Nearly 10% of people ages 18-34 are vegan or vegetarian, twice the percentage of those ages 50-64, according to IPSOS survey data from 28 countries. That generational divide is one reason why the meat-alternative industry is growing quickly, as Dasia Moore reports in this week’s presentation for members.
The rise and adoption of meat alternatives is driven by a mix of nutritional, ecological, and ethical concerns—and it’s a global phenomenon. Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat are two of the best known companies in this area, but they’re far from the only ones. In China, for example, Whole Perfect Food sells a wide range of products.
Meanwhile, a crop of startups is trying to move beyond plant-based meat alternatives to “cell-cultured” meat made by extracting cells from a living animal. Those cells grow into muscle and fat tissue, resulting in a product that looks and tastes like conventional meat.
You can find this and all of our other presentations here. Produced exclusively for Quartz members, they’re designed to give you a fast read on a topic, as well as the ability to remix and edit for your own purposes.
WHO CARES ABOUT INEQUALITY?
I’ve been enjoying Annalisa Merelli’s reporting on inequality over the past few weeks and would like to share a few of my favorites. This week she explored why a strong stock market can increase inequality. Earlier in the month she covered a survey showing that most Americans don’t see income inequality as a “serious” issue, and that wealthy Americans are just as likely to consider it serious as middle-class Americans. But in another piece she reports that most Americans favor a wealth tax—including most Republicans—as long as you don’t actually use the term “wealth tax” when describing it.
Although these surveys are US-focused, the issues they highlight have global implications. Each of these articles pushed me to examine more deeply the politics and economics of inequality and I think you’ll find them intriguing.
ACCOUNTING AT A CROSSROADS
I hope you enjoyed this week’s field guide on the problems with audits and how they’re changing. I’ll be doing a conference call with field guide author Michael Rapoport at 11am ET today to discuss the guide and answer your questions. We’ll cover how technology is changing audits, whether the Big Four should be forced to separate their audit businesses from their consulting businesses, and what recent issues at WeWork do and don’t have in common with past accounting crises like Enron.
We’ll be taking questions and comments live on the video conference call at this time, accessible at the usual location. You can also send questions in advance to members@qz.com.
If you’d like to dial in, use the following numbers:
UK: 0800-014 8469
USA: 866-226 4650
For all of the numbers, the access code is 722 994 440. And you can find recordings of our past video calls here.
With best wishes for a relaxing and thought-filled weekend,
Walter Frick
Membership editor, Quartz