Meet Global Tea Time in Taipei hosts talk on future foods and water-saving devices

台北 Meet Global Tea Time 主持人談論未來食品和節水設備

Founders of Lypid and Oasense discuss ways to boost sustainability and resiliency

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – On Wednesday (Dec. 21) at the MK Innovation Hall at National Taiwan University, Meet Global hosted an afternoon tea of sorts, inviting a start-up revolutionizing the food industry as well as one working to save water associated with personal hygiene.　　

“Our event is very simple. We want founders to meet with foreign experts, venture capitalists, and other experts in the field. We also have some of the best tea outside to warm you up,” said Meet Global Supervisor of Global Affairs, Ko Chi.

The first guest invited to speak was Lypid Co-founder Michelle Lee. She introduced herself to a packed conference room quite simply and in a way to which everyone can relate. “I am a foodie, a food addict, and an avid cook. But one of the most important things in my life is that I want to make an impact through my innovation.”

Lee has dedicated much of her life to food science, first becoming involved by joining National Taiwan University’s Food Science Department and later studying at Ohio State University and then a Ph.D. at Cornell University. She later went to work for heavyweights in the food industry, such as Nescafe and Nestle.

“I specialized in micro-encapsulation technology, which is basically adding a coating to fats so they don’t dissolve easily, and increasing the bioavailability of active ingredients. I thought this product innovation and technology could be useful.”

Put simply, previous incarnations of plant-based meats used coconut oil which melted to easily and leaked out of the product. Her innovation mimics real animal tissue and helps plant-based meat retain fat throughout the cooking process.

Her innovation is making vegetarian foods tastier, by increasing the fat content through plant-based products. Contrary to what many may think, the typical hamburger patty or top-quality steak has a high proportion of fat.

“At the moment about 40% of a burger is fat. This issue has been overlooked in many plant-based meats. Our solution is PhytoFat which is like animal tissue and has better flavor delivery with 33% less calories and zero cholesterol.”

Lee believes there’s a big market for her innovation as alternative meat is only 2% of the sliced meat market. She thinks this market has substantial upside for growth, especially due to the contributions of flexitarians, who are those who prefer plant-based items as opposed to meat.

“We are working with Louisa and their 55 stores which offer 6 different products and flavors. This partnership is growing and has inspired us to offer other products that target Asian cuisine like steamed buns.”

As for the future, many believe it will be dominated by more and more faux-meat products. Her company is already working on making the world’s first plant-based pork belly, which is also popular in other regions as bacon or lardon.

Lee’s work earned her an invitation to UN COP27 where she delivered a speech about how food production contributes to climate change. According to her estimates, some 30% of global carbon emissions, water use, and land use are associated with food production. Greening this production chain can bring great benefits to everyone.

Shower better, not longer

While everyone can help the world by consuming less meat and being conscious of our personal decisions, yet another factor may help protect one of the world’s most precious resources, water.

This was the subject of the next presenter at the Meet Global Tea Time event as Oansense CEO Tang Chih-Wei described his company as originating from a crisis he experienced growing up in the US.

“The California Drought lasted from 2011-2018. Rivers became just a tiny stream of water and gardens mostly died and people became very desperate. Fast forward to 2022, and the western US is still in a drought and water use is an issue that simply won’t go away.”

Tang describes his company as a trio of long-term friends growing up in Silicon Valley, California.

“Some people asked us why are we doing this. Shouldn’t we be working in AI or something else? Technology needs an application to manifest itself and we thought that showering better could help. Actually, showering consumes about 20% of daily water use and takes up about 30% of energy consumption of a typical household.”

While low-flow shower heads and toilets are mandated in US states like California and elsewhere, people actually enjoy larger shower heads that provide luxurious amounts of water mimicking rainfall.

Tang and his team solved this problem by putting sensors in oversized showerheads to cut down on water flow during times when one is simply seeking to get the water to the right temperature, and then going to full blast when one is directly underneath the showerhead.

“Half the time you are in a shower you are doing other things like getting the water ready or soaping up. Perhaps we could save this water and provide it for you later. In other words, we thought we could make a water-saving shower hard that doesn’t suck.”

The result of his collaboration and deep thinking on the shower experience is the company’s inaugural product, Oasense Riva. Tang claims it’s the most innovative showerhead on the market, providing lots of water when needed and also saving 50% of water resources.

“By using our showerhead, a family can save 53 laundry loads of hot water a month, which is about 280 USD. If you slice through this shower head you can see it has a microturbine that charges itself, so you don’t need to charge it or change a battery.”

Tang says it took 4 years of hard work to bring the product to market. He’s thrilled to receive recognition such as “Time Best Inventions 2022” and “CES Innovation Awards 2022”. But industry and media accolades aside, Tang says a good review from a friend is his greatest satisfaction. “A friend of mine said it’s the first guilt-free shower that I have taken and that’s my greatest joy.”

To conclude his speech, Tang pulled back the shower curtain on bathroom products and said simply that the truth is that most shower products are only made by a handful of companies. “When you pull back the logos you will find that bathroom products are basically the same and it’s an untapped market with many new opportunities in this space for better luxury eco-bathrooms.”