things like that.
We've also seen this mirrored in society and, you know, y- you look at the kind of range of political opinions and, and groups and stuff like that, and there's kind of a loss of a commons, right? And I think what the biggest trend, which is gonna hit a lot of things, but food as well too, is just this kind of niche-ification of everything, right? I sometimes wonder out loud, like, could you create the Coca-Cola Company from scratch today? Because Coca-Cola was kind of based off this assumption, which was, "Here's a can of Coke.
Today, because we're digitally connected and we kind of splinter off in all kinds of values and opinions, you can't even get anyone to agree that today's Wednesday, let alone what soda or food or whatever you're gonna drink and eat.
So I, I think what we're seeing is kind of this kind of, uh, th- this kind of move away from pure mass.
But I think this idea that you can get the world to all agree on one food or beverage, or a few, is harder to do increasingly.
And we're, I think we're gonna find a longer tail of kind of behaviors and values, 'cause that's where everyone's behaviors and values are going.
And with the internet and things like that, they have more ways to express it, right? I always say, like, if you're a vegan in 1962 in Peoria, Illinois, you're probably pretty lonely, right? But now you get on your phone, and it doesn't matter where you are, there's 10 million vegans on a Reddit thread or something like that, right? So you can easily find your tribe, and brands are servicing those tribes because if they can easily find the tribes, the brands can also find the tribes and say, "Hey, here's a niche that's coming up." If you look at the kind of tailwind of M&A that big food has been doing, like, that's the writing on the wall as well too.
They're trying to rewire their plane while they're flying it, and they're kind of in this position where they're like, "Well, we've got this legacy product that's keeping the lights on, but all the growth is in these, like, kind of upstarts here," right? And so, you know, you're already seeing that writing on the wall.
I think give that another 10 years of compounded progress, and I don't really necessarily see it going back.
Well, I've been really looking forward to this conversation because you spend a lot of time helping companies and organizations think beyond the present, that product launch or some life cycle problem, to the future and what they can do.
[laughs] So when you look out 10 years, what are one or two structural shifts that you believe are inevitable regardless of who's in political office or what consumers are talking about on social media?
So I, I think one of the biggest things is kind of this idea that it might be the end of one-size-fits-all food, right? Um, I think in 10 years, we've already been kind of gravitating towards this world where we used to have Coke and Pepsi, now there's 100 variations of each, right? And so I, I think, and, and we've seen this in the explosion of kind of startups and things like that.
We've also seen this mirrored in society and, you know, y- you look at the kind of range of political opinions and, and groups and stuff like that, and there's kind of a loss of a commons, right? And I think what the biggest trend, which is gonna hit a lot of things, but food as well too, is just this kind of niche-ification of everything, right? I sometimes wonder out loud, like, could you create the Coca-Cola Company from scratch today? Because Coca-Cola was kind of based off this assumption, which was, "Here's a can of Coke.
Today, because we're digitally connected and we kind of splinter off in all kinds of values and opinions, you can't even get anyone to agree that today's Wednesday, let alone what soda or food or whatever you're gonna drink and eat.
So I, I think what we're seeing is kind of this kind of, uh, th- this kind of move away from pure mass.
But I think this idea that you can get the world to all agree on one food or beverage, or a few, is harder to do increasingly.
And we're, I think we're gonna find a longer tail of kind of behaviors and values, 'cause that's where everyone's behaviors and values are going.
And with the internet and things like that, they have more ways to express it, right? I always say, like, if you're a vegan in 1962 in Peoria, Illinois, you're probably pretty lonely, right? But now you get on your phone, and it doesn't matter where you are, there's 10 million vegans on a Reddit thread or something like that, right? So you can easily find your tribe, and brands are servicing those tribes because if they can easily find the tribes, the brands can also find the tribes and say, "Hey, here's a niche that's coming up." If you look at the kind of tailwind of M&A that big food has been doing, like, that's the writing on the wall as well too.
They're trying to rewire their plane while they're flying it, and they're kind of in this position where they're like, "Well, we've got this legacy product that's keeping the lights on, but all the growth is in these, like, kind of upstarts here," right? And so, you know, you're already seeing that writing on the wall.
I think give that another 10 years of compounded progress, and I don't really necessarily see it going back.
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